Rouge Park 'needs a new founding deal'

But if no progress is made by Dec. 30, the Alliance should seek to dissolve itself as an arms-length, non-profit agency, instead of remaining a body essentially powerless to act, a newly-released report says.

"What you shouldn't do is stay the way you are right now," John Matheson of Strategy Corp. said as he presented a study meant to resolve Rouge Park's future.

Meant to be a temporary partnership, the Alliance has run the park since it formed in Scarborough.

Rouge Park has since grown to nearly 10,000 acres and Matheson said it needs $4 million a year - plus added capital for extras such as an interpretive centre - to properly manage those lands, instead of the $1.4 million a year it scrapes together.

Though it has many governments and agencies as members, the Alliance cannot own land or do business on its own. It isn't a board for governing the Rouge but "a board for representing the different stakeholders," Matheson said.

The report says a federal or provincial park - with a single source of funds and authority - is the most straightforward answer.

And while Matheson added national parks have a standard of ecological integrity found far from urban areas, Rouge Park can be an exception promoting a park experience to seven million people living in Ontario's Golden Horseshoe.

"It's an extremely attractive gateway experience for the entire fleet of Parks Canada property," he said. "We think this is where the fit is."

The province would have to transfer the land and the federal government may worry about pressure to create more "near-urban" parks, said Matheson, adding to seal the deal Alliance partners must first settle differences of opinion on how a federal park may affect its farmers and neighbouring municipalities' plans for infrastructure and growth. Markham Deputy Mayor Jack Heath, an Alliance member, said the deal may be jeopardized if the park continually resists new roads and sewers. The park must also settle issues on agriculture and residential tenants before a deal is made, not before, he said.

Oak Ridges-Markham MPP Dr. Helena Jazcek, the group's provincial representative, said outside the meeting there is support among her Liberal caucus colleagues for "some sort of resolution" to the park's governance problem.

"Everybody's feeling it's about time," she said, adding with province's deficit, there doesn't seem to be interest in creating a provincial park.

Alliance members gave themselves 60 days to receive comments before making a decision. "Although the study is finished, the work is just started," said chairperson Alan Wells.

Also at the meeting, Markham farmer John Kay said he thought Rouge Park should have incorporated long ago. But he warned locals have seen no accountability from federal or provincial authorities which have held land in the area for decades.

"I think the national park will push out the local community," he told the Alliance. "You can't have a viable agricultural community with wilderness; they're incompatible."