[URBAN NOTE] "Is this farm the last frontier of GTA sprawl?"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Alex Ballingall writes about the last remnants of an eastern GTA farm set to be erased by development.

Time has chipped acres away from the old Westney family farm for more than a century, and now nearby residents in Ajax and Pickering want to halt suburban sprawl to save what’s left of a piece of local history.

The two-acre plot of former farmland is subject to a development proposal that would plop 19 new houses in a cluster around the 19th century Westglen farmhouse, which was designated a heritage site in 1985. A group of neighbours and history enthusiasts has organized a “Save Westglen” campaign, worrying that the new construction, as proposed, would obscure the house and diminish a landmark that’s significant to the story of communities east of Toronto.

“To reduce that family and what they’ve done to just the smallest fraction and this tiny footprint, that’s the real injustice here,” said Paul Gittens, who lives near the old farm.

“It’s high time that the politicians and the developers need to recognize what is going on. We are losing historical sites to commerce and to greed.”

Tribute Communities, the developer that owns the old farm property, did not respond to requests for comment from the Star.