Signs are already going up for Ontario Greenbelt development projects
As more details continue to emerge about the Ford administration's scandalous ties with Greenbelt developers, consumer-facing signs for the much-contested residential projects slated for the protected Ontario lands are already going up.
One advertisement was spotted this week, pushing a new neighbourhood of townhomes and single houses on a Greenbelt property on McCowan Road in Markham-Stouffville.
The billboard, courtesy of Orca Communities, states that the residences are "coming soon," and directs prospective buyers to a website with taglines such as "where new beginnings take shape" and "where elegance meets excellence."
The homes are also being billed as close to "the tranquility of natural beauty" — beauty that many would argue is being completely (and unnecessarily, per authorities) destroyed by developers Premier Doug Ford and his team have favoured.
Signs went up today on McCowan Road, one of the 15 Greenbelt properties. Houses in Stouffville are all over a $Million. Check out the neighborhood this house is bring built right across the road. Affordable? I don't think so.
byu/ComprehensiveStyle70 inontario
One person who shared a photo they snapped of the signage in a Reddit post on Tuesday expressed worry about the purported "affordability" of the site in an area where home prices are typically well over $1 million.
Many commented with similar fears that the housing stock will be "gaudy McMansions with three Escalades in the driveway" rather than higher-density, less expensive units that are so desperately needed.
"We all knew these would be million dollar homes," one person commented. "F*** Doug Ford."
"Affordable single-family homes at luxury prices. That'll definitely fix the housing crisis," another quipped.
Orca appears to be a relatively new firm, in business for less than a decade with some 4,000 units under its belt. As we all know by now, the provincial government's methods for selecting Greenbelt land parcels —as well as the developers they would be sold off to — was not "a standard or defensible process," according to a report from Ontario's Auditor General.
That document also asserted that certain developers were given partiality, and that Ford's assertion that the land absolutely needed to be developed to create more housing amid the current crisis was unfounded, as "it can be shown that there was sufficient land for the target of 1.5 million homes to be built without the need to build on the Greenbelt."
A similar report from the province's Integrity Commissioner, released last month amid heated public furor on the subject, agreed that private interests of certain developers were "furthered improperly" and that Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark broke the Integrity Act that Members of the Legislative Assembly are supposed to follow.
Absolutely, Ford should resign, along with Steve Clark..
— KNugent4118 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 (@KNugent4118) August 10, 2023
A full RCMP investigation needs to happen as well.
This is racketeering.
If it were you or I, we'd already have the police at our door.
While Clark has since stepped down and the premier has vowed to "re-evaluate" the portions of the Greenbelt selected for construction, many are still calling for the whole initiative to be halted, and even for Ford's resignation.
