This morning, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark made an announcement that the government is going to begin consultations on ways to potentially  grow the Greenbelt.

OHBA will be actively involved in the 60 day consultation process and will be forming a working group comprised of members who are interested in participating.  If you would like to be a part of this group and participate in the consultation process, please email Stacey.

The consultation is scoped to two main study areas: the Paris Galt Moraine and Urban River Valleys.  The Urban River Valleys contains land in Durham Region that will be a part of the consultation.  You can view the map here.

The Urban River Valleys in Durham Region are:

• Rouge River - Pickering
• Duffins Creek - Ajax
• Carruthers Creek - Ajax
• Lynde Creek - Whitby
• Oshawa Creek - Oshawa
• Farewell/Harmony Creeks - Oshawa
• Soper Creek/Bowmanville Creek - Clarington
• Wilmot Creek - Clarington
• Graham Creek - Clarington

Other Provincial Priorities

In deciding on where and how to possibly grow the Greenbelt, they must also consider other key provincial priorities that could be impacted. These key provincial priorities include:

Growth Management - Overall, the Greenbelt Plan broadly identifies where urbanization should not occur and A Place to Grow directs the majority of growth to fully serviced settlement areas. Currently, municipalities are working towards updating their official plans by 2022 to conform with the revised growth forecasts in Schedule 3 of A Place to Grow. Therefore, Greenbelt expansion needs to be considered in the context of these growth management exercises by municipalities.

Natural Heritage and Water Resource Systems - The Greenbelt Plan and A Place to Grow are aligned with and build on the Provincial Policy Statement to provide policy protection for natural heritage and water resource systems, features and areas, including habitat for endangered and threatened species. Both the Greenbelt Plan and A Place to Grow contain policies supporting and protecting a Natural Heritage System that is made up of these natural features and areas along with the linkages that connect them together. Similarly, policies in these plans protect water resource systems on a watershed basis, with the Greenbelt incorporating significant headwaters, river corridors, wetlands and other features.

Agriculture - The Greater Golden Horseshoe contains some of Canada’s best agricultural land. Both the Greenbelt Plan and A Place to Grow have policies supporting and protecting an Agricultural System that is comprised of an agricultural land base (prime agricultural areas, including specialty crop areas, and other productive lands that form a continuous land base for agriculture) and an agri-food network (infrastructure, services and assets that support the agri-food sector).

 Infrastructure - Both the Greenbelt Plan and A Place to Grow recognize that new infrastructure and upgrades to existing infrastructure will be needed to serve the substantial growth projected for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Infrastructure, including highways to sewage and water treatment plants to corridors for transit and utilities, is permitted in these plans subject to certain conditions.

Discussion Questions

During the consultation process, the provincial government will be focused on these questions:

• What are your thoughts on the initial focus area of adding, expanding and further protecting Urban River Valleys?
• Do you have suggestions for other potential areas to grow the Greenbelt?
• How should the government balance or prioritize any potential Greenbelt expansion with the other provincial priorities mentioned?
• Are there other priorities that should be considered?

Next Steps

If you want to become involved in this consultation process, contact Stacey about joining the OHBA working team or send in your comments directly to greenbeltconsultation@ontario.ca

Resources

View the notice here: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-3136