Too often we see our local municipalities bow down to the wants and desires of developers, but last week, Bracebridge town council proved it is not going to be bullied any longer.

It’s something other municipalities should pay attention to.

Last week, Mattamy Homes, developers of the Clearbrook subdivision in the north end of town, by the new sportsplex, said it wants the $60,000 it pledged for a new playground returned if the town forces the company to carry on with a proposed traffic study.

The study was asked for by the town after a recent application to add 80 more homes to the subdivision.

Mattamy’s representative told council the company doesn’t have the money to provide both the playground and the traffic study.

Bracebridge has been seen of late as a developer-friendly town, with developers having taken over a number of lands and clear cut them. So it was actually a little surprising to see council stand up to Mattamy Homes, given the scope of the project.

Past local councils have had a penchant for greasing the wheels when big business comes to town.

In Gravenhurst in the past year, the town agreed to waive the letter of credit for the construction of the Marriott hotel. This letter of credit would ensure that everything on the site plan is completed as promised, and if not there would be funds available to the municipality to get the work done itself.

It seems developers are always looking for a break. In early spring in both Bracebridge and Gravenhurst developers requested exemptions to the half-load limit, which protects our roads during the spring thaw. Thankfully both councils quickly quashed the requests.

While it’s important for our economy to have growth, it’s just a shame that it seems a lot of compromises have been made by our municipalities in order to sway big business and developers to build in our communities.

Developers, however, would probably say they are the ones compromising by having to fork over huge amounts of money in development fees.

When situations arise where taxes are continuing to rise for much-needed infrastructure improvements, councillors have to ask themselves who is more important, and how do we make sure that both sides benefit when new development is proposed?

A traffic study in an area that has the potential to become increasingly busy because of an addition to a subdivision is appropriate.

The decision last week by Bracebridge council to stand up for its request is a good start, and hopefully this attitude will become the rule, rather than the exception.

KF