Open Letter to Mayor Annette Groves

August 14, 2025 · 0 Comments

OUR READERS WRITE

I have been hearing a lot of concern from neighbours and friends about a property near Caledon Village that has a large lake in what used to be a gravel pit. The pictures, and front page article I saw in the Caledon Citizen, indicate that this old gravel pit is now a lush wildlife area.

This aptly named “Swan Lake” does not look like the “old aggregate pit” that you indicated to Council in your motion, if I am reading the news correctly.

I remember your mayoralty campaign where you promised to stop “developer driven planning…and push back against the powerful development industry.” You also promised “to preserve the Town’s character and natural features… and the preservation of Caledon’s greenspaces.” You also expressed your concern about increasing “the number of trucks on the road increasing air pollution and other environmental impacts.” These were all reported in the October 25, 2022 edition of The Pointer.

Help me to understand how a motion to allow a powerful developer from Vaughan to grade the land and fill the lake in this rehabilitated gravel pit area with excess construction soil and waste is beneficial to the citizens of Caledon.

Please help me to understand how the hundreds of trucks carrying fill along an already overcrowded Highway 10 and Charleston Sideroad through Caledon Village and environs will reduce our air pollution and impact on the environment.

Please help me to understand how this is helping to preserve one of Caledon’s newly established greenspaces.

I see these pictures of “Swan Lake” in the newspaper and cannot fathom how you would want to destroy it. Please explain your thinking to me.

At this point, I can honestly say that, in the next municipal election, I would not vote for any member of Council who supports the destruction of Swan Lake.

Shawna M. Gates

Caledon