TO GROW OR NOT TO GROW

A number of years ago I had a guest on my Real Estate show that talked about all the growth plans for Scugog. Pretty exciting news and interesting stuff. Some of that growth came about. Some didn’t. This was on the heels of the second sewage processing facility being built in the north of town. For years growth was pretty much stagnant because of the lack of sewer allocations. To some that was a good thing. Seems to many it wasn’t. Also seems that debate rages on today almost 10 years later. Like many before me I have seen Port Perry and area grow over the last 50 years. When we arrived it was this funny little quaint town on a man-made lake that featured some of the best butter tarts ever. Let me think about that for a minute. The Flamingo Butter Tart was the gold standard. But I digress. Nice downtown. Cool little stores. Friendly merchants. Some different standards like closing up shop on a Wednesday afternoon. That because there was no Sunday shopping. Some will find that hard to believe. Somewhere along the way Port was found out. Hey we did it. Why can’t anyone else? The town had its fair share of ups and downs, most notably when there was no water in the early 70s and you had to get your H20 from the lake. Eek. CBC News in Toronto even sent a crew out to cover that one. Back to the main theme here. Point I am making is there were quirks and quarks along the way in the growth. A few new houses here and there. Then the new “developments” hit. Apple Valley and then Victoria Village. But that was slow form of growth. Those homes and the people that bought them were taken in by the community as part of a natural growth. A little at a time. Nothing over the top and too much too soon. In the last 2 decades it would seem that communities in the Durham Region have been faced with unprecedented growth. We spent time in Whitby and finally left because it was becoming a smaller version of the Toronto Rat Race. Crazy drivers. Aggressive behaviour. More crime. No thanks to that. In the last few years Scugog has been morphing the same way. Once the aforementioned processing plant was finished it was hands off. Let the party begin. This is where it becomes disturbing. I remember a few years ago driving through Brooklin and looking over and seeing what was once a small opening on the south side of Winchester Road was now filled with townhouses. Really? Open space? Jam in homes. That’s when it became clear that planning and development people need to be held accountable for the long term fall-out. There is a development in Port that has been sitting there for years. Took 5 or 6 years to build the sales centre. Then everything just came full stop. Lots of debate about this topic. Just check the social media stuff (but take with a grain of salt) There is ALWAYS room for progress. That’s what keeps a community alive. It just can’t be blind. Take time and measure long term ramifications. After all, what’s the rush?

As always If you have any Real Estate questions or suggestions for future stories feel free to drop me a line at slackie14@hotmail.com