By Pepper Parr
February 24th, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna jumped the gun and told media that the city offered ARGO, the owners of the Millcroft golf course, $15 million for the property.
Argo took a pass on that.
Residents of the Millcroft community think the city should pay $25 million, $50 million, $100 million, whatever it takes.
The 10,000 plus residents of the community fear that theirhomes will suffer a devaluation of AS MUCH AS 30%.
What is absolutely stunning about this is – where did the Mayor get the authority to offer $15 million of your tax money?
It hasn’t come before Council – unless it was done in a closed session.
In a posting on her Facebook page, which has since been deleted the Mayor said:
“Recently, our staff followed up those discussions with a letter expressing the city’s interest to acquire the lands for $15 million – representing roughly three times what they purchased the land for in 2020.
“We have now received information confirming that Argo are not willing to sell its land to the City. Additional information on this matter will be shared through future updates to Council, but we wanted the community to have this information as soon as possible.
“While we were hoping for a different outcome, we will continue to advocate for saving Millcroft. Our best hope continues to be provincial intervention through a Ministers Zoning Order that preserves the land as parks and open space.”
Mayor Meed Ward: Choosing to mislead rather than be honest with the Millcroft community.
As you can see Mayor Meed Ward goes on to suggest that a provincial intervention through a Ministers Zoning Order is possible.
A snowball has a better chance in hell than an MZO ever being issued.
Why the Mayor continues to mislead the Millcroft community is disgraceful.
The community took their argument about the use of the golf course’s property to the Land Tribunal, where they did not prevail.
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When you were reviewing OLT report did you see the part where the city of Burlington engineers agreed with the developer that flooding wouldn’t be an issue and would be improved? Or the part that said the OLT had never seen a community group spread so much false information? As a resident of ward 2 I’m curious to know how much city money has been wasted on this file. This seems like a desperate plea of, we tried everything, please still vote for us. For the next election let’s elect respect and competency.
Additional information on this matter will be shared through future updates to Council, but we wanted the community to have this information as soon as possible.
That’s Marianne. Always trying to be helpful and keeping the community informed.
Maybe she could let us know how much revenue the city will lose from the Millcroft development if her proposed 2 year elimination of development charges passes at council.
A review of the OLT decision details Argo’s representation to the tribunal that they would continue to operate an 18 hole golf course. This information was provided by Millcroft Greens planner under oath. Since the decision, Argo has made it clear that they intend to develop the entire golf course lands. Does an oath mean anything anymore?
The Millcroft Golf Course is a facade for an engineered stormwater management system for the Appleby Creek Watershed. The community is well aware of the downstream flooding challenges currently, before the holding system in Millcroft is destroyed. Millcroft Greenspace Alliance has recommended to the City that enhancements could be made to the existing system to improve the stormwater management of this watershed if the greenspace is preserved.
What does flooding cost the City? One only has to tour the Appleby watershed to understand the challenges and potential costs of neglecting flood mitigation.
This $15 million dollars is not the Mayor’s to spend. This money belongs to All Burlington taxpayers and residents. Where was our mayor planning on obtaining this money?? Increased property taxes!!?
A MZO order was already rejected in the past.