Council unanimously votes to rescind grading agreement motion for “Swan Lake”

December 18, 2025 · 0 Comments

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After a night of delegations on December 16, six months’ worth prior of advocacy, and one verse of “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell, the motion regarding the entering of a grading agreement allowing fill, from development sites across Caledon and the Greater Toronto Area, to be brought in to 0 Shaw’s Creek Road, was rescinded.

The motion was first brought forward at a May 13 Planning and Development meeting, where Mayor Annette Groves tabled a motion that Council authorize the Director of Engineering under the Fill By-law to issue a permit, upon entering into and executing a grading agreement with developer Nick Cortelluci, owner of the property 0 Shaw’s Creek Road, now affectionately known as “Swan Lake” by the community, conditional upon various plans and studies.

The motion was carried in May, and what followed were six months’ worth of discussions and delegations at Council, community gatherings, and months of advocacy as the community took “Swan Lake” under their wing.

At a Council meeting in July, more than 150 residents packed the Council chambers, showing their support for 0 Shaws Creek Road with signs and posters.

At the December 16 Council meeting, an update on 0 Shaws Creek Road was presented as a memorandum, and many residents took the opportunity to speak on the issue.

One delegate, Keirstyn Parfitt, in her delegation, shared that in an email she received confirmation from the Ministry of Natural Resources that the aggregate license for 0 Shaws Creek Road had been surrendered under the Aggregate Resources Act.

“The remaining water feature was established in line with the final rehabilitation plan prior to surrender. Once a site has been rehabilitated, it is no longer considered a pit or a quarry under the Aggregate Resources Act,” read the email from the MNR.

Parfitt brought this to Council’s attention, as in the original motion, it was stated that the developer had “approached the Town about rehabilitating an old aggregate pit located on the property with fill created from their development sites.”

One delegate even led the room packed with attendees in the chorus of “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell, to which he said the lyrics are “more than applicable to the situation that we are currently facing at Swan Lake.”

Residents voiced their concerns about the impact of fill on their groundwater and soil, the animals that call “Swan Lake” home, the trucking and traffic issues that arise with a fill plan, and the emotional toll this has taken on many residents, especially those living near the property.

Jean-Francois Morin and Jennifer Casu-Morin, the owners of Chickadee Hill Farm, a farm directly on the border of 0 Shaws Creek Road, have delegated since May on the impact this plan could bring to not just their daily lives, but their livelihood themselves.

“The motion to allow Swan Lake to be used as a construction waste site was approved without consultation with directly affected landowners, including myself and my family. Without prior notice to directly affected landowners that the motion was even coming forward, we were not notified, and without requiring a hydrological or hydrogeological study, despite knowing the risks of dewatering and contamination,” delegated Jennifer Casu-Morin.

“That combination matters because when decisions affect drinking water, the threshold for due diligence must be higher not lower. For Chickadee Hill Farm, this is not theoretical. We rely on the well. That well supplies our family’s drinking water, and the water that our animals depend on,” continued Casu-Morin. “If Swan Lake is dewatered, or if they contaminate the system, we do not just face inconvenience, we lose our livelihood, we lose safe drinking water. This is not a reversible harm. You can’t trial water contamination and then rule it out later.”

She shared the situation has been extremely stressful: “This is our livelihood, this is our business, and this is our home. And not just for us, but for our children as well.”

Jean-Francois Morin shared with Council that every day he is questioned by their customers about whether they need to switch to other providers.

He asked the Council how much longer this could go on.

Councillor Mario Russo said he wants to “take action and put this matter to rest.”

He said he feels the original motion has been misunderstood from the beginning, and that he stands firm on the process and the decisions rendered.

“No decision was made, no position in favour or opposed was taken,” said Russo. “Listening is important, I heard loud and clear from residents opposing my position on this motion, even if I disagreed with many points they brought forward, I heard them, I really heard some points that really made sense to me.”

He said perhaps more studies and analysis were needed before staff came forward with a report, as well as that greater consideration for wildlife or drinking water was needed.

