Jaymor was listed as a contributor to Mayor Noble's last election campaign. A first class politician would not accept money from developers but this one does. It means he owes them something. What did he promise and not deliver? Water and sewers of course. It is a given in planning circles that intensive development always follows sewer lines. There was a plan last election to get voting control of Council and push this through. The government and the people of the Town of South Bruce Peninsula were to pay for infrastructure that was always destined for developers to use. About 4 months into term the scheme began to fall apart mainly because the people objected in a big way.

You can see the reference to the same 480 Jaymor lots in this article in the Echo, March 2004. If you read between the lines you can see a bit of wishful thinking in Noble's words. By the way an adult living centre is an adult lifestyle condo development. Gary hit it right on in his comment.

Remember at this time a lot of money had been paid to Powerbud. Powerbud had billed for hiring other lobbyists and for studying the 2003 election candidates to see who was most likely to support the pipeline. That information was probably used in a private mass mailing at ballot mailing time. Never doubt there was an orchestrated plan to control council. It fell apart even with the best efforts of the main backer the Sauble Chamber of Commerce.

The same thing is happening again in this election race. There are rumours that Brian Fulford is out of favour and business support is behind Jessika Husak instead. It is all about getting voting control. Don't be fooled again in this election.

The strategy of running John Close and Carl Noble for mayor seemed okay at first. If Carl didn't make it John would carry on the program. There are problems with that strategy now because Gwen Gilbert is turning out to be a popular alternative choice. There are even some strong indications of outright fear that there may be a power shift.

Putting Paul Kastner into the mix almost sounds like a late attempt to throw a fog up with five candidates for mayor and try to get people to vote for the incumbent.

Impatient with us they are. Upset and angry, and revving up to do something about our hillbilly backwoods notion that, just because this area may be geographically the very last un-spoiled accessibly livable land left in Southern Ontario, there's such a significant number of us with the dad-burned gaul to just not see how sudden unbridled and massive resort-style development fits into any image of "a really nice place to live, work and play". Fed up they are. Fed up with waiting on The Process to give them the free sewer and water so vital to their profit model. So the Jaymor wolves are giving up on priming our politics; you want a snow job done, you gotta do it yourself ...

"We're turning up the heat on the project right now, meeting with other consultants and professional lobbyists to help it along," said Fab Lucchese, a principal with Jaymor Group, which acquired the 80-hectare site two years ago.
"It's not really feasible with private sewer and water. We'd really like to see and use municipal services."
[ via Developers to push for water, sewage systems at Sauble Beach ]

Oh, no doubt they would, eh? And gee, I'd love the use of a 5 BR condo in Florida and my own Leer Jet to truck the family down to it, all paid for by some kind anonymous taxpayers, local or federal, with narry a promise from me save that maybe I might be a nice productive citizen for weeks after.

The mind reels at the audacity of someone like Fab Lucchese to stand before a reporter and straightfacedly spout such stuff, but then, as we all know, no one tells a lie with such grace as the deluded.

Then again, maybe you'd like a 480-plot influx of settlement complete with "a clubhouse, swimming pool, tennis courts, a small golf course with a water feature and other resort amenities" which most any present-day resident in this average-income $27K region might afford to enjoy. After all, it's done absolute wonders for spurring the boxmall sprawl in Barrie, and that just has to be good for the planet, right?

It's all about finishing with more toys than everyone else. Isn't it.

Or is it. I was pondering the phrase Muskoka style development from the posting above, and y'know, I got to thinking, looking at the map of the great grand peninsula of Southern Ontario.

It's a peninsula, y'know. Completely surrounded on three sides by water of the lakes and the Ottawa, and there's precious little of it left that's not condos, monetized, developed into a profitable (sic) real-estate. What is the value of a bog, afterall? Or of a sunset, or a warbler. Nil. No value whatsoever, nothing you could take to any bank in any nation anywhere. Worthless. As worthless as a kiss or the laugh of a baby or the ozone layer. So what the hell, pave it, at least you can make some money, at least you can buy some neat-o nifty lithium-powered toys chocked full of tantalum landfill. Sounds like a fab idea to me.

Niagra, Erie, Lake St. Clair, Muskoka, Grand Bend, Wasaga, Orillia ... at least we'd be in good company. And we'd have that warm fuzzy feeling knowing that our higher taxrates were going directly into the pockets of probably off-shore corporate shareholders we will never ever in our lives walk down the street and tip our hats to.

So yes, Lucchese, I suppose I agree with you: the cancerous development and insatiable thirst for shareholder returns is inevitable and anyone opposing your plan must truly be shortsighted, or mad as a hatter, or both. Like an ex-RoyalBank branch manager once told me, if I don't like the bank's obscene recordbreaking profits, then I have only myself to blame for not buying shares to implicate my soul and conscience in it. Just stands to reason.

Likewise, the future is coming and you can buy shares to recoup some of those waterworks tax hikes, or you can just pay the hike and sit grumping at the local timmies. It's not like there's an alternative, any sustainable alter-destiny on the table, anything capable of pulling the plugs on the lithium chargers because warblers beat iPods any day.

I can't believe I said that.

BTW, for those counsellors who agree with my business plan for them funding me my own florida condo and leer jet, I just want to point out that dab-blast it you should have bought me those things 10 years ago on account o' the price has gone way high on both while you been backpedal dallying!