RE: ERO-019-6216 While I am…

RE: ERO-019-6216

While I am not an environmental scientist, biologist or engineer, I do spend a large part of my time outdoors and am seeing the effects on nature and the environment where lands are opened up for development, be it housing or other, without the proper studies or without assessing the real need. I see the changes you are proposing in the 019-6216 as very much in the “short-term gain/long-term gain” category:

1) While land developers can reap the rewards of mass building housing estates, etc., the reality, as we are seeing in other parts of the province, is these buildings are not built to withstand decades of use;
2) The increase in air and water pollution (and also increase in water consumption) are very significant and this at a time when for our future generations we absolutely need to be thinking of reducing pollution;
3) The required infrastructure for expanding away from the city and town centres is costly and ongoing and, in order to reduce emissions, public transit is needed to be built;
4) The loss of open space, the tree canopy, farmland and wildlife habitat is immense;
5) The mass of housing that is being proposed here is going to greatly increase the risk and damage of floods.

I would ask you to imagine that Toronto was similar to Vancouver – surrounded by sea and mountains so they cannot spread out – and have therefore given much more weight to higher density housing which has worked in the most creative and inventive ways. This will take real leadership from the Provincial Government to control and contain the excessive “sprawl” the land developers find the easiest and most lucrative to deal with. The Greater Toronto Area already has enough small single dwellings, and many already aged, that could so easily be redeveloped as larger higher density multi-family dwellings – there are so many positives to this – just some of which are: less pollution and traffic infrastructure requirements, less flood dangers, less damage to nature, and of course : “LONG-TERM GAIN/SHORT-TERM PAIN”!!