Russo noted that, in light of the fact that no studies have been submitted, the time staff have spent on the matter, and “more studies potentially ought to have been considered before a final report,” he wanted to end the matter.

“I felt that continuing to proceed with no time frame being definitive only increased the anxiety of those nearby that had expressed concerns, and only consumed more staff time needlessly,” said Russo.

He added when matters are taken out of Town’s hands, they risk matters being imposed by the Province, “this is a real risk when we consider the numerous pits with significant more acreage being filled as we speak across our Town, none of the discourse that we shared will be shared, none of the delegations will be heard, just potentially a decision imposed on lands within the Town with no Town oversight, this is a cautionary tale that must be considered.”

Russo then put a motion on the floor to reconsider the original motion regarding the grading agreement to import fill into 0 Shaws Creek, following votes to allow Council to reconsider a previous motion.

The Clerk clarified that with this motion, the matter will not return in this term of Council.

“This is it, this is the final thing that we can do this term of Council on this matter.”

Councillor Nick de Boer shared in Council that, in his opinion, “it should’ve stopped long before the first motion ever came forward.”

Councillor Christina Early seconded de Boer’s thoughts, adding, “We’ve gone through a lot of stress. But I will say, the people spoke. After how many delegations, after how many months, after how many times we’ve been in these chambers till one in the morning, the people spoke, and the people have made these turns of events occur.”

Early noted she is still wary of the proposed new Fill By-Law, now known as the Site Alteration By-law, that is “around the corner”, and added that “I still think there’s going to be work in the future to make sure we protect our pits and our land in Caledon.”

Councillor Lynn Kiernan also expressed her concerns about the current proposed Site Alteration By-law, which she said is a “grave concern.”

“We should not be opening Caledon for large infill, we should actually be minimizing it. We shouldn’t be maximizing it. We should actually take it backwards, not forwards,” said Kiernan.

“Right now, I think we have some reason to celebrate. I pray that it stays that way. You know that you’ve got people on this table that will do everything they can to make sure it stays that way,” she added.

Mayor Annette Groves noted to those who delegated, “I know that you have been caused a lot of anxiety.”

“There’s nothing wrong if Council decided that that was not the right thing to do at the time. There’s absolutely nothing wrong in going back and saying, ’We listened to the people’ because we’ve had several emails, we’ve had several people come up here and speak. We’ve had people tell us to rescind, and so here we are doing exactly that to hopefully calm the anxiety.”

The motion was opposed unanimously.

Casu-Morin shared that following the meeting, she was in a state of shock, but the good kind.

She noted that she’s been up at night for months, worrying and going over numerous contingency plans in her head.

“Every day, staying up at night worrying about it, what happens if we should sell the property because we won’t be able to continue to farm? Who wants to buy meat and eggs from a farm that could be contaminated.”

“Going into this meeting, knowing that it had been six months, and nothing had happened, that was stressful on its own.”

“It’s our livelihood as well as our home and our water, so it has been a really stressful experience, and especially because of how it started, because it was so sudden and there was not a formal notice process,” she says. “The only reason we even knew that this was happening is because someone in the community knocked on our door and said, did you know this is happening?”

She shared that six months ago, when this began, she had been travelling and hoped to make it back to delegate in May and “be present for something that’s so impactful to our livelihood.”

“This is really a relief to get to this point where this is now behind us. I do think, like many others, that as citizens of Caledon, we really need to watch that fill bylaw, because it is really important. It’s important about what we want our community to look like, and what we want to prioritize into the future.”

Casu-Morin said she is appreciative of Council and Mayor Groves for recognizing the importance of her family’s livelihood, their drinking water, and that the decision needed to be reconsidered.

“I appreciate them making this decision, because it allows us to move forward beyond this situation,” she said.

“Most important of all, I have to say that this whole experience has given me a real appreciation for the sense of community in Caledon. When this first came out, the shock, panic, all of those kinds of things, I felt really alone. And I have to say that the number of amazing people in Caledon who care a great deal, who came forward, and who care about what’s happening. It’s pretty impressive. I’m very thankful to be in a community with people who care that much.”