Building the Case Against Illegal Trucking Yards

Drive south on Highway 50, out of Bolton’s historic downtown valley and toward Caledon’s southern border at Mayfield Road, and the road is teeming with truck traffic – tractor trailers and all manner of other heavy trucks that transport the goods demanded by businesses and consumers alike. But where do these trucks go when they’re not on the road? Unfortunately, many head for the jumble of truck yards that now dot the Caledon countryside.

These yards, many suspected to be illegal, are filled with rows of parked trucks and trailers, as well as shipping containers stacked high behind chain-link fencing. The yards have not appeared overnight, but they have become a vexingly intractable reality that many residents can no longer ignore.

Though some yards comply with municipal zoning, many yard owners, or their tenants, are operating on land that is zoned agricultural, not commercial or industrial. As a result, they have become the targets of a growing campaign by government officials and frustrated residents to dismantle them, and hold owners accountable for the environmental and infrastructure degradation, road safety hazards and other ills they cause.

In an interview, Caledon mayor Annette Groves, who has called Caledon home for 33 years, said, “Over the last five to six years, illegal trucking yards have exploded and they’re moving even farther north as well.” As a result, she added that for many residents, Highway 50 has become “a nightmare, it doesn’t matter what time of the day or night.”

Small steps 

Groves and local advocates – working together after initial tension and conflict – can point to a few milestones suggesting that their campaign against illegal yards is gaining momentum. Earlier this year, the Town of Caledon stepped up its communication efforts by revamping its website to include bylaw details, steps for reporting cases and progress updates.

Then, in early February, the town debuted an even more tangible tool: a detailed, interactive online tracking and reporting map that is updated weekly. Residents can click on a pinned location and learn whether a complaint or case file exists, and if legal action has been taken. They can also find out how to report properties suspected of being illegal truck depots. The latest piece of the puzzle: the town announced on February 26 an “enhanced workplan” for its Illegal Land Use Task Force. 

These key first steps, observers say, show that local government officials and advocates are gaining traction. Their next goals? Co-ordinated enforcement, compliance and regulatory reform – a tall order. Groves said she is determined to send a strong message that “we are no longer going to tolerate this, and you can’t just come into our community and set up shop with no regard.”

Understanding a growing crisis 

Although illegal land use challenges span the province, Caledon is particularly hard hit because of its proximity to highways 410 and 427, its large land mass, and a boom in fulfillment and other warehouses serving today’s e-commerce-addicted culture and just-in-time delivery business mindset.

In legal industrial zones, truck yards are subject to taxes, rules and regulations that support the level of municipal services, and infrastructure maintenance requirements for roadways that endure heavy loads and traffic. Legal yard operators are also expected to follow rigorous procedures for diesel storage and drainage to prevent soil contamination, among other hazards. None of these systems is in place for illegal properties. Nearby residents also report light, dust and noise pollution.

Who exactly are these bold, bad actors who have been flying under the radar for so long? According to André Leitert, a longtime Caledon resident and advocate, they are businesspeople looking to capitalize on an opportunity, though they could be anyone with the means to own land. Others suggest the owners could be struggling farmers hoping to make ends meet by renting out part of their land, or real-estate speculators, many of whom are directors of hard-to-trace numbered companies.

One incentive that leads operators and owners to set up shop illegally is the property tax rate for agricultural land, which is lower than the rate for industrial land. The higher industrial rates help offset a municipality’s higher costs for infrastructure repairs, as well as bylaw services and investigations. It does not include the cost of repairing long-term environmental damage to soil and ecosystems, which is yet to be tracked or restored.

Seeking help from the province

Last September, Groves sent Dufferin-Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones a letter pleading for provincial attention and support. The letter explained that, despite the town’s efforts, “Illegal truck depots are expanding with defiance, where many operators consider legal fees and municipal fines as a cost of doing business …. Without provincial intervention, there is the risk that this issue will grow to an unmanageable state and continue to spread throughout the province.” As of late February, the letter has gone unanswered. In The Hills sought comment from Jones, but had received no response by early March, when the spring issue went to press.

