[All] Wilmot Christmas Eve MZO Update

Wed Jan 5 12:49:48 EST 2022

Good Day,

Thanks for all the e-mails, calls, participants, and excellent delegations last night at the Special Wilmot Council Meeting regarding this absurd Christmas Eve MZO request.  We had more than 200 people on the YouTube and Zoom video streams which has got to be a record for Wilmot as this municipality is so small that the Council Chambers only has 35 seats that are seldom more than half full at a Council Meeting.

The developer had a dreadful presentation that was astoundingly cut off when they ran out of time.  There were 14 amazing delegations from expert planner Kevin Eby, Mark Reusser at the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Linda Lapelle from the National Farmers Union, GREN, Hold the Line Waterloo Region, the Nith Valley Ecoboosters, 50x30WR, and others.  The presentations were amazing - each one extremely well done and every single one devastating to the MZO.  Greg Michalenko did a fantastic job of speaking for GREN and raised many important concerns.

Several Councillors were incredible with direct, hard-hitting questions that called out the developer and got them to admit they were unprepared, their materials were weak and insufficient, the MZO was just being used to bypass the Regional MCR, and that they were just using the Township to get what they want from the Minister.  

The huge potential ramifications of the MZO to two tier governments (like the Region of Waterloo) across the province were clear and this MZO has certainly faced a major set-back.  

However, the developers are desperate and will return.  

I have to assume that dozens of people watching last night were other developers, government officials from other areas, and community groups from across the province.  Already today the videostream of the meeting has had over 1,100 views which is significantly higher than the norm of 20 to 80 views of most other Wilmot meetings on YouTube.  The Record already has an article out and there was good coverage of the meeting on 570News radio this morning:

	https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/01/04/developer-behind-wilmot-mzo-peppered-with-questions-at-council-meeting.html

The next Wilmot MZO meeting on January 17th is being pushed to February 14th because we raised so many issues it was felt there was no way that the developers could adequately address them all in just two weeks.  There will be a final vote on February 28th.  

Next Steps

1) Questions to Developers - We need to get as many questions as possible to the developer to address through the Township Clerk.  You can e-mail the Wilmot clerks at: clerks at wilmot.ca <mailto:clerks at wilmot.ca>

2) Councillors and MPP - Please also send a copy of your questions, comments and concerns to Wilmot Councillors and MPP Mike Harris Jr. - addresses below.

3) Social Media and Awareness - We need to do a better job at getting information to the entire community, increasing engagement.  This could include social media such as Facebook and Twitter and continuing to work with area groups like Hold the Line, Nith Ecoboosters, 30x50WR, etc.  Please let me know if you can help with any of this.

Hopefully the extremely strong message being sent will derail this MZO that could have such far-reaching consequences to our Offical Plan and good planning processes across the province.

Cheers,
Kevin.

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1) Contact Information

The Wilmot Township Clerk can be reached at: clerks at wilmot.ca <mailto:clerks at wilmot.ca> or (519) 634-8444 x9228

Wilmot Township Planning Staff can be reached at:  harold.okrafka at wilmot.ca <mailto:harold.okrafka at wilmot.ca> or (519) 634-8519 x9236

New Wilmot Township CAO Sharon Chambers can be reached at:  sharon.chambers at wilmot.ca <mailto:sharon.chambers at wilmot.ca> or (519) 634-8519 x9237

The Wilmot Councillors can be reached at:

	Les Armstrong - Mayor - les.armstrong at wilmot.ca <mailto:les.armstrong at wilmot.ca> or (519) 634-8519 x9231
	Angie Hallman - Ward 1 - angie.hallman at wilmot.ca <mailto:angie.hallman at wilmot.ca> or (519) 998-3983
	Cheryl Gordijk - Ward 2 - cheryl.gordijk at wilmot.ca <mailto:cheryl.gordijk at wilmot.ca> or (519) 998-8317
	Barry Fisher - Ward 3 - barry.fisher at wilmot.ca <mailto:barry.fisher at wilmot.ca> or (519) 807-8597
	Jeff Gerber - Ward 4 - jeff.gerber at wilmot.ca <mailto:jeff.gerber at wilmot.ca> or (519) 496-5769
	Jennifer Pfenning - Ward 4 - jennifer.pfenning at wilmot.ca <mailto:jennifer.pfenning at wilmot.ca> or (519) 998-6029

Provincial Conservative MPP Mike Harris Jr. - mike.harris at pc.ola.org or (519) 669-2090

2) Link to the Wilmot Special Council Meeting Youtube Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xOJ90Xe3nU

3) My Presentation to Wilmot Council Outlining Key Issues

-------------------------------------

Kevin Thomason

1115 Cedar Grove Road
Waterloo, Ontario Canada  N2J 3Z4

Phone: (519) 888-0519
Mobile Phone/WhatsApp: (519) 240-1648
Twitter: @kthomason
E-mail: kevinthomason at mac.com

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