The Land of the "Meadow": A Look at the Predicament of Suburban Ancaster

If we really want to renew Ancaster's beauty and character, we have to think critically and act decisively to change things for the better.

By Jeremy Parsons
Published April 24, 2009

Commentary

In high school I rode the bus to school every morning and passed by a beautiful forest on the edge of my town. Without fail, I watched from my window-seat as the seasons changed and the woodland transformed to display stunning auburns and yellows, bright white tree tops, and vibrant fresh buds in the spring.

By my grade twelve year, things started to change. The forest was roped off, construction crews moved in, and backhoes beeped to signal the beginning of a new project. Before graduation came, my daily commute no longer included any sign of the woods near the edge of town.

All that was left was a shiny, newly furnished subdivision with an entrance road entitled "Conservation Blvd".

Aside from being terribly ironic and saddening, the situation is also remarkably far-reaching. It's a story that is drastically redefining the Canadian landscape and our home here in Ancaster has been hit particularly hard by the winds of development.

Rich History Takes Back Seat to Expansion

As one of Canada's oldest towns (ca. 1793), Ancaster is endowed with a rich history and a wealth of natural resources. Yet in recent years, this natural and cultural legacy has taken a backseat to the pressing nature of development.

In a recent article for View Magazine, freelance journalist stated, "Ancaster's current growth plan calls for expanding Hamilton's urban boundary to absorb 3,000 acres of farmland around the airport and another 2,800 in the Elfrida area."

It is particularly disheartening to me to know that he is talking not about some area miles away, but our own community. Widespread housing has characterized the region with cookie-cutter houses and unnecessary material prosperity.

Comfort has become the preoccupation of the buyer and money the drug of the developer. The idea of reasonable, stewardly expansion has been turned upside down in favour of getting that McMansion of a dream home.

Richard Harris, McMaster University Professor and author of the book Creeping Conformity: How Canada became suburban, 1900-1960 (University of Toronto Press, 2004) notes, "builders respond to consumers. Most consumers respond to market [prices], and not to ethical principles. So the driving force behind suburban choices will be costs, especially of energy."

Ontario's Wealthiest Suburb

Now described as "Ontario's wealthiest suburb", Ancaster has made a name for itself as a luxurious privatized community. Everywhere you go you are confronted by images of wealth and affluence.

According to CanEquity, Ancaster is listed as one of the richest communities in the nation. Residents earn an average gross income of $91,073.79 per year and families have an average of one child per home. Further research on the topic showed that housing prices in the town typically range from $209,000 to $600,000.

As you know, the situation is much different a few kilometres down the mountain and the stark contrast is characteristic of working-class cities such as Hamilton.

My university, Redeemer University College, has also not been innocent throughout this whole process. We have virtually sold out to developers in a number of ways, the most potent of which is our pacifism and indifference.

Within the last few years, leaders at Redeemer have hastily quartered off a large portion of the "Redeemer woods" behind the school to sell to ravenous developers. Today, the woodlot has been drastically thinned out and much of it bulldozed over to make way for Starward Homes' "newest exclusive community": Kitty Murray Woods.

Parallels Across the Mountain

This situation has parallels across the mountain and throughout the entirety of the Ancaster area (save of course a small area that makes up the Old Towne Centre). In fact, just this week on a run into town, I came across another looming sign declaring the re-zoning of a natural area on Sulphur Springs Rd. By early May, this hilly forest will become another sign of the looming tide of aesthetically unpleasing, steward-less suburbanization.

The problem lies not only in our submissiveness to the forces buying up our land, but also in our lack of education. Being surrounded by the happy, Disney-esque nature of modern suburbia, we are ushered in with the crowd and become blind to the disparaging make-up of the North American subdivision.

It all begins with a desire to get away from the "smog and business" of the city and to live in these "safe" neighbourhoods surrounded by fences and even security cameras.

Separation from the downtown core seems to have become a motto of sorts for many mountain dwellers. We can't stand the "unclean" idea of living in the interior of the city, and yet we commute to its offices every day.

Commuter Culture

Of course, one of the main issues with suburbanization is the idea of the commuter culture. Automobile use is practically a must in communities such as Meadowlands due to the vast, low-density housing and the inefficient use of the land.

Being situated at the cusp of what many would term the "climax of peak oil", it is difficult to justify wasting natural resources in such a self-centred manner. Perspective seems to have been largely skewed somewhere along the line; image has overtaken ethical considerations for living.

Biking into the city is inconvenient at best and public transit is seen smugly with the same soiled label. As a result, residents are compelled to drive to work every morning, going from closed-door to closed-door, limiting any chance of neighbourly interaction. Consequently, community is sacrificed in the suburban neighbourhood and privacy is given full precedence.

