In my personal and non…

In my personal and non-expert capacity, I am not in favour of the land swap being proposed.

I believe home addition can be facilitated without addition of new greenfield development, and is more feasible and responsible to achieve through brownfield development and lifting Toronto yellowbelt restrictions through provincial action to implement vastly expanded by-right construction in the GTA.

Insofar that any Greenbelt development will be approved, the minimum standard of density should be vastly increased from those currently bordering the Greenbelt line. 7 average homes per acre is an abysmally low benefit compared to the environmental costs of greenfield development, and I believe the environmental considerations of promoting density are a compelling consideration in the development of this policy.

Facilitation of new greenfield development, if at all, should be centred around high-quality transit connections such as the Innisfil proposal. An environmental consideration of selective location of development near transit is decreasing car dependence, and the atmospheric environmental effects attached to that implication.

The addition of new high-priority lands to the Greenbelt is compelling, but I do not believe it is appropriate to consider these two policies in tandem, and that such a proposal to add those new lands should be assessed on a standalone basis. I believe this is justified due to my supposition that the addition of farmlands currently not slated for development near Erin will not confer immediate positive value, but short-term slating for development in the areas to be removed will have immediate negative effects.

I am particularly concerned about the quality of environmental value in the added lands near Erin compared to high-quality resignations in critical areas such as the Oak Ridges Moraine and West Duffins Creek watershed.

I once again iterate that I believe the environmental interests of Ontario not to pursue these changes, and thank the government for the opportunity to provide comment.