Hello I am writing to you…

Hello

I am writing to you as a concerned resident of the city of pickering. I just learned about your plans to develop areas that were once considered greenbelt areas near my home. The area of greatest concern that I am familiar with is the area noted as "Proposed Modifications Map 6". I hope that you consider some of the concerns I outline in this letter when making your final proposals.

The area that you describe is currently quite a vast area of countryside farms and fields. These areas have been considered prime agricultural lands that are needed to continue to supply our growing population. Replacing this land with housing is risking our ability to sustain ourselves in the future.

Also, I would like to point out that the Durham Region and the City of Pickering have been working hard to build the community of Seaton and that work is not yet done. There are vast swaths of land that have been labeled for development but nothing has been done. It appears that developing another pocket of land without any vision or plan from the city involved is a recipe for disaster.

A final concern is that the area described has no infrastructure and from my research, the region and city have made no such plans. The community of Seaton to the east is currently being developed and plans have been made over the last few decades to build the necessary infrastructure to support this new community. I am not clear on how this area described in "Proposed Modifications Map 6" would start to be developed by 2025 when we can clearly see that Seaton was years in the making. I am a physician, and not a city planner, but from my observations the lack of roads, schools, transit connections in the area would make it a very poor place to live.

Anthony