As a resident of Etobicoke,…

As a resident of Etobicoke, Ontario I do not support the proposed changes. Mandatory enhanced development standards such as green development standards are necessary in an urban environment. They should NOT be voluntary and municipalities should be able to require them.

These proposed changes will set the Province back 20 or 30 years. This should be unthinkable by any provincial government. Green building/construction standards are and should be a necessary part of site plan control.

Requiring trees to be planted on site, requiring a minimum area of permeable surfaces are necessary to manage flooding, heavy rainfalls, storm water and mitigate heat island effects.

I do NOT support the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to be able to set a minimum lot size on parcels of urban residential land.

Setting minimum lot sizes of 175 sq m is not appropriate for every area of Toronto. This proposal assumes it would increase affordability in urban areas. Rather it will drive up the prices of housing as land speculators will sever and flip and sever and flip making profits along the way with no housing being built which is the current situation now. There is no evidence over the past 15 years that smaller lots increase housing affordability. In fact the data strongly supports that it actually dramatically increases the price of housing in urban areas and removes the opportunity for more affordable home.

The houses built on such small lots will be inappropriate for people at all stages of life. Narrow, tall houses are not suitable for families with young children, people with disabilities or mobility issues. They are not places that people can manage as they grow older. They destabilize neighbourhoods rather than allowing people to settle make a place their home.

Buildings would fill up the space leaving insufficient place for parking, trees, permeable surfaces, green spaces, gardens and everything that make a house a home.

We are facing climate change, heat islands and flooding and this will further accellerate problems like these.

The proposed regulatory changes will most certainly have a negative impact on the environment and should not be permitted. This would not protect the environment but do the exact opposite by reducing biodiversity, reducing space for pollinators, remove mature trees and not allow space to and light to grow new trees. The biodiversity of birds and mammals that currently co-exist in many urban areas near green spaces will be gone.

This proposal will not create the benefits envisioned and will increase the price of housing (as the data shows); will result in inappropriate land division; overload services and destroy established neighbourhoods.

This is not an appropriate way to increase density but will result in developers making substantial profits and people who live in these communities losing out. Future residents will live in an environment that will be hostile due to the lack of trees and an increase in hard surfaces that will increase the negative impacts of flooding, heat islands in urban areas and loss of biodiversity.

I do NOT support allowing privately owned public spaces (POPS) to count towards municipal parkland dedication requirements.

The proposed legislative changes will certainly have a strong negative impact on the environment and I do NOT support them.

None of these proposals should be pursued.