Hello Committee Staff, The…

Hello Committee Staff,

The Greenbelt should not be adjusted by land swaps, it is a slippery slope for future degradation. If it was reasonable to do so, why not swap out all the land in the current Greenbelt and make one 10 times the size 600km north? Part of the reason for having the Greenbelt is to limit urban sprawl. To suggest the land is needed because there isn’t any available within non-protected areas strains credulity. Surely there are underused areas and abandoned buildings that can be redeveloped to provide the needed area. It seems likely that redevelopment would place the housing closer to existing infrastructure, although it might not be conducive for neighbourhoods of single detached dwellings.
Removing barriers to building higher density housing was part of the mandate provided to the provincial government by the people of Ontario, destruction of protected lands was not. Denser urban areas can produce more transit friendly, energy efficient and lower cost living arrangements. It makes sense to promote building up and not out in the golden horseshoe.
Offsetting one acre on the interior of the Greenbelt with one acre on the exterior ignores the dynamic nature of how the natural environment interacts. Headwaters and other hydrological considerations, habitat for plants and animals and the importance of continuous tracts of land were all taken into account when the Greenbelt lands were set aside. In this new plan to swap land, is the health of the ecosystem the primary concern or the value of the location for the development?
Thank you for taking the time to consider the opinion of this member of the public.

Ontario Citizen.