Jack Doris and Henry Clarke have represented Monaghan
Ward on city council for as long as most of us can remember. Doris sat on
council for an astonishing forty years. He was mayor back in the early 90s. Doris finally
decided to retire this year, leaving a spot open. Jocasta Boone, Don Vassiliadis, Jeff
Westlake and David Edgerton are
the candidates to join Clarke at the table. We’ll look at their campaigns in the next post. But first, let’s examine Clarke, the incumbent who seems a
sure bet for re-election, and think about Monaghan Ward, already home to the worst excesses of suburban sprawl in Peterborough.
Monaghan Ward is
Peterborough’s largest ward by population, with about 18,000 people living west of Monaghan Road and north of
Clonsilla/Lansdowne. The center of the ward is the hospital, and it’s ringed by unremitting suburban residential areas, with little in the way of commerce or industry. The Kawartha Heights neighbourhood is a
textbook example of car-dependent planning. So are the ward’s two biggest
schools, James Strath and Crestwood, both of which lie on the
west side of Brealey Road – just outside the city’s boundary
– forcing almost everyone who works or studies there to drive or bus.
Aside from the hospital, the ward’s most valuable and
noteworthy feature is Jackson Park –
not just the area around the pond, but the whole
forested ravine, creek, and marsh, all the way out to Brealey.
You’d think that it would be time to diversify the ward. But what’s in store? More single-family houses -- by the thousands.
The areas immediately south and north
of the park are under immediate development pressure. A car-dependent
subdivision known as Jackson Meadows “conservation
community” is being built on Parkhill by Parkview Homes, run by local developers Paul Dietrich and Steve
McLaren.
Dietrich and McLaren were
among the largest funders of the 2010 campaign, coughing up nearly $7000 between them. They each made the
maximum $750 contribution to the campaigns of Bob Hall, Andrew Beamer,
Dean Pappas and Dan McWilliams, and Dietrich threw another $750 to Len Vass. Their Parkview Homes website
is clearly using Jackson Park as the main
selling point of these west-end retreats – even as they encroach on the
watershed and put more cars on the road.
Across the road is the last agricultural land in the city,
slated to be turned into a massive subdivision by Melody Homes, the same York Region millionaires who are looking to build
the even-bigger Lily Lake
subdivision on the north side of the creek. The Melody Homes problem has been
discussed in several previous posts.
The Lily Lake subdivision is especially egregious – it contradicts current
planning principles and was rushed through days before the new provincial
guidelines by city councillors, many of whose 2010 campaigns received
funding from the owners of Melody Homes. This unjustified north-end
sprawl got through a council that included Henry Clarke. It's currently being appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board, even while being used
by pro-Parkway councillors as an excuse to chew up Jackson Park for a $40
million bridge.
After 17 years, it's evident that Clarke sets the standard for other councillors.
Over
4000 Monaghan Ward residents voted for Clarke in 2010, far and away the highest vote total on council, yet he
spent only $2000 on his campaign, less than any other elected councillor,
and accepted no corporate contributions. The 62-year-old executive with Quaker has plenty of experience with managing big operations, negotiating agreements, and communicating effectively.
His website lays out all the issues
clearly and in-depth, together with his positions on them. In his Cogeco video speech, Clarke emphasizes his policy on returning messages: “Everyone
gets a response.” He’s helped to organize
Earth Day cleanups, establish Homegrown Homes to serve lower-income
families, and develop our Urban Forestry
policy. He admits that we have an employment problem, and wants to make deals
to develop new industrial areas just
outside city limits, but with services provided by the city. He voted against the
Jackson Park bridge.
 |
| Meadow pathway from Medical Drive to bridge site |
On the other hand, Clarke has flip-flopped on the Parkway extension itself. Back at the turn of the
century, Clarke stated that the Parkway trail should be made into a linear park. He and Doris were against the bridge from the start – but then
they approved the outrageously expensive Medical
Drive, which was envisioned as the approach to the bridge. What were they thinking?
Now Clarke defends building the southern portion of the extension connecting Clonsilla to Medical
Drive, even though it will pave over some of the only greenspace left in
Monaghan Ward that isn’t lawn or golf course. Worse, he defends the Parkway
extension through Northcrest on dubious
grounds. “The north end of the city cannot be laid out for schools, shops,
parks, and homes without knowing where the streets are to run,” writes Clarke.
Come
again? Has Clarke not noticed that all the schools and significant commercial areas that
are going to be built in Northcrest already have been?
And that he himself helped council approve all the new subdivisions that will
fit?
About the Lily Lake planning fiasco, Clarke is silent. He approved this massive new
subdivision north of Jackson Park. Yet on his FAQ page, Clarke claims he’s reading
books titled Walkable City and Suburban Nation, and he cites “reducing
dependence on the automobile” as part of his vision for the city.
 |
| Trees to be demolished for the Jackson Park bridge |
Really? So why did Clarke support the two biggest blows to sustainability in Peterborough – the Parkway and the Lily Lake development –
just this past year?
The Social Planning
Council all-candidates meeting goes down at the Evinrude Center this
Thursday, Oct. 16, from 6:30 to 8:30.
Clarke should be there. Will anybody ask him to explain why
he talks sustainability but votes for sprawl?
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