Claremont, Ontario

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Claremont is a village located in the north part of the City of Pickering, Ontario, Canada.

It is one of many rural villages with suburban type housing mixed with older, historic buildings in the Greater Toronto Area. Brock Road, the main north-south Regional road in the area was realigned to bypass the village to the east in 1970. Claremont is situated in the hills of the Oak Ridges Moraine. Typical of the moraine countryside, around 50 to 70% of the land area around Claremont is forested. The remaining land around the village is wooded farmland and streams.

Until the establishment of regional government in 1974, the municipal offices of the former Township of Pickering were located in Claremont.

Access to and traffic through Claremont increased greatly with the completion of the eastern extension of the 407 ETR highway, terminating at the Brock Road exit which opened in 2001.

The Havelock Subdivision of the Canadian Pacific Railway runs through Claremont. This line is presently used for freight traffic, but there have been proposals for the return of passenger service as part of a GO Transit expansion to Peterborough.

Claremont is located 20 km NW of Oshawa and about 55 km northeast of downtown Toronto.

1 Nearest places
2 Geography and information
3 History
4 Other
5 External links

[edit] Nearest places

Markham, west
Uxbridge, north
Brooklin, east
Greenwood, southeast
Pickering, south

[edit] Geography and information

Population: about 1,500 (2001)
Area: –
density: –
Location:
Altitude: about 200 m
- Latitude: about 43.85 (44°18') N
- Longitude: about 79.0 (79°0') W
Area code: +(00)1-905, 905 south of Udora

[edit] History

In 1972, the Government of Canada expropriated 7,530 ha of land just west of Claremont for a possible future airport.

Indeed, by the late-1990s, the GTAA there were plans iniated to build the airport, to be named the Pickering International Airport which would be constructed to relieve congestion at Pearson Airport, located some 70 km to the southwest. This new airport was also going to become the main cargo facility for the Greater Toronto Area.

But air traffic at Pearson declined in the years to follow and is only slowly returning (although it has not reached) to previous passenger volumes.

Also, terminal expansion at Pearson and the massive Cargo infield development by the GTAA have further delayed Pickering Airport from becoming a reality, at least in the near future. But in 2005, there has been discussion about airport construction going ahead as early as 2010.

The current landholders, mostly rural farmers are leasing the land from the federal government. Claremont is the closest community to the future airport/terminal building locations.