Anushka Yadav, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer

Frustration and unease are mounting in Caledon, where locals say their voices are being drowned out by a municipal process that lacks transparency, overrides its own rules and puts the environment, particularly groundwater, at serious risk.

Residents were already reeling from a May decision put forward by Mayor Annette Groves’ motion to approve a fill permit for Swan Lake, a 44-acre body of water sitting on protected Greenbelt land. Environmental advocates are  warning the controversial move could devastate the local water table and surrounding ecosystems. 

Then, on August 20, Keirstyn Parfitt, who has been leading the campaign to protect Swan Lake from construction fill dumping, raised alarms along with local volunteers after discovering that the Town of Caledon had bundled together proposed changes to five separate bylaws, including site alteration, property standards, clean yards, entrance permits and tree preservation into a single two-hour open house.

It meant each bylaw could effectively be discussed for “just 20 minutes”. For Parfitt and many others, that decision was both careless and calculated.

“There has been significant concern building in the Swan Lake community regarding the new Site Alteration by-law being presented at the Sept 3rd Open House,” Parfitt wrote in an email to the Town council and staff.

“To now have five by-laws sharing the same limited time period of two hours for people to learn and ask questions is unreasonable. The Site Alteration by-law could have a long lasting impact on the quality and quantity of groundwater resources on which all those in rural Caledon rely. To give this by-law a limited review time by the public of only 20 minutes is particularly unconscionable.”

In an interview with The Pointer, she reiterated her concern, calling the decision “unconscionable,” particularly given that the proposed Site Alteration Bylaw could, in her view, legalize the dumping of construction fill below the water table, a practice long considered an environmental and public health hazard.

The Town has said the proposed bylaw updates, particularly the fill and grading regulations, are being introduced as part of Caledon’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) agreement, a federal program meant for expediting post-approval development processes.

A previous notice posted on July 3 described the intent of the new site alteration bylaw as a way to regulate “the placing/removal of fill, topsoil, and grade alterations on land to protect drainage patterns, the environment and public safety.” It would also outline new requirements for permits, public notice, enforcement, and soil compliance under provincial law.

Soon after learning that the Town had bundled five separate bylaws into a single open house, Parfitt launched a petition, warning that the proposed site alteration bylaw posed “a threat to drinking water” in a video. 

She also urged the Town to review the bylaw independently, arguing that its potential impact on groundwater, land use, and ecological health was far too serious to be grouped with unrelated policy updates.

The meeting, originally scheduled for July 23 and rescheduled for September 3 at the Caledon East Community Complex, was abruptly called off on August 22. 

Town officials posted a brief notice online stating that the event would be “rescheduled,” with no explanation or new date provided.

Local advocacy groups say this postponement is no victory, only a delay. What concerns them more is the manner and motivation behind the proposed changes.

“I don’t believe for a second this is over. They will try again. And we will be watching,” Parfitt said.

Democracy Caledon president Debbe Crandall sees a direct connection between the recent Swan Lake decision and the sudden push to revise the fill bylaw.

“It is not a coincidence,” Crandall told The Pointer. 

“With council approving construction fill in a 44-acre lake (Swan Lake), which sits on protected Greenbelt land, and then suddenly proposing changes to the fill bylaw, we’re seeing a pattern. This isn’t just about Swan Lake anymore. This has broader implications for Caledon’s countryside.”

Crandall explains that the current fill bylaw is “highly restrictive,” allowing fill permits only under specific conditions, primarily for agricultural land zoned A1, A2, or A3. 

Swan Lake, however, is zoned extractive industrial, which under current rules makes it ineligible for a fill permit.

“The only reason the mayor could proceed was by bypassing the bylaw altogether. It didn’t meet the conditions. So a motion was brought forward to leapfrog the rules,” Crandall noted.

Following Council’s decision on Swan Lake in July, Crandall contacted the Ontario Ombudsman’s Office. Much of the issue fell outside its jurisdiction, but she was advised to focus on the administrative aspect.

On June 16, she sent a formal request to Town Clerk Kevin Klingenberg, asking a simple question: What was the mechanism used to override Section 11 of the Fill Bylaw?

More than two months later, she still hasn’t received an answer except an acknowledgement.

Crandall says this lack of transparency is part of a broader pattern. Residents frequently experience resistance from Town staff when requesting documents or explanations for policy decisions. Freedom of Information (FOI) requests are often delayed or ignored. Staff reports are missing, incomplete, or never released.

“We get no rationale. We get no context. We got nothing. We get no staff reports…I’m being hyperbolic, but evidence is that we get very little; very little respect for the public’s ability to ascertain what the context is, why they’re doing something. They just do it,” she added.

