The battle over 0 Shaw’s Creek Road/519 Charleston Sideroad in Caledon will soon be over. The property, known locally as “Swan Lake” was once the Warren Gravel Pit. It was fully rehabilitated by Lafarge Canada in 2022, and is now a lush ecosystem with a 18 hectare/45 acre freshwater lake as its centrepiece.

The controversy surrounds the sale of the property to Vaughan developer Nicholas Cortellucci. Although the Credit Valley Conservation Authority (CVC) wanted to secure this land to add to their rehabilitation of the adjacent Pinchin Pit, the sale went to the developer in 2023.

Cortellucci wanted to use the land and the lake as a dumping ground for waste soil from GTHA construction projects, essentially infilling the entire freshwater lake. The dumping fees for each truckload of dirt would be worth millions of dollars. However, it would essentially turn Caledon’s Swan Lake into a disposal facility, no longer the nature sanctuary it is now.

Since the Town of Caledon’s Zoning and Fill By-laws forbid the infill of a property zoned industrial extractive, the developer approached a Town staff member to request a change to the fill by-law. That request was taken to the Mayor of Caledon. The mayor then raised it as a motion in Council. Council narrowly passed the motion, dependent on staff reports regarding impact on groundwater quality.

WHOA! Full Stop.

Three issues developed from this. First was the question, “Who would be stupid enough to even consider the destruction of a fully rehabilitated greenspace?”

Secondly, “Could the mayor have stopped the developer influenced request at her desk and not brought it forward to Council?”

Thirdly, “Prior to the Motion being introduced to Council, why were no hydrological studies or research done regarding the potential impact on neighbouring wells of filling a below water table quarry with waste soil?”

We are all downstream and downwind. Politicians are scrambling to save political face. Deals are being brokered to try to come up with an alternative solution. Credit Valley Conservation Authority has expressed renewed interest in acquiring the property. Media coverage has gone from local newspapers to CTV and CBC. Now everybody knows.

The outcome should have been simple. The fully rehabilitated greenspace becomes part of the CVC’s nature corridor. That simplicity gets complicated when power and money and politics muddy the waters. The mayor should have said “NO” immediately, but we would have needed a truly strong mayor to speak truth to power.

Now the fate of Swan Lake rests on an “expert” staff report that will make Council’s vote solely dependent on whether an infill  of the lake would negatively affect neighbouring well water. Depending on the report, this could be an easy out for Council members who voted in favour of the mayor’s motion. It should never have come down to considering the groundwater alone. This motion should never have seen the light of day.

Swansong or Premiere? The dice are loaded, the way I see it.