Mono Mayor Lorie Haddock and town staff have responded to a flood of criticism by local citizens' groups regarding the proposed Pine Glen Farms subdivision, which would be built north of Highway 9 in between First and Second Lines EHS.

Both the Mono Mulmur Citizens Coalition (MC2) and the Greater Island Lake Community Association (GILCA) have been campaigning against the 335-unit plan, saying it is unnecessary to build so many homes. They also say such a subdivision is not in line with the rural character of Mono.

In a letter to the editor, Harvey Kolodny, writing on behalf of the MC2 board of directors, said: "The Mono website statement of "Rolling hills, trees and meadows. Room to run, to stretch, to breathe." does not reconcile with the decision that was made by Mono Council."

Later in the same letter, he asked if "being a resident of Mono means being a resident of the kind of urban sprawl the Greenbelt was intended to control?"

In a press release, Mayor Haddock has said that "with the more judicious use of land and utilizing the land to a high- er set of standards, we are not wasting a dwindling resource.

"In taking the long view with intensification rather than sprawl we are ensuring an end product that does not unnecessarily inflate the value of that end product to the cost of the taxpayer forever."

Mono planning director Mark Early concurred with the mayor. "They say we're sprawling when, in fact, we're doing the exact opposite. We're intensifying."

The coalition and GILCA have also publicly maintained that 100 houses could be eliminated from the Pine Glen plan and still accommodate the growth projections put forth by the province in its Places to Grow policy.

"In fact," the subdivision's opponents say, "Mono can continue its historic growth rates of 30 to 35 homes per year and fully comply with these provincial targets."

Over the next 20 years, that would mean between 600 and 700 homes, with the Mono average of 3.14 residents each, would accommodate the 2,200 new residents MC2 and GILCA say Mono would need to meet the Places to Grow requirements.

Mr. Early has pointed out that current development in Mono calls for the construction of approximately 620 new homes. That figure, however, includes the controversial Pine Glen development having more than 300 new homes.

Other developments in Mono include Watermark on Highway 10, southwest of the Hockley Road intersection (about 180 homes), Highcastle north of Cardinal Woods (70), and Hockley Village (30).

MC2 and GILCA have said the Dufferin County Growth Management Study "concludes that Mono needs to add approximately 2200 people by the year 2031."

The population growth table in the same study indicates that Mono's population had, between 1986 and 2006, grown from 4,270 to 7,071 for an annual average growth rate of 2.6 per cent.

Should such a rate continue, Mono's population would grow by 3,800 by 2026. If the average rate of 3.14 people per house remains the same, there will be a conceivable need for over 1,200 new homes.

The same table does indicate, though, that the most prominent annual growth, (6.3 per cent) occurred between 1986 and 1991.

Between 2001 and 2006, the rate had slowed to .4 per cent.

By pursuing a policy of intensification, Mayor Haddock has pointed out that utilities, roads and sewage systems will be more efficient.

The original Pine Glen plan, also called Island Lake Phase 3, called for private septic systems. The latest one contains a communal system which Mr. Early said allows for lots not to be as large, since less effluent dispersal is required.

A communal sewage system is far more sustainable that private septic systems in the long term," said Mayor Haddock. "We proved that with the user pay communal water system. Sewage plant technology has been around in various forms in Ontario for a long time and town engineers have carefully considered the technologies that we would allow in Mono, both from a best practice quality perspective and from an operational view."

Mr. Early said the lot frontages in the subdivision, at 60 feet, will still be substantial. As well, roughly ten per cent of the lots will have a 120-foot frontage.

Added Mayor Haddock: "We are not Brampton or Mississauga or even Orangeville. We do not have semis, townhouses or 20 foot lot frontages, so we are still true to Mono, based on a larger lot size, while still providing sustainable services. This development offers another option to current and new residents for a home in Mono with a smaller lot to maintain."

Mr. Early noted that communal sewage systems are more expensive than private ones at the outset, but are more cost-efficient in the long run because they, as opposed to private systems, can accommodate newer, more efficient treatment technologies as they come along.

During public meetings on the matter, GILCA has raised its concerns over potential traffic congestion and noise pollution.

GILCA member Clive Hollingberry maintains that Ministry of Transportation traffic studies have said that Highway 9 in the area of the proposed new development is at 85 per cent of its current design capacity.

Based the current capacity and the additional traffic that will be added as a result of the development, Mr. Hollingberry has told town council that the flow will increase to 140 per cent.

He says MTO has given its approval, conditional on the results of a traffic impact study.

The Ministry "clearly states they have no objection to the planning applications, and the subdivision moving ahead," said Mr. Early.

"They have indicated that there are four conditions of approval, one of which is a traffic impact study. This study has been completed, has been amended to address MTO comments, and as I understand is nearing final MTO approval.

"The Town will be placing these conditions in our approval conditions.

"If the MTO does not approve of the traffic impact study, the development fails, simple as that."