For the purposes of how this…

For the purposes of how this ERO impacts York Region, I request that municipalities and region be provided with the extensions they have requested; 45 days is not sufficient to help rectify erroneous and improper changes to official plans that are years in the making and that took at least two years of provincial legislation to create the current situation.

Moreover, I suggest going forward that any legislation reflects the following:

Provide York Region Official Plan staff the appropriate opportunity to provide revisions and feedback on their own plan in addition to lower tier municipality feedback;

Ensure phasing policies in York Region’s Official Plan are respected and that servicing capacity is distributed to lower tiers through a fair and equitable process consistent with approved budgets and master plans;

Stop giving special permissions for urban boundary expansions and employment land conversions through the use of MZO’s (either under Section 47 or the new powers under Section 34.1 called Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator (CIHA) in lower tier municipalities). These developments are not in conformity with provincial legislation or Official Plans and leave staff scrambling to update Infrastructure Master Plans and Capital Plans to service unplanned growth. Moreover, if approved by MZO they force Conservation Authorities to give permits they otherwise would not support;

The province provide greater oversight and take action to stop York Region municipalities from developing and expanding infrastructure in site specific ways in Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine based on decade old development applications deemed ‘transitional’, planning opinions given as ‘existing use’ or provincial approvals of site specific exemptions such as is occurring for Mary Lake in King, Countryside Area designation in Whitchurch-Stouffville and a handful of requests in Vaughn.

An additional suggestion is that York Region staff remain responsible for the following items regardless of Planning responsibilities:

Natural Heritage Protection;
Source Water Protection;
Conformity with Greenbelt Act, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act and Lake Simcoe Protection Act;
York Region staff not be limited by political motions that are in conflict with provincial legislation and a means by which to challenge such motions if supported by a Council.
their own plan;

And finally, return oversight powers to the Conservation Authorities that was dismantled by Bill 23 and ensure greater public trust by repealing Regulation 697/21, and being more accountable for project team public consultations, up to date environmental impact assessments, and that all of the latter are once again meaningfully factored into decision-making.