If you are concerned about maintaining and/or increasing the protection of the Oak Ridges Moraine and the protected countryside of the Greenbelt I urge you to submit your comments to the Province by May 28th. I believe changes are required to better protect our agricultural lands in a manner which enables the stewards of these lands (i.e. food farmers, horse breeders etc.) to be successful.  We need growth to be contained within the current urban boundaries so that the open spaces (farmland, natural heritage features) are preserved and that our communities grow within the urban boundaries with transit and other features which make them great places to live. We need to protect our water and to be addressing climate change. We need the Province to look long term and to maintain & improve policies so that as our communities grow efficiently we are protecting our farmland & forests.

There is a lot of support for maintaining and even growing the Greenbelt as people want the outcomes (walkable communities, open spaces, good farmland). Plus the “old way” of sprawl has left us with congestion and debt.  But, there are those who argue that there isn’t enough land available for new residential and employment lands.  York Region’s proposed feedback to the Province includes many recommendations for improvements which I applaud; but, it has revealed that 51 property owners have requested modifications to the land designations of their properties which, if approved, would take lands out of the Greenbelt and permit development of some sort.  In some cases the property in question is relatively small but there are several which are very large parcels of land. To clarify:  the report does not recommend that designations of these lands be changed; it does recommend that process should be established which may conclude with land designations changing. This is opening a big door.

There is so much analysis which shows that sprawling is not a good solution.  Conversely there is no data to indicate that we need more lands available for development.  Reports show that there are adequate lands for residential and employment through to 2031 in the GGH; and the above mentioned YR report says essentially same.  And there is also good information about the benefits of staying with the urban boundaries.  I encourage you to have a look at “From Dumb Growth to Smart Growth: Actions to Strengthen the Greenbelt and the Growth Plan”; click here and scroll down to download the whole report.

There are numerous ways to submit written feedback.  Please do so as it is important.

• e-mail to landuseplanningreview@ontario.ca
• the Ontario Environmental Registry at www.ontario.ca/ebr (Registry #012-3256)
• mail to
  Land Use Planning Review
  Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
  Ontario Growth Secretariat
  777 Bay Street, Suite 425 (4th floor)
  Toronto, ON M5G 2E5