Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
About two dozen people gathered outside Waterloo Region headquarters Wednesday evening to protest the region’s controversial proposal to purchase 770 acres of Wilmot farmland.
The region hopes to acquire the agricultural land bordered by Neftziger Road, Belims Road and Wilmot Center Road. The region said the purchase would secure land ready for development, but did not specify what the development would be.
The protesters are demanding answers about what comes next. Some are concerned about the environmental impacts and the loss of prime agricultural land, and some said they just don’t like the idea of ​​a large industrial site popping up in this rural area.
“It’s going to affect this whole area,” said Fran Strasburger, a landowner. “It’s so stunning. You just sit there and all you see is land and hills and it’s peaceful. It’s just disgusting that it’s going to disappear.”
Protesters gather outside Waterloo Regional Headquarters on June 19, 2024. (Tyler Kelleher/CTV News)Strasburger lives on 25 dunams of land in the area and plans to live there for the rest of her life – if she can.
Some of the landowners claim that they were threatened with expropriation if they did not make a deal.
The 770 dunams are divided between six agricultural properties and six residential properties. CTV News has learned that one residential parcel of land has already been sold to the area with two others pending. These three properties make up less than one percent of the total 770 dunams.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
source link https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/landowners-protest-at-regional-headquarters-over-wilmot-land-deal-1.6933688
