By Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
More details will soon be released surrounding the controversial move by the region to destroy a 160-acre plot of corn just weeks away from being harvested.
Wilmot Township Mayor Natasha Salonen’s motion at a recent region meeting was passed unanimously and a public report will be released, likely in early September. She said elected officials should be kept in the loop and she wants to find out if employees at the region attempted to keep the corn until harvest time.
“The public has a lot more questions and is continually asking for transparency. I wanted it to be a public report and my motion did pass unanimously. Staff will be bringing back a report that will include mitigation that was taken,” Salonen said.
She explained she does not see the investigation as a witch hunt but rather as a turning point and a step toward the public getting more information.
The region paid farmers from Strathroy to plow under the corn crop. In a statement, the region said the plowing was required to complete various studies, including topographic surveys and archeological assessments, before closing land-purchase transactions.
The destruction drew sharp criticism from local farmers and environmentalists, as well as Wilmot Coun. Harvir Sidhu.
“The destruction of crop weeks out from harvest is an attack on our community and the values we hold,” he said in a social media post.
Sidhu and fellow councillor Kris Wilkinson were the first municipal politicians to publicly criticize the region for its land-assembly practices.
During a recent interview on Mike Farwell’s radio show last week, regional Coun. Rob Deutschmann said they were not aware the crop would be destroyed, just that some testing was going to occur.
“Members of council I’ve interacted with are very upset about what’s happened there. We need to find out what occurred,” he said.
The Fight for Farmland group issued a press release and said people are “still confounded by the lack of information, the lack of answers and the lack of even a single public meeting about such a massive development in Wilmot Township contrary to all previous planning.”
Regional chair Karen Redman said the report will answer some questions including actions that were done to mitigate having to plow the crop under. She added a fair and equitable settlement is the priority, but some of the negotiations are driven by the parameters put on by landowners.
“One of them is when a purchase is closed, some of what has to happen before that is to have the due diligence. There are 25 or 30 items on that list. The report coming back to council will talk about what actions were taken to avoid plowing the corn under.”
The Gazette asked Redman if the report would reveal what employee or employees at the region made the call since all councillors said they had no idea it would happen. She added regional staff and the province are heading the purchasing details.
“Regional staff have not operated outside of the direction of regional council, also recognizing negotiations can be fast-moving and changing. We don’t sit at the table of those daily negotiations but our staff have been in contact, sometimes several times a day, with staff from the province.”
She added the disposal of the corn was a result of some of the wishes the landowner had for a closing date and some of the other requirements before the deal closed.
“(Staff) did not direct that,” Redman said. “Regional council wants to know what the process was. That will be part of the report.”
The region said it consulted with other Ontario municipalities, such as St. Thomas, to find out the do’s and don’ts and what to anticipate.
“I think this situation is pretty unique,” Redman said.
There has been a great amount of speculation that a major suitor was knocking on the door in Wilmot to develop a massive industrial site. Redman wouldn’t name any names but admitted there has been interest.
“I would tell you there are tire-kickers out there who are watching this process unfold. Could I name who that client or new industrial partner would be? I can’t. I would tell you there has been a lot of interest. We can quantify where billions of dollars and thousands of jobs went to other communities because we weren’t shovel ready,” she said.
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