Comment
I strongly oppose this proposition. I do not believe that building homes as far as the green belt will solve pricing pressures within the Greater Toronto Area. People who want to live in or around the city will not suddenly move into the green belt region. Furthermore, this will create additional traffic pressure, pressure on food production, and set back Ontario's environmental goals. Finally, this will set an extremely dangerous precedent for urban sprawl in protected green space.
Commuting around Toronto is already a major problem for many people. A large factor of home price in Toronto and the GTA is their proximity to the city itself, and the availability of transit nearby. Creating homes as far as the Greenbelt will not relieve this pressure in any way, and in fact may even make it worse by adding daily commuters to the already bad daily traffic congestion. Therefore adding even more commuters will not reduce the prices of houses that are already present.
Instead, I would rather see more investment into sustainable growth. For example, better commuting options, large family apartments, and proper urbanization. This is what the demand is for, I believe this will effectively relieve housing pressure in and around the Golden Horseshoe.
On top of not really solving anything, this plan will also set a precedent for simply walking into the Greenbelt and destroying protected green space on a whim. This is a very dangerous path. The Greenbelt is protected for a reason. The protection of it should be not dismissed so lightly. Destroying it will put pressure on farm production, pollute the nearby areas, and result in habitat destruction. And the only thing to gain from this is urban sprawl, which will lead to more problems in the future.
Overall, this is a very short-sighted solution that will not really solve the problem. I would much rather instead see solutions put forward for reducing traffic pressure, and at the very least, a plan accounting for the extra commuters that this proposal will create.
Submitted November 22, 2022 5:00 PM
Comment on
Proposed Amendments to the Greenbelt Plan
ERO number
019-6216
Comment ID
71477
Commenting on behalf of
Comment status