Brampton and Development

B

It’s somewhat amusing and at the same time saddening to read the advertisements of the new home builders in the Brampton Guardian and in the Toronto Star. They praise Brampton’s clean air, open spaces et al. They mention its beautiful fields, large amounts of greenery and its home-town feel.

Bull.

Brampton is being suburbanized and in a big way. Any land that developers can find that is flat is being bulldozed as quickly as possible. What used to be farmland is being eaten up by the insatiable appetite of people who want houses. Unfortunately – I too am a culprit in this. I live in a reasonably decent sized house in Brampton… Sometimes it makes me sick to my stomach when I think of the irreperable harm that I am foisting upon the environment.

Just recently I was travelling on the outskirts of Brampton when I noticed a beautiful field. Flat as the eye could see with a huge growth of trees in the distance. Silence prevailed for a few minutes as I watched the wildflowers slowly shifting in the wind. I turned and told my Mom – “I hope this remains like this – it’s beautiful”. She slowly shook her head no and said: “The builders are buying a plot next to this and this field will be turned into a storm water pond”. In that moment I truly understood the feeling of frustration, the feeling of regret and sadness. We are destroying some of the most beautiful land in Canada to build more and more houses and 4 lane wide roads as well as massive pavements. Sculpted grass falls as well as concrete storm water ponds are the future here.

Welcome to Brampton. Where would you like to build today?

2 comments

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  • I agree with your observations, I have been living in Brampton for about 13 years and the development in the past 5 years has been at an unsustainable rate.

    The city does not have the infrastructure to support the population increase, one just has to drive on the 410 to witness this

  • After observing the situation more closely I think that Brampton is attempting to mimic Mississauga’s growth model. Unfortunately, I think that they’ve blinded themselves to the problems that are the result of that kind of development.

    If you observe Mississauga one sees the same pattern. The city granted as many permits as possible to developers. Houses, commercial buildings – you want it – you can build it. Then a few years ago, suburban housing spaces started to become scarce. Now we have condos in the city center and the future for Mississauga is looking more and more urban as opposed to suburban.

    Superfically all looks good – you’ve got a large tax base, increasing dense development in the city center etc. But what of the traffic problems? The fact that the city center is (for all intents and purposes) a pedestrian wasteland? The fact that transit might as well not work?

    Brampton looks like its going down that same road…

    You’re right – Brampton doesn’t have the infrastructure to support this growth. I don’t even see _how_ it can put this infrastructure in place. Transit simply can’t operate efficiently in a city with hundreds of small winding streets with a stop sign at every corner. It can’t operate well in an area with comparatively low residential density. We’re not designing for the future and I think its an open secret. But as long as we’re not complaining – no one cares.