Harley Valentine is passionate about Thornbury Acres, Castlepoint Numa’s first-ever farm-based homesteader condominium project with an integrated farm-to-fork lifestyle.
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When Valentine and his brother-in-law, a Castlepoint Numa partner, purchased the 100-acre parcel on the outskirts of Thornbury in 2018, it was to “selfishly” build two homes and develop a farm.
“We very quickly realized that 100 acres is a lot of land, especially for the type of farming we were interested in, which was low-till/no-till regenerative agriculture,” he said with a laugh.
Why it matters: Thornbury Acres’ vision incorporates human-scale regenerative farming designed to restore soil fertility, reduce erosion, improve water retention and provide the community with fresh fruits and vegetables.
So, the real estate developers revised the vision to create a closed-loop, community-supported agriculture program with the help of a planner, a 2016 rural development policy for residential farm cooperatives, and the legal mechanism for vacant land condominiums. They submitted it to Grey County.
Valentine was the first to apply under the 2016 policy to get families into farming.
During the planning, Valentine contacted neighbour Kathie Houghton and proposed buying the former Houghton Family Orchard, a 20-acre special agriculture parcel lying dormant. He wanted to increase it to 50 acres of small-scale horticulture and fruit and nut orchards to complement the 100 acres of rural land split into residential and recreational blocks.
Houghton, a retired planner with the Niagara Escarpment Commission, initially thought Valentine’s proposal was a dressed-up rural subdivision plan.
“I have really been inspired by Harley and his partner looking at the vision they’ve created and the other developments they’ve done,” said Houghton.
“I worked with developers for 30 years, and these guys are different. I know they’re going to do what they say, and this development is really, really timely.”
Valentine said Thornbury Acres will be an intentional community, and those from the 200-strong waitlist who choose to invest would do so with full understanding of the commitment and annual fees.
“(It’ll attract) those looking to have that immediate connection to quality food being produced, be able to participate in that as far as from a recreate standpoint,” said Valentine. “And also, from a beneficiary standpoint. It’s going to be the first of its kind in a lot of ways, but it’s also going to take a specific market.”
The fees will cover the salary of a farm manager, who will help identify the produce desires and needs of participating families. The manager will also organize the provision of 18-plus produce baskets each year and manage a capital and annual maintenance budget that is amortized across potential homesteaders.
“In this way, the farm is delivered as part of the development, fully operational,” said Valentine.
Castlepoint Numa’s agricultural advisory board has a Grey County regenerative farmer, agronomist and agricultural scientist who produced an agriculture viability report including crop type, revenue projection and projected maintenance budgets. Those were part of the application submission to the county.
“We’re not basing this program on a revenue model. Anything sold above what our residents can consume will go back into the HOA and keep the cycling running,” said Valentine. “It’s based upon the bylaw and the requirement that everyone pays their fair share.”
Keith Currie, Canadian Federation of Agriculture president and Collingwood-area farmer, said Thornbury Acres is an exciting project and precisely what some people are looking for when they move to the area.
“It’s great to allow people to experience growing food products so, they understand what we, as farmers every day, go through in the production of a product. The ups and the downs,” he said.
But two areas cause him concern. One is that the acre-plus size lots don’t fit a densification formula. As well, he wonders what happens in 10, 15, or 20 years when the farming novelty wears off. Who will be responsible for the land?
“We can build more housing here, there’s no question about 100 acres, but we are getting pushed on the density at every turn we take,” said Valentine. “In every round of comments I get from the county, it’s this is higher density than they envisioned, and they can’t support it.”
The 2016 policy doesn’t identify density thresholds. While the project requires a minimum of 37 housing units to be viable, Valentine is open to converting three lots into 13 smaller holdings for bungalows to increase densification and attainable housing. They’ve also offered voting rights to the town and municipality to ensure the agricultural program remains.
Houghton said one local called the proposal “a crock” during the official town hall meeting, and said rich people with house cleaners and weekly manicures wouldn’t be interested in digging in the dirt.
A woman in her 40s said she did have a cleaning lady and weekly manicure, but the farm-based development was her ultimate dream community, where her children could safely play while crafting an understanding and connection to food production.
On June 20, the county reached the 120-day deadline to respond to the proposal with a report, but it’s not forthcoming. Valentine said it’ll likely go to the Ontario Land Tribunal for a final decision.
In Houghton’s opinion, the county wrote a policy in 2016 without fully understanding its potential, and Valentine gave it a vision they can’t wrap their head around.
“So many government agencies now have no creativity,” she said. “They don’t want to make a decision, period, let alone one that’s innovative, which is unfortunate.”
Houghton said her land will never be in production again without the project’s approval because it’s not large enough to support a commercial operation.
Valentine said he is confident the proposal is solid and, despite the cultural war between big and small farming, it fulfils the policy’s intention.
“We feel this is the answer to small-scale farming and how you introduce farming and spur on the next generation of agricultural enthusiasts, scientists, and practitioners,” he said. “This is an entry point that we see an incredible on-ramp for families like myself and others.
“The critical piece is it has our commitment, and we’re willing to take that fight on,” said Valentine.
