Activists are protesting City of Pickerings plan to modify and change watershed area at Carruthers Creek. Delegation protests that City may be cooperating too much with developers to the detriment of the environment within the city’s region.
Mike Borie led a delegation that made this declaration to Council and the Mayor…..
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“Good evening, Mayor and Members of Council. My name is Mike Borie, and I am here tonight on behalf of residents and environmental advocates deeply invested in the long-term safety and resilience of our city.
I am here to register our strong opposition to Report PLN 08-26 and Official Plan Amendment 54.
To approve this Secondary Plan tonight is to put the cart before the horse in a way that risks catastrophic environmental and financial fallout. This council is being asked to lock in land-use designations and pave over the Carruthers Creek Headwaters before completing the critical Phase 3 Scoped Subwatershed Study. Passing this amendment tonight means this council is choosing to make irreversible planning decisions blindly, substituting developer-driven promises for independent, conservation-first science.
Let us look closely at Recommendation 4. It directs staff to negotiate agreements where the Northeast Pickering Landowners Group—a consortium of private developers—either directly prepares or fully funds the Master Environmental Servicing Plans and Neighbourhood Plans.
When a pro-development group holds the purse strings and drives the terms of reference, objective science is compromised. A municipal ‘peer review’ is a reactive shield, not a proactive planning strategy.
Furthermore, Recommendation 10 promises ‘appropriate mitigation’ to protect local private wells in Greenwood, Staxton Glen, and Kinsale. But hydrogeology does not respect political compromises. Paving over the headwaters—the primary recharge zone for these aquifers—permanently disrupts underground water tables. You cannot pave over the sponge that filters our water, destroys the recharge zone, and then promise ‘mitigation’ after the wells run dry.
This is not just a Pickering issue; it is a downstream crisis in the making. The Carruthers Creek watershed is uniquely sensitive. Unlike other regional systems, its headwaters are not protected by the Oak Ridges Moraine or the Greenbelt. It relies entirely on the agricultural and natural lands of Northeast Pickering to act as a natural buffer.
When you pave over these headwaters, you create massive impervious surfaces. Stormwater runoff will swell in volume and velocity, rushing south straight into Ajax. We have already seen the devastating impact of downstream flooding across Durham Region when headwaters are compromised. If you approve this plan, Pickering will be directly liable for exacerbating severe flood risks, putting downstream homes, infrastructure, and lives in jeopardy.
Recommendations 6 through 9 speak to continuing engagement with First Nations rights holders and the residents of Greenwood. But true engagement requires the ability to say ‘no.’ By approving OPA 54 tonight, you are treating Indigenous consultation and community feedback as a checkbox exercise. The final outcome has already been institutionalized. True consultation requires the honesty to say ‘no’ to destruction. By institutionalizing these land-use changes tonight, you are telling the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation, the Williams Treaties First Nations, and the residents of Greenwood that their input doesn’t matter because the final outcome is already bought and paid for.
You cannot ‘preserve the rural character’ of Greenwood while surrounding it with a massive, high-density suburban master-planned community. You cannot offer Kinsale the ‘opportunity to redevelop’ without admitting that it means the systematic erasure of our local agricultural heritage.
Council leadership means having the courage to halt premature, high-risk development. Do not hand the steering wheel of Pickering’s environmental future to a private landowners group.
It is Council’s duty to ensure that the following strategic goals are more fully met before any final decision is imposed:
- Do not approve major land-use changes beforethe Phase 3 Scoped Subwatershed Study is complete.
- Ensuring environmental and servicing studies are led by public interest(which is considered good planning practice), not primarily by the landowner/developer group.
- Councils’ approval imposes risks to Carruthers Creek, private wells, downstream flooding, and agricultural lands which would lead to irreparable damageto critical resources for these communities.
- True consultation requires the honesty to say ‘no’ to destruction. By institutionalizing these land-use changes tonight, you are telling the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation and the Williams Treaties First Nations, that their input doesn’t matter because the final outcome is already bought and paid for. Consultations with all First Nations must be held and completed with a signed and mutually approved agreement before this motion can be approved.
Defer Report PLN 08-26. Reject Amendment 54. Protect the Carruthers Creek Headwaters until independent, complete watershed science proves it is safe science that must be led by the public interest, not private developers. Thank you.”
__________________________Mike Borie
