November 19, 2023 Hello…

November 19, 2023
Hello Premier Doug Ford,
Why is our farm so popular, it seems that a lot of people want to have a say about our property and will not except the opinion of the people living on the actual property?
We do support the decision to put our land back in the Greenbelt.
We have a family farm on the south side of Garner Road West in Ancaster, Ontario. My parents purchased the 45 acre property in the 1960's. The size of farm has been considered a "hobby farm" as we have grown cash crops for many years. The crops are harvested and are loaded on a ship in the Hamilton harbor and sent overseas to China. The crops do not feed local citizens. This is a misconception that all farmers feed local families. The farm has never been large enough and is not deemed viable to make a living.
The land south of Garner Road between Shavers Road and Fiddler's Green Road is the only section of land between Trinity Road and Hwy 56 that is not developed or designated for development. The remaining 30 km section is residential, commercial, business park, airport lands. To have our stretch of Garner Road in the Greenbelt does not make any sense, the land is no different than what has already been developed. How can our land be deemed Greenbelt when the adjacent lands are not.
In 2005 our land was designated as Whitebelt. In 2016 the City of Hamilton put our property in the Greenbelt for no rational reason. This process should be looked at further. We support the PC's decision to remove our land from the greenbelt. If we are to sell our farm in the future, the reality is a farmer will not purchase the farm, a developer will outbid any farmer based on the proximity to the developed areas around the farm and that Garner Road is right on the urban boundary.
Please review the stretch of Garner Road prior to returning it to the Greenbelt. This is a beautiful area to develop a community of housing that could serve the businesses around it as well as the growing population.
Furthermore, Garner Road is to be widened in the near future to accommodate the increased growth.
Thank you,