I would like to make a…

I would like to make a comment on farm residential lot severances. For health and safety reasons it is not advisable to put additional dwelling units into farm homesteads and yards next to the existing farm house. This environment for health and safety reasons may not be ideal to raise a family with small children. Each year small children are involved in tragic farm accidents that could have been avoided had the child not been playing close to large machinery or farm buildings. A severed off lot in close proximity to the farm operation with out being in the yard is much more desired solution with the sheer size of today’s farms. A dwelling that is severed from the farm is also advisable to avoid any problems due to structural changes of the farm due to unforeseen circumstances the future that would complicate the farm transition to the next generation. Sometimes future career paths may change and a severed house lot may save a lot of legal costs and issues that would arise as a result of any change.

In an effort to protect farmland by special interest groups and general farm organizations, the current restrictions on rural severances inadvertently may be creating a greater loss of farmland then allowing one or two small building lots on farms. Since there is no supply of one acre lots available to build a house in rural areas, some buyers are purchasing 10, 20, and 50 acre parcels of land to use as the new building lot. In many cases a house is built in the centre of the field and trees are planted around the lands taking out substantially large acreages of land. If more one acre residential lots were available the loss of entire fields of farmland could be mitigated. There does not seem to be the same concern by the special interest groups in protecting farmland when nature groups that have purchased tens of thousands of acres of prime farmland and planted them into permanent forest cover across Ontario.
With slight increases in temperature due to climate change, cropped acreages of agricultural land are increasing in Ontario in Northern and eastern Ontario allowing new crops to be grown in those regions.Farm productivity per unit of farmland is also increasing yields every year and Canada is not at risk of food shortages.
I encourage to Provincial government to consider allowing up to 3 residential lot severances per farm parcel of land keeping in mind it would be only voluntary for a farm owner to allow a severance on their farm. Landowners strongly opposed to lot severances would not have to sever off a lot as it would not be mandatory for them to do so.
Small townships and rural counties will need and will benefit from additional property tax base that will help keep existing property taxes in line with neighbouring municipalities to help support the development of municipal infrastructure such as water infrastructure and waste water treatment for urban centres within the small municipalities.

Thank you