Behind the current tensions lies a growing mistrust of Mayor Groves and her administration. Residents say the mayor has repeatedly reassured them that the Greenbelt is safe, that 80 percent of Caledon is protected, and that development would be focused elsewhere.

But actions have raised doubts.

In December, Democracy Caledon launched a legal action in Ontario Superior Court, challenging the Town’s June 2024 decision to “pre-zone” 5,000 acres of mostly prime agricultural land for 35,000 housing units, three times what is required under Ontario’s housing target of 1.5 million homes by 2031.

The group argues that the 12 zoning bylaws approved by Council do not conform with Caledon’s Official Plan or Peel Region’s. Their legal counsel contends the approvals can be quashed for “illegality” under Section 273 of the Municipal Act.

Former minister of municipal affairs and housing Paul Calandra, the Region of Peel and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority all stated the pre-zoning was premature. Legal and planning experts advising Democracy Caledon say pre-zoning skips over critical environmental and infrastructure assessments. It rezones land before necessary studies are done, an approach they call irresponsible and potentially devastating for taxpayers.

Five months later, in May, Groves tabled the Swan Lake motion without a formal application from the developer pushing the plan, Nick Cortellucci.

“How can we trust that the rest of Caledon is protected, when this Council just approved dumping fill in a lake inside the Greenbelt, against their own bylaw?,” Crandall questioned.

Roughly 80 percent of Caledon lies within Ontario’s protected Greenbelt, including ecologically significant areas like the Oak Ridges Moraine and Niagara Escarpment. Many parts of the town including Swan Lake are directly connected to sensitive groundwater aquifers that feed local wells and the Credit River.

“Whatever you dump in Swan Lake will travel south and enter the Credit River watershed. That’s not just Caledon’s problem. That’s a Region of Peel problem. An Ontario problem,” Crandall warned.

Many fear Swan Lake is only the beginning, and that the new Site Alteration Bylaw will pave the way for widespread dumping across Caledon’s countryside.

“There’s a reason filling below the water table has always been avoided. It’s not just environmental, it’s about drinking water. It’s about health,” Parfitt, who has a professional background in water systems, said.

“In my personal opinion, Swan Lake was always meant to be the test case. A precedent. Because once they show they can fill below the water table here, every other below-water-table pit in Caledon becomes fair game.”

She believes construction waste from Highway 413 and surrounding developments could soon be trucked up Highway 10 and dumped into pits like Swan Lake, then paved over for housing.

At the center of the controversy is developer Nick Cortellucci, whose proposal to fill Swan Lake with construction waste coincides with reports of his influence at Queen’s Park. 

A confidential briefing to Premier Doug Ford revealed that Highway 413 was realigned by 600 metres in Caledon to avoid cutting through Cortellucci-linked lands, described as a “developer proposed alignment.”

Those lands, confirmed by Global News through property records, belong to the Cortellucci family, longtime Progressive Conservative (PC) donors who’ve previously benefited from Minister’s Zoning Orders.

Parfitt warns that people across Ontario should be concerned, as approving fill below the water table in Caledon could set a dangerous precedent province-wide. 

“Right in this very moment, it is actually illegal to do this. That’s the whole reason the site bylaw is coming forward…once that site bylaw passes, it’s going to be legal,” she added, adding that the loss of institutional memory is already putting Peel’s groundwater at risk.

Multiple senior staff members in Caledon were either terminated or resigned in the latter half of 2023 and early 2024, following Groves’ use of strong mayor powers to remove the former Chief Administrative Officer, Carey Herd, who was replaced by Erin CAO Nathan Hyde without council input or a formal application process.

The Region of Peel, also tasked with groundwater protection, is facing a similar staff exodus amid ongoing uncertainty about its future since the dissolution of the Region of Peel was announced.

“When people with decades of experience leave, that knowledge is gone. New staff coming in from urban areas may not understand the rural water systems we depend on,” Parfitt said.

A September 18 community event is being planned at Belain Farm, next to Swan Lake, to raise awareness and rally support. Organizers say it’s both a celebration of the summer’s activism and a call to arms ahead of Council’s September 23 meeting, when residents hope to pressure the Town to rescind the Swan Lake decision.

“This is bigger than Swan Lake. It’s about whether rural Ontario’s drinking water and voice still matter,” Crandall noted.

The Pointer made multiple attempts to get a response from the Town of Caledon regarding the explanation for the cancellation of the open house meeting, but did not receive a response. 

Email: anushka.yadav@thepointer.com

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