John Archer, author of the book Architecture and Suburbia: From English Villa to American Dream House, 1690-2000 satirically writes, "Ideals of privacy, property, and selfhood - overoptimistically embodied - splendidly realized in the single nuclear-family detached house, set in its private surrounding yard. And no matter the threats of global warming or energy shortages, the solutions that we pursue are going to adhere to those ideals."

Call to Activism

So here's the take-home question: what can we do about the [de]construction of our neighbourhood? What is the role of the student in the materialistic world of the suburban dream home?

I would echo the call to activism that many students hold to during their university years.

Just a few years back, students from the University of Victoria staged a small-scale tree-sit to protest the clearing of Cunningham Woods-a woodlot on the edge of campus.

Within weeks, national news organizations were covering the story and the activist-students became famous for their response. After months of successfully occupying the forest canopy in protest, the students headed home over spring break in triumph.

Sadly, this wasn't the end of the story. While the students were at home, construction crews and developers snuck in and flattened the forest. Upon returning, the campus community was devastated; their much-loved woodland was gone.

In many ways, I feel as if a great portion of our campus community at Redeemer University College is the same. We don't see the problem until it we are hit over the head with the gravity of it all. It doesn't seem to matter until it's infringing on our personal space, until it breaks into our own bubble.

Duty to Change things for Good

The reality of the situation is much more pervasive. As Christian students, it is distinctly part of our calling to react to situations of injustice and mismanagement with fervour and conviction. We are called to challenge the exploitation of God's creation and renew the notion of responsible stewardship.

With our suburban metropolis engulfing vast amounts of farmland and greenspace, we have our work cut out for us, but so do you. We can't waste time being flaccid on these issues! If we really want to renew Ancaster's beauty and character, we have to think critically and act decisively to change things for the better.

Walking, biking, running or taking public transit are all ways we can challenge the necessity of the personal automobile and save valuable resources. Volunteering in Ancaster is also a great step to help build a sense of community in Meadowlands and to encourage change to the inwardly-focused resident.

Other organizations promoting community and challenging the suburban sprawl are:

The Hamilton Community Action Network
Raise the Hammer
The Dundas Valley Conservation Authority; and
Citizens at City Hall (CATCH).

Jeremy Parsons is a second year student at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario doing a double major in Recreation and French. He has a love for distance running, outdoor education, community-building, and deep relationship with God.

28 Comments

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By Cityjoe (anonymous)
Posted April 24, 2009 16:09:18

I am in total agreement with Mr. Parsons. In the decade that we have lived here so many changes have happened, & most of them were not for the good. The last straw came for me when the building that housed the 1st regular newspaper in Upper Canada was torn down on Christmas Eve a few years ago. (If this building had not been designated as a Heritage Building then, it certainly ought to have been.)

Well, where do you, we, me start, Mr. Parsons... People will always want to sell their property at a profit. If people attach no importance to a beautiful forest, how can you make them aware. You cannot force people to recognize what it is that makes their town a place of beauty, if they do not see it already. If they feel that being the most affluent community around is all that is necessary, then there is no argument to be made. The smell of money will drown out the exhaust fumes from Wilson Street. Trees are just there to be made into currency.

Whatever the process is that is currently moving at full throttle, you, we, me clearly have no control over it. Perhaps it Is the will of the majority of Ancaster residents. Who is to say, because who ever asks.

One thing I do know is that Voice of Ancaster is limited to a very few people. If you do not fit into this leader caste, then you have no voice & no right to form an opinion, at least out loud. I think this is in part why things are the way they are. How many people have just decided that they may live here & pay taxes here, but it is of no consequence how they feel about a place that they should think of as Home. I for one, gave up caring years ago. How can you care about something that does not seem to care about itself. How can you care about something that prides itself in not sharing any beliefs about the future, except more of the same.

At any rate, I exist here, but I do not live here. This is my place of residence, but it is no longer my Home. I can not be bothered getting involved with a place that can not be bothered to cast an objective glance without the rose coloured glasses on.

If anyone finds this post objectionable since I do not get nosebleeds from sitting on my wallet, do not wear my faith on my sleeve, or have not lived here in terms of generations rather than years...take heart. Ancaster, sadly is getting exactly what it seems to want, & who is Mr. Parsons, or anybody else to disagree with that. It is always far easier to sweat the small stuff, bee-otch & kvetch, assign blame about nothing much, than it is to actually Do Something About the Important Things. As long as residents allow themselves to be swept up in the never ending piddling, fibbing, & plotting that seems to be a disease here, they will be distracted from the real issues. (But perhaps that is exactly how they want it.)

Pave paradise & put in a parking lot, - Joni Mitchell

I have not put any question marks or quotations into this post because:
1) These are all rhetorical questions & really do not require an answer.
2) The question mark & quotation keys on the computer are not working.

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