I am a Developer. We have a…

I am a Developer. We have a very small creek adjacent to our property. We have given 30 meters for flood plain and 30 meters for a wet land buffer. There is a 2,000 sq ft area on the inside of the 30-meter buffer. GRCA wants another 30 meters from this 2,000 square foot knob. We would not be digging any homes within 10 meters of this knob. Thus we are not touching it and within 10 meters of the knob it will be a backyard. Currently it is being farmed upto the knob. We have given up 6 acres for the flood plain and buffer. We have offered compensating additional lands. GRCA (Waterloo) says no. We need another 30 meters. Impact to the Citizens;
1. The loss of 10 lots from housing inventory
2. The Region and City lose about $1,00,000 in development charges including park land dedication - $100,000 per door. Lost.
3. Annual property taxes lost are $75,000 -$7,500 per home. (10 years = 750,000) Lost
4. The net HST payable to the Province and Federal government is a net of some $75,000 per home for a total of $750,000 lost.
5. Lost Construction activity on 10 homes $5.0 million. Income taxes built into wages contractor profit on this activity some $1,500,000 lost.
6. Income taxes on Home Builder Profit some $1,000,000 lost.
7. The Land Developer’s proforma profit is $1,000,000 on 10 lots. Income taxes payable to the Province and Federal government is some $500,000 lost.

The simple answer, "oh someone else will replace this inventory eventually", encourages urban sprawl.

Conservation Authorities take no big picture thinking and push the envelope to less development. They are not part of any solution. The economic loss from this example speaks for itself. These disagreements also add to delays. Your policy should be more direct that the buffer is measured off the main feature and adjustments can be made to regularize the boundary working in collaboration between the local authority and landowner. Any areas of less than 1000 square meters in the vicinity of the Buffer will not act to enlarge the buffer and is not to be considered in defining the Boundary.

This happens every day in the Province.