Protecting Upton Farm – Letter to the Editor

Protecting Upton Farm
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published in The Guardian 12 Feb. 2009

Editor:

Re: Feb. 3 ‘N.S. concert promotor awaits P.E.I. plans’. We can feel secure now that Upton Farm is not going to become the site for a noisy major summer concert this year for which we are deeply grateful. In the midst of this long, cold, snowy and blustery winter, this news is like a breath of pure spring air as the news was presented in The Guardian by Gordon McIvor, vice-president of Canada Lands.

However, we are apprehensive about the direction that may be taken about the future status and use of the Upton Farm property, which we understand is to be imminently presented.

Upton Farm is one of the unique and valued treasures of this extraordinary Island, and we must take every positive step to ensure that it will always remain for the present and future generations. The need to protect its natural green space reflecting its flora and fauna and all that lives in it should be recognized for all generations. And in realizing its natural capacities, we should augment it with visually attractive landscaping designs, already initiated by the students in the planting of hundreds of bulbs in the fall of 2008 for our colourful spring enjoyment. An endless potential is inherent in enhancing the rich natural capacity of Upton Farm as well as to deeply respect our many citizens who want to preserve it.

Many of us are acutely aware of the constant struggle on the part of thousands of citizens in Ontario to preserve and conserve the Niagara Escarpment and the Oak Ridges Moraine.

We can and must do no less than to apply the same rigorous vigil to protect the Upton Farm.

Claude Bell,

Charlottetown

Update on Upton Farmlands Consultations

The Upton Farm Preservation Network would like to thank you all for your ongoing support, and also let you know that our consultations on the future of the Upton Farmlands continue. We have posted links to the minutes of several meetings we have taken part in to date.  Two more meetings have taken place, and those minutes will be posted when available.

To find the minutes, please click on the links you will find below. Please let us know your opinion on how events are proceeding.

http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/MinutesMtg1Upton.pdf

http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/MinutesMtg2Upton.pdf

http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/MinutesMtg3Upton.pdf

http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/MinutesConfCallUpton.pdf

http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/MinutesMtg4Upton.pdf

Consultation Meeting #4 Oct. 6, 2008

http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/MinutesMtg4Upton.pdf

Conference Call July 21, 2008

http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/MinutesConfCallUpton.pdf

Consultation Meeting #3 June 23, 2008

http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/MinutesMtg3Upton.pdf

Consultation Meeting #2 April 28, 2008

http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/MinutesMtg2Upton.pdf

Consultation Meeting #1 April 1, 2008

http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/MinutesMtg1Upton.pdf

Consultation Terms of Reference

 

Upton Farmlands
Consultation Terms of Reference
April 1, 2008
1.
Background to the consultation: The Mayor of Charlottetown, the Premier of Prince Edward Island (PEI), and the Federal Minister responsible for Prince Edward Island have all requested that the Canada Lands Company conduct further consultation regarding the future of the Upton Farm Lands. They have also indicated their interest in keeping the Upton Farmlands green, and in producing an outcome that benefits all stakeholders. In response, Canada Lands Company (CLC) agreed to convene this consultation process.
2.
Goal of the consultation: To identify strategies to ensure that the outcomes of this process are consistent with keeping / making the Upton Farm lands green.
3.
Participants in the consultation:
•
City of Charlottetown (Mayor Clifford Lee, Cecil Villard, Councillor, Ward 7)
•
Province of PEI (Tracy Cutcliffe, Deputy Minister, Community, Cultural Affairs & Labour)
•
Upton Farm Preservation Network (UFPN) (Kirsten Connor and Dianne Bradley)
•
Canada Lands Company (Ron Pachal, General Manager, Real Estate, Atlantic, Robert Howald, Vice President, Real Estate, Eastern Region)
•
Other stakeholders, to be determined based on discussion between the UFPN, the City, the Province, and the CLC
4.
Convenor of the consultation: Canada Lands Company
5.
Facilitators retained by Canada Lands: Canadian Urban Institute (Jeff Evenson, Nicole Swerhun)
6.
Roles and Responsibilities:
All participants in the consultation will:
•
Agree to these Terms of Reference
•
Assist in the development of meeting agendas
•
Ensure that the results of discussions are accurately documented in the form of meeting records that reflect key discussion points/decisions/actions
•
Communicate to and from the organizations they represent
•
Agree that all meeting records from this consultation, as well as the Terms of Reference of the consultation, may be shared publicly by the participants (e.g. via their respective websites)
The land owner (Canada Lands Company) will:
•
Not move forward with any type of development on the property while this consultation process is underway except the one time concert venue.
The facilitators will:
•
Agree to these Terms of Reference
•
Coordinate and facilitate consultation meetings
•
Assist in the development of meeting agendas
•
Produce a record of each meeting (to be circulated to participants in draft before finalizing)
•
Make the meeting records available to the participants
•
Assist in the resolution of issues, as required
7.
Approach to decision-making: Decisions will be made by consensus. In the event that consensus cannot be reached, different opinions will be documented and the participants will decide whether there is still value in continuing the consultation process.
8.
Logistics: Meetings of all participants will begin in April 2008, and will continue as desired by participants in the process.
9.
Concluding the consultation: The consultation will conclude when participants have reached consensus on an outcome, or when the landowner and/or other participants feel that no further progress can be made toward achieving a consensus-based outcome through the consultation process.
A notice of completion of this consultation, along with the outcomes, will be sent by the Canada Lands Company to all participants as well as the Mayor of Charlottetown, the Premier of PEI.

Update on Upton Farm Consultations #1

As a result of the efforts of the Upton Farm Preservation Network and at the request of Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee and PEI Premier Robert Ghiz, Canada Lands Company committed in early 2008 to undertake a new consultation process on the future of the entire Upton Farm property.To assist them, CLC engaged the Centre for the Development of Community Assets of the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI). Initially, the CUI met with approximately 30 stakeholders in Charlottetown, including those opposed to development of Upton Farm, to determine whether some sort of middle ground can be reached on the future of the property.

Based on the CUI’s meetings and further discussion with the City and the Province, CLC moved forward to reconvene the consultation process. The City, the Province, the Upton Farm Preservation Network, and CLC have agreed to participate in this process. The first meeting of the consultation group was on April 1, 2008.

CLC has agreed not to move forward with any type of development on the property while the consultation is underway.

Acadian Commemoration at Upton Farm

Many came to the Acadian Commemoration at Upton

L-R Dr. Doug Sobey, Yvette Murphy (in Acadian dress) & Georges Arsenault

On Sept. 14, historians Dr. Doug Sobey and Georges Arsenault intrigued an audience of over 50 interested listeners with the history of Acadian settlers on the Upton Farmlands. Dog walkers, passersby, Acadian history buffs, as well as Charlottetown MP Shawn Murphy and PC candidate Tom Deblois listened to the presentation which took place on a hill overlooking the beautiful North River and the very location of the Acadian homesteads.