To whom it may concern, This…

To whom it may concern,

This proposal to remove 7400 acres of existing lands that are part of the Greenbelt moves in the wrong direction. The Greenbelt works as a system of natural undeveloped lands to filter water back into aquifers that many municipalities depend on. It also supports water, flood and risk management as we see more and more extreme rain and other weather patterns.

Natural services provided by this integrated stetch of land cannot be easily replaced by human made systems. And when left as a whole, integral, contiguous series of lands, they don't cost us money while human infrastructure does.

At a time when MMAH is reducing development fees that municipalities depend on to build and maintain infrastructure this is a terrible decision fiscally. New suburbs tend to cost municipalities money while more densely populated, mixed use communities close to main public transportation infrastructure are much more efficient for our tax dollars.

I am disappointed that this government will be negatively impacting the Greenbelt while costing us all more as taxpayers. The worst part of these decisions is that this government has shown that it cannot be trusted to honor a pledge it has made to Ontarians over and over - to not touch the Greenbelt.