The land use issue is surfacing against a backdrop of other systemic problems in Canada’s trucking industry. Organizations including the Ontario Trucking Association and the Professional Truck Training Alliance of Canada have raised concerns about inadequate driver training and licensing oversight. 

A CBC Marketplace investigation that aired last October revealed critical shortfalls in the driver training offered by some private schools. The shortfalls included inadequate hands-on training, a reduction in or complete elimination of in-class theory instruction and instructors who are themselves not properly licensed.

In November 2024 the OPP, along with Peel, Halton and York Regional police, the Town of Caledon and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, conducted a one-day safety inspection blitz on commercial vehicles. Highlighting the need for regulation and support from the provincial government, 72 charges were laid for violations including unregistered vehicles, faulty equipment and unlicensed drivers.

Left unchecked, critics say these practices, in addition to the trend toward illegal land use, could turn swaths of Ontario into an unsafe, freight-dominated wasteland. The problem is already appearing in more rural areas such as Dufferin County.

Mono mayor John Creelman, who is watching Caledon’s efforts closely, said illegal land use “is almost exclusively on agricultural land in Mono and that … it is ruining good farmland.” In a twist that does not dampen his support for Caledon’s efforts, Creelman noted that if Caledon’s initiative is successful, its victory could have unintended consequences for his town. “If Caledon is going to crack down on these operations, they are going to go elsewhere and guess what? Elsewhere is Mono [and] other municipalities in Dufferin County.”

A coalition grows

In a May 2024 meeting with Premier Doug Ford and Paul Calandra, Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing, Groves called attention to 300 properties involved in illegal land use in Caledon. At the meeting, other mayors of small urban municipalities in the GTHA expressed similar concerns over the rise in the number of illegal event centres and short-term rentals in their municipalities. As a result, Groves said, Calandra recommended taking the matter to the province’s Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy.

When Caledon council’s delegation appeared before that committee last August, they urged MPPs to introduce measures to beef up municipal powers and tools, including increased penalties for individuals and corporations, the ability to physically bar entry to non-compliant properties, and the authority to include all charges on property titles. Including charges on titles would prevent property owners from circumventing enforcement by transferring property ownership, a strategy used to duck prosecution.

In a closing plea to the committee, Catherine McLean, the town’s commissioner of community and human services, said, “We need to do more together. Our residents are counting on us.” The presentation was well-received, Groves said, with Liberal, Conservative and NDP members expressing shock at the extent of the issue.

The public weighs in

On the heels of that August meeting, tragedy struck on September 10, 2024, when 23-year-old Adrianna Milena McCauley died in a four-vehicle collision involving a commercial vehicle on Coleraine Drive in Bolton. Deeply affected by the loss of the daughter of a longtime acquaintance, Bolton resident Franca Pisani turned to social media to express her grief and concerns about road safety in the town. The initiative helped her connect with Carmela Palkowski, who suggested the need for a broader platform.

Together they turned to Facebook and founded the Caledon Community Road Safety Advocacy Group, which has grown to nearly 2,500 members determined to end the rising number of road fatalities, as well as truck congestion and illegal parking and storage yards. A dedicated website soon followed and the campaign includes the signs – Stop Illegal Truck Yards – that have sprouted on lawns throughout Caledon.

Last October, the mayor’s agenda and the emergence of the citizen-led CCRSA Group intersected dramatically during a Bolton public safety meeting that included Groves and representatives of the OPP. Emotions ran high as hundreds of residents demanded accountability from officials.

But after the meeting, the town and the CCRSA Group recognized that they shared goals. Abandoning the blame game, they embraced a collaborative approach in an attempt to lay the foundation for meaningful progress. “When the citizens join forces with us, it’s a force to be reckoned with,” acknowledged Groves.

A push for transparency 

Initially, a major hurdle in their shared fight was that few residents were actually filing reports or questioning the town about specific properties, an environment that allowed illegal land use to flourish. So Caledon council revitalized its Illegal Land Use Task Force, first set up in 2021, with new appointments. 

Councillors Tony Rosa and Doug Maskell joined staff and community experts, including activist André Leitert, who said that making changes requires “good cohesion, good organization, good communication between the town, town staff, town politicians and the community …. It’s important that the community is aware and doesn’t allow [illegal yards] to go undetected..”

