A Back-to-the-Land Building Plan

The notion of a modern agro-eco-community may sound to some like an idealistic, neo-hippie group hug. But for Harley Valentine, it’s exactly the kind of place he wants to live—and he thinks others will too. Valentine is a partner at Castlepoint Numa, a Toronto-based development company that is proposing a new kind of residential community.

“We think there’s an exceptional opportunity here in the Town of The Blue Mountains to use an existing policy drafted by Grey County in 2016 to support innovative forms of rural development—residential farm cooperatives,” says Valentine.

The proposed residential farm cooperative, called Thornbury Acres, is being planned for 150 acres at the corner of Grey Road 2 and Grey Road 40. The plan would include 37 homesteads of about 1.5 acres each. The remaining land would be agricultural in nature and include garden plots and fruit orchards, as well as a market garden, butternut meadow, bee apiary and community food market.

“We think it’s very timely here in 2023 responding to the disconnect between families and farming, food security, food awareness and food quality,” says Valentine.

While the farmland would be for the use of the co-op residents, any excess food production could be sold to the wider community through the farm market.

The proposal was described in detail to the town council at a public meeting in The Blue Mountains. Castlepoint Numa is seeking amendments to the official plan and zoning bylaws to allow the novel development to move forward. The land is currently zoned Rural and Special Ag. A golf course was previously approved for the site.

Council members asked a few questions while some members of the public raised concerns about affordable housing, labour shortages and the availability of municipal services.

Kathie Houghton is the current owner of a portion of the property that she believes would otherwise be developed into a single residential estate, she says this proposal offers something different and innovative.

“Right now there are 16 acres of vacant farmland on my property and this proposal will turn that into 52 acres of human-scale farming, which I think is very, very exciting for the area,” says Houghton.

The company is also requesting a plan of condominium to allow for the creation of the farm cooperative. Valentine told council the condominium would include specific language to ensure that common elements could not be removed from the condominium without the county and town’s authorization. Valentine acknowledges that the plan is unique but he says it checks all of the boxes.

“The policy that the county put forward has very high thresholds, including allocating 60 percent of the land towards agriculture-based uses. We’ve met all of those thresholds.”

Town staff will now prepare their reports before the request comes before council again in mid June.