We recommend the following:…

We recommend the following:
1 In addition to restoring the agricultural easements in the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve (DRAP), transfer the easements to an entity not controlled by the Province.
In the fall of 2022, recognizing that the lands in the Durham Rouge Agricultural Preserve could not be developed, even if they were removed from the Greenbelt, unless agricultural easements publicly held by Pickering on these lands were removed, the Province passed DRAPRA removing those easements. The Province has recognized it wouldn’t be keeping the Premier’s promise and reversing the changes they made to these lands in the Greenbelt if they didn’t also put those public easements back in place. Once restored, these easements would again, as they did in the past, further restrict development on privately owned land currently held/controlled primarily by development interests.
However, over the past 20 years these easements have been released on two occasions, so there remains strong public concern that given the inevitable pressures from powerful development interests, and regardless of the promises being made now, any future government could once again release the easements. Adding to this concern there has been recent reporting that government may be keeping the door open to allow lower tier municipalities to request certain Greenbelt parcels be considered again for development.
In order to allay any such concerns, we believe it would be in the Province’s interest to not only restore the easements, but to also transfer the easements to an entity that the Province does not control, such as the Rouge National Urban Park, (RNUP) or Parks Canada. The RNUP has a vested interest in what happens in Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve bordering the RNUP.
2 Reinstate and then review the Central Pickering Development Plan (CPDP)
The Province revoked the CDCP because at the time it planned to develop in the Preserve. Now that the Premier has promised to reverse these changes, his promise will not be met if the CDCP is not reinstated. This comprehensive document covers many issues and interplays in the Seaton, Agricultural Preserve, and Cherrywood complex. This does not mean that changes to it should not be made, but not to reinstate this comprehensive plan would raise serious concerns, in addition to being inconsistent with the Premier’s promise to reverse all the changes. It is worth noting also that the draft Durham Region Official Plan states that its one objective for the Seaton community is “…to support and enable development within Seaton in accordance with the vision for the former Central Pickering Development Plan as a sustainable urban community.” Our organization was involved in the creation of the plans for Seaton and in the CPDP and we have many thoughts on the numerous issues covered in the Plan. However, those comments are better made later as part of a review of the CPDP itself.