Mono mayor John Creelman noted that even when municipalities successfully put an end to an illegal land use, they must apply to clean up the damaged property, a long and expensive process. He would like to see “a one-stop judicial process.” Grouping the ability to convict, fine and issue cleanup orders in one fell swoop would prevent appeals to higher courts, and spare municipalities the cost of restoring a property to make it suitable for housing or agricultural use. Without cleanup and restoration, the damage to these lands will remain long after the trucks and trailers have gone.

Allies across borders

During this time, Caledon officials continued to combat the illegal yards in any way they could. Bylaw amendments required property owners engaged in illegal land uses to cover the full cost of fire and emergency services, the number of bylaw-enforcement staff was boosted, and operating hours were extended to include overnight shifts. But the town’s efforts are often undermined by operators who easily absorb the cost of inadequate fines that do not deter illegal activities.

At the same time, members of the CCRSA Group looked beyond Caledon’s borders to amplify their concerns. Last November and again in December, Pisani, Palkowski and Amanda Corbett addressed Vaughan city council about properties on Albion Vaughan Road, which marks the border between Vaughan and Caledon. Zoned agricultural, the area is rapidly being overtaken by trucking depots. Though properties on the east side of this road are under Vaughan’s jurisdiction, their proximity to Bolton’s residential and school zones makes the two-lane road treacherous even outside rush hour. 

At the December meeting, which drew a strong turnout of Bolton residents, Corbett presented a map showing more than a dozen illegal operators on Albion Vaughan Road and nearby Cold Creek and Nashville roads. She warned that approving zoning changes for these operations would not only reward illegal land use, but also force country roads to cope with hundreds more trucks every day.

“The problem is everywhere in the GTA,” she said, “and the only way that we’re going to make any headway is if all levels of government, all residents, all of the associations, everyone works together against people who are doing things illegally.”

And once again, a municipal meeting got feisty. Mark Hopkins, a longtime Vaughan resident, has long opposed the rezoning of Albion Vaughan Road properties. Urging council to reflect on past decisions, Hopkins’ pointed remarks prompted applause. When meeting chair Linda Jackson, Vaughan’s deputy mayor, warned attendees to conduct themselves as if in a courtroom, she referred to herself as “pretty strict” about conduct at council meetings. Hopkins seized the moment, responding sharply, “I hope you are just as strict on bylaw enforcement.”

The CCRSA Group also managed to get the attention of Oshawa MPP Jennifer French, the NDP’s critic for transportation, infrastructure and highways, who agreed to table a petition calling for improvements in the way the trucking industry is regulated and monitored. The province’s response to the petition is expected this spring.

Until then, residents can continue to check the Town of Caledon’s online illegal trucking depot map, where the alarming clutter of red and yellow dots represent properties under review. The map’s black dots indicate closed cases. By early March, the map showed 60 active files, 72 prosecutions and dozens of closed files – closed because there was no violation, because illegal activity has halted or because the property has come into compliance with the bylaw.

The road ahead

Groves expects the town’s recommendations to the standing committee to be tabled when the provincial legislature reconvenes in March. In January, she met with the Ontario Trucking Association because she believes that “bringing more partners to the table is really going to strengthen our position.” Ideas shared by the OTA will “certainly have a huge impact on the industry,” she added, though she declined to reveal those ideas at the time of the interview.

Can Caledon, once dubbed “the greenest town in Ontario,” maintain that title? Could tackling illegal land use be a rare example of town officials, activists and citizens uniting to achieve a common goal? 

When it comes to the town’s growth strategies and future development plans, there is no shortage of bones of contention. But the progress on the illegal trucking-yard file is an encouraging step forward for everyone involved.

Although real action by the province has yet to materialize, the wheels are in motion. The CCRSA Group is just getting started, and organizers say they don’t plan to give up until they see action. 

Mono mayor John Creelman may have put it best. “The province needs to hear repeatedly over and over and over again from the people such as myself, Mayor Groves, members of council and citizens in the community that these activities are not acceptable, and there have to be consequences. They need to know that we’re not going to go away.”