Hello! The following are my…

Hello! The following are my submission of comments for the latest draft of the PPS. I am a young farmer and the majority of my comments centre around the protection and preservation of farmland.
-I was very happy to see that the 3 lot severances for farm properties remain removed from this PPS
-and also was glad to see that the addition of two housing units are allowed on farm properties within the current building cluster, to allow for additional housing for family or farm workers.
-I am glad to see that planning authorities are to protect prime agricultural land (Class 1-3), such that it forms continuous agricultural areas. I would like for these protections to be evidence based, such that they are also evidence protected.
-I would suggest utilizing the existing agricultural systems mapping to best help in the protection of agricultural land base and agricultural area.
-I would also suggest considering Class 4 farmland as prime agricultural land, as it is still quite fertile and usable.
-It is nice to see an agricultural impact assessment be suggested to be used. I would recommend that there be legal obligations for these AIE such that it is more than lip-service to protect agricultural lands. I.e. construction or development CANNOT take place if a certain evidence based threshold has been passed as to the impact on the agricultural lands.
-I am not in support of any farm severances. Even if tied to the operation, inevitably they get sold out of family and become an additional country residence, adding growth outside of any urban boundary for folks who do not necessarily have any agricultural job connection. Not only does this create urban/ rural conflicts, but creates issues with minimum distance seperations for barns, habitat fragmentation etc.
-I STRONGLY believe that the province should maintain minimum density requirements for urban areas. It was one of the top recommendations within the housing affordability task force to make more efficient use of our land resources, and that only comes through legislated density. To allow few and large, expensive houses to be built does not make sense when it comes to providing affordable and increased housing types and availability. Minimum density requirements also play an incredibly important role in maintaining urban boundaries and protecting our farmland, greenspace and natural areas. We should do everything in our power to protect those natural assets before expanding upon them, if necessary.
-Along that line, settlement area boundaries should be maintained as strongly as possible and should only be expanded after thorough and evidence based reasoning. To have them expanded with no justification is reckless and unsustainable planning.
-The Ontario Land Tribunal as a planning authority should be restricted and not allowed to rule in favour of the expansion of urban settlement areas. That magnitude of a decision should fall on municipalities and regions to expand, under evidence, at their discretion, and should not be done under appeal at the OLT.
-I also STRONGLY believe intensification targets should be maintained to encourage densification within urban cores, and poorly densified areas. This would especially help with making use of our infrastructure and would help justify and maintain transit opportunities, which would help reduce driving and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
-3rd party appeals for OLT appeals should be allowed
- Upper tier municipalities should regain planning authority. It is very strange that despite the upper tier municipalities owning, operating and planning for infrastructure required for development, they are now unable to plan along with lower tier municipalities.
-new settlement areas should not be allowed, and instead, growth should be directed either within current settlement areas, or beside, given an evidence based urban boundary expansion. New settlement areas would further contribute to agricultural land loss and habitat fragmentation, and are not necessary to plan for further growth. There is no good reason to not utilize existing settlement areas.
-urban boundary expansion should happen ONLY during official plan reviews, and only as required, based on evidence.
-I would like to see wording around protection of Prime agricultural lands and specialty crop areas be changed such that 'they shall not be infringed upon, except where no other options are present'
-It would be great to see fourplexes as of right, all across Ontario. If many developers are building 5000 square foot one unit homes, why not 5000 square foot 4 unit fourplexes? It would house more people and be cheaper and have less environmental impact.
-It would also be great to see easier implementation of other 'missing middle' housing types, such as low and mid rise apartments within housing areas. Building so many single family detached homes and townhouses has led to a massive undersupply of these missing middle density, and affordable, options. We should be doing everything possible to encourage missing middle housing types. More housing types and affordabilities are good for every community!
-It would be great to allow for more mixed-use areas and less single-zoning type areas. Communities must have easy, walkable access to amenities, and vice versa. A development should not consist of nothing but housing. It must be a mix of amenities, jobs and housing to support a healthy community.
-More transit funding should be allocated to bolster more GO train lines and more transit oriented development to further help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce traffic congestion, intensify land use and save farmland.
-It was great to see policy 4.3.6 added to the PPS. To implement that policy though, we must protect our farmland with HARD urban boundaries, minimum density requirements and intensification requirements. Our agricultural communities need room to breath and plan for the future of food production! We cannot do this when urban area is sprawling everywhere, making agriculture investments difficult and uncertain, farmland unavailable and unaffordable!
-The phrase 'avoid development and land use patterns which may cause environmental or public health and safety concerns' should be added back into this draft of the PPS.
-the phrase 'promoting development patterns that promote biodiversity' should be added back to this version of the PPS
-We must do a better job at reducing low density, car-dependent urban sprawl within Ontario. It is terrible for the environment and biodiversity, an unsustainable way to plan for the future and is destroying our resources at an incredible rate, making for an uncertain future for our agriculture systems.

Thank you for taking the time to read my comments!