Farmer frustrated over Hwy. 3 expropriation

On one hand, Richard Andrews says he doesn’t like rocking the boat.
He would prefer to simply continue on his hardworking way, tending to the family’s historic 120-acre farm on Ron McNeil Line, at Wonderland Road, just west of St. Thomas.
On the other hand, the Elgin County cattle and grain farmer is determined to stand up for rural lifestyles and speak out about the Government of Ontario’s plans to carve up his family’s legacy of property – again.
He’s unsettled about Provincial plans to expropriate 42 acres from the farm that his great, great grandfather Richard Andrews purchased after immigrating from Devon, England, in 1837.
This time around, it’s because the Province is upgrading the transportation corridor along Hwy. 3 and Hwy. 4 – from Centennial Avenue to Hwy 401 – to make way for traffic to-and-from St. Thomas’ new Yarmouth Yards industrial park.
Back in 1972, his parents Albert and Marjorie Andrews found themselves in the path of the St. Thomas Expressway, a project that diverted Hwy. 3 around the city
Albert and Marjorie stood firm and eventually negotiated a 12-acre land swap that complemented the family’s existing holdings, as well as expressway construction.
Today, Richard and his wife Susan say that while the new Hwy. 3 project is already underway, the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) seems uninterested in striking a deal with their family, or adequately responding to their questions and concerns.

For full details, see the Jan. 8 edition of The Aylmer Express. (AE/Joe Konecny)