Old Millbrook Jail Lands

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A Vision for Conserving the Former Millbrook Correctional Centre Lands

Old Millbrook Jail Lands Association  (an initiative of the Baxter Creek Watershed Alliance)

January 21, 2022

PLEASE NOTE, WE ARE CURRENTLY ENGAGING WITH THE COMMUNITY AND TWO WILLIAM TREATY FIRST NATIONS TO UPDATE THE VISION FOR CONSERVING THE LANDS OF THE FORMER MILLBROOK CORRECTIONAL CENTRE. THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED SHORTLY. LAST UPDATE: NOVEMBER 8, 2025.

This is a summary of the Alliance's vision for the former Millbrook Correctional Centre Lands:

The Township of Cavan Monaghan in Peterborough County is a growing rural community with a blend of agricultural lands and settled areas across a connected natural heritage system. Since the Millbrook Correctional Centre closed in 2003 and was demolished in 2015, the community in the Village of Millbrook and beyond has demonstrated a interest in conserving the 42 hectare (105 acre) property located within the settlement area for public use. 

In late 2020 and early 2021, a group of local residents with a common interest in watershed conservation founded and incorporated the Baxter Creek Watershed Alliance, a non-government community-based nonprofit. The Alliance, in collaboration with the Kawartha Land Trust, shared an interest in conserving the former "Jail Hill" lands and so founded the Old Millbrook Jail Lands Association, an internal association of the Alliance under the Community Engagement and Education Committee, to encourage conservation of the lands while keeping them as a publicly accessible open greenspace stewarded through guidance by the Alliance and partners. The initial vision was for a Conservation Agreement held in perpetuity by the Trust or another entity. It is the vision of the Alliance to see the significant natural ecological features of the Jail Lands conserved for future generations. The mental health and physical wellness benefits derived from accessible open natural spaces has become increasingly important in recent times especially in light of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated "lockdowns" and restrictions the public endured.

The former Millbrook Correctional Centre property, located within the planning boundary of the Oak Ridges Moraine, is a singularly beautiful property with a diverse landscape of hills and dales, containing significant mature woodlands, pine plantations, springs, seeps, recharge areas, valley lands, cold headwater streams, open grasslands and meadows. It provides panorama views across the Baxter Creek watershed, the Village of Millbrook and over the neighboring diverse Oak Ridges Moraine landscape.

As the area of Millbrook experiences the implementation of a long-term growth strategy there is a lack of publicly accessible open greenspace within the settlement area that is in proximity to residential and built up areas. Accessibility in this context refers both to the proximity but also in terms of barrier free access. Ensuring there is adequate open greenspace to provide for outdoor education, environmental learning, ecosystem services, natural heritage offsetting (e.g., reforestation), and critical environmental values in supporting the physical and mental well-being of the community is paramount. The forested area of the property is recognized as a ‘Significant Woodland’ in the Cavan Monaghan Official Plan and provides crucial carbon sequestration. The open grasslands are important for providing grassland bird breeding habitat – for several that are species at risk – and is also the source headwaters of a cold water trout stream which is a tributary of Baxter Creek. This tributary is monitored locally and has a record of Brown Trout as recent as 2021. In 2025 Brook Trout have been reintroduced to reaches of Jail Creek with evidence of reproduction in the fall of 2025.

In specific reference to Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), protecting the Jail property will:

• Demonstrate a commitment to building a strong healthy community in the Township (PPS Section 1).
• Demonstrate a healthy, livable and safe communities (PPS Section 1.1 Managing and Directing Land Use to Achieve Efficient and Resilient Development and Land Use Patterns):
  • Improving accessibility to open green spaces for persons with disabilities and older persons by addressing land use barriers which restrict full participation in society; 
  • Ensuring open green spaces will be available to meet current and projected needs; 
  • Promoting land use patterns that conserve biodiversity; and
  • Preparing for the local impacts of a changing climate by preserving open green space, headwater recharge and discharge areas.
• Provide a publicly accessible natural setting for a wide variety of outdoor recreation, parklands public space, open green space, while expanding trails and linkages (PPS Section 1.5 Public Spaces, Recreation, Parks, Trails and Open Space).
• Showcase wise use and management of resources, natural heritage, and water (PPS Section 2):
  • Ensure a large open green space is protected for the long-term environmental health and social well-being of local people while providing green space to conserve biodiversity, protect natural heritage, stream headwaters, for environmental and social benefits

Preserving and enhancing this property and its ecosystem services, in a natural state, will also preserve the surficial geology of the Millbrook Well Head Protection Area which covers 74% of the property. 

The property also has the potential for passive use that would have economic value to the community. The Cavan Monaghan Corporate Strategic Plan 2012-2014 suggests that the property has redevelopment potential. The Alliance’s vision includes the potential for publicly beneficial low-impact institutional or educational redevelopment consistent with zoning of the property in the Official Plan. 

The opportunity to protect such a significant publicly owned property located within the settlement area of a rapidly urbanizing community, as an educational and cultural hub, open green space and recreational conservation reserve for future generations to enjoy, will come along only once. Once it is gone, it is gone forever.