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Relax
In January, The Times told the story of folks living on Sandy Hook and Ridge Roads who had received a letter over the Christmas holidays describing municipal plans to run a road through their homes and across their property. Anxiety and much stress ensued. Understandably so.
The road was intended to connect the town to Base31 in anticipation of new homes planned on the former military base. Progress waits for no one.
Settled lives were suddenly upended with the arrival of the mail. One Ridge Road resident explained that the new road would send traffic through his living room. For others, the new route bisected lawns, gardens and fields. These residents pushed back. They believed that this County home would be their last. Council members caught the blowback. Letters. Phone calls. Heated meetings. In time, Shire Hall relented, and officials apologized. The notice had been sent prematurely. It was a mistake. Not a mistake of fact. Not a mistake of the plan. Instead, the mistake was the timing of the notice. Letting these folks in on municipal plans—for their homes—was the oversight.
Last week, Council formally removed the proposed roadway extension from County plans. Residents’ homes were saved. The vote was unanimous. Mayor Steve Ferguson addressed the residents in the council chamber.
“Thank you all very much for coming out this evening. I hope you all understand that this has been dealt with, and you can relax,” assured Mayor Ferguson.
The matter was done. Council members felt good about themselves. They had saved homes threatened by their own team. Relieved residents went home. Hurrah!
Indeed, it is over for these folks. But the entire episode points to a more insidious creeping disease.
Shire Hall continues to race ahead furiously, preparing for a mass wave of new residents and new homebuilding. Studying. Planning. Designing. For a future it believes is imminent.
Yet every market signal points to a flat—perhaps negative—economic outlook for the next year or longer. Many forecasters expect the uncertainty to continue until at least Trump is gone in four years (if he goes). The city of Kingston is bracing for a decline in population. The municipality’s building data shows just 10 new home permits issued so far in 2025. CMHC reported that the annual pace of housing starts continued to slow in February compared with January.
Shire Hall, however, remains bullish about the prospects for an unprecedented building boom. As evidence it has a list of developer intentions. This list and $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Rise. Yet still, Shire Hall is running ahead, spending money, drawing up scenarios and disrupting lives. It is betting big.
It’s alright. Just relax.
The Transportation Master Plan presented last week and adopted by Council proposes spending $104 million over the next 20 years. (Side question: Why do such big and multifaceted plans continue to come directly to Council? Such complex files tend to benefit from broader and less formal discussions afforded at committee meetings.)
Here is the thing: Shire Hall doesn’t have this kind of money. If it did, I expect most residents would prefer it spent on making their roads passable rather than building new ones. Yet the municipality makes grand plans—roads, waterworks—with no means to pay for them. While existing roads crumble back into the earth.
Council was assured it doesn’t need to fund any of these plans to approve the new Transportation Master Plan. Furthermore, none of these plans will proceed until a funding plan can be devised, senior levels of government write cheques or developers are persuaded to help out. Relax.
So what’s the point? Why does Shire Hall continue to generate paper? Without a reasonable prospect any of it will be relevant by the time it is needed? It’s dollars that are desperately needed elsewhere. Today.
Worse, it turns out that Shire Hall already has a Transportation Management Plan. It was prepared in 2021—just four years ago. It was bought and paid for. Now, it has produced another—this one specifically for the Picton settlement area. It’s collecting Plans, it seems.
The consultant explained that the reason given to him for this assignment was that “growth assumptions differ from the plan completed just four years ago.”
Wait. What? If growth assumptions have changed in four years, it isn’t because of growth. If they differ, it is because expectations have changed. Why are existing residents and ratepayers paying for this plan? Why aren’t the developers who will benefit and who generate profits paying for it?
We can’t afford the roads we have. But we don’t talk about it. Instead, we forge ahead, spending big dollars on consultants to come up with new roads that we can’t afford and will neglect if they are ever built. Reports pile up. Consultants stay busy. Residents get poorer. And your road continues to fade away. Relax.
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