(Jed Tallo/GazetteStaff)
I have to ask: who is the proposed affordable housing planned to come to Picton for? Is it for families, working people, or seniors & retirees from the city? I think this is important.
Plus the housing to be built on the heights, who is that for? Does anyone know? Will there be conditions about who gets into the new housing? Or will it be willy-nilly like the buying up of Picton homes to flip or make into Airbnbs?
Next question: with the anticipated increase, likely thousands, will there be a need for schools in Picton?
The answer to these will answer the question that necessarily has to follow: should we keep the Queen Elizabeth school for those newcomers with children?
These are things I wonder about. Why? Because I don’t see Council wondering about it.
Does any of the planned (and rushed) development make sense when looked at in conjunction/together? Is there an overall plan for what these developments will achieve (or take away)? Is fooling around with Waring’s Creek groundwater table, risking unknown, perhaps irreparable ecological effects, worth it to put more houses where no one wants them — except the developers who don’t have to live with the consequences? Is it all simply about getting more property tax income for the County?
Does anyone wonder about such questions? I would like to just think about getting prepared for Christmas and getting in the spirit of the season and not have these worrisome, unanswered, pervasive questions belabouring my mind, body, and soul. Can we just have a soothing, peaceful Advent and holiday season?
Hedy Campbell, Picton
I was pleased to read in this week’s Gazette that the Huff Family is very generously supporting a production of William Shakespeare’s A Christmas Carol at the Regent Theatre. I was wondering if this is one of his lost plays that has recently surfaced?
Charles Catton, Picton
I am in strong disagreement with the Picton Gazette’s embrace of Base31.
This project (by their own statistics) will double the population of Prince Edward County. We do not have the sophistication, resources, local government, or expertise to begin to deal with the magnitude of this development.
Can you imagine if these developers proposed such an expansion in Toronto? The people of Greater Toronto would surely completely lose their minds.
The municipal government struggles to maintain the present infrastructure let alone prepare for such future development.
As the Publisher of the Gazette I expect you to have at least a neutral if not skeptical attitude towards Base31. Spend less time on the tour bus and pay attention to what is actually going on.
David Fisher, Prince Edward County
I was interested in Ian Chodikoff’s argument last week that because Base31 has seductive and nostalgic marketing materials we should oppose the whole enterprise. (Op-Ed, Village A: The Truman Show in the County, Dec. 4)
The initial plan for the Base when it was put on the market, where it languished for years, was, of course, a network of $1-1.5 million McMansions spread out on one or two-acre lots. Not affordable. Nor respectful of the community or the heritage of Camp Picton.
Other possibilities for the site could have included a casino, or a theme park. Imagine the County’s Wonderland right next to Sandbanks. Forget Niagara-on- the-Lake. We’d be the next Niagara Falls.
Instead we have a partnership group interested in turning the existing — disintegrating — camp into a living museum, and adding what they claim will be innovative housing across the complete range of types, from affordable studio apatments through senior living suites. They have said over and over again the stress is local— not Williams Sonoma, not Pottery Barn. Think farm-to-table, and yes, lots of music. What a shame.
It doesn’t help to inform readers and create useful public debate if writers just make things up, taking their cues from “seductive visuals,” as Mr. Chodikoff puts it, without referring to the plans for the project, either Village A itself or the entire Base31 “Concept Plan.” Never mind any of the planning materials and studies available on the County’s Planning Portal.
It is not clear to me, at least, if your critique is of marketing materials, or the actual architectural and zoning plans for the site. You refer to a Base31 “illusion of reality” — is that the rendering by Norm Li, or the entire development? What exactly is in store for PEC? Do you know?
I think all readers of the Gazette would appreciate considered, thoughtful and informed commentary, the kind that takes the time to look at the materials it critiques.
Susan Kohlsmith, Cherry Valley
See it in the newspaper
-6° Light Snow
