Policy Proposal: Proposed…

Policy Proposal: Proposed Amendments to the Greenbelt Plan
ERO Number: 019-6216

Dear Madam/Sir:

I am strongly opposed to the Proposed Amendments to the Greenbelt Plan (ERO Number: 019-6216), which includes the removal and/or re-designation of any lands from the current Greenbelt Area and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Area, such as the 15 proposed lands totalling approx. 7400 acres.

The proposed development of these lands for residential and/or industrial uses will harm and reduce the following benefits for all current and future Ontarians and Canadians:

1) Ground water filtration and aquifer renewal for all streams, rivers and other water bodies of the Greater Toronto Area surrounding the western half of Lake Ontario, i.e. “The Golden Horseshoe”;

2) The highest soil quality for the greatest agricultural crop diversity and crop quantity (productivity) in Ontario and Canada; and

3) East-west connectivity of remnant mixed- and Carolinian-forest and tallgrass prairie habitat for wildlife across Southern Ontario, which is the greatest biologically diverse region in all of Canada, and contains the greatest concentration of endangered species in Canada.

The agricultural soils, ground aquifers and remnant wildlife habitats in the current Greenbelt Area and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Area are site-specific, and therefore cannot be simply moved or compensated for by the addition of other lands to the Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Area, such as the Paris Galt Moraine.

Before any lands, such as the 15 proposed sites totalling the approx.. 7400 acres, are to be considered for removal and/or re-designation from the Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Acts, the Ontario government must:

A. Adequately justify that all the current lands surrounding the existing perimeter of the Greenbelt Area and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Area are insufficient (in both land area and infrastructure) to support the construction of the 50,000 or more homes that are proposed on the 15 parcels of land proposed for removal/re-designation from the Greenbelt Area and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan;

B. Provide detailed, quantifiable reasons that existing cities across Southern, Eastern, Central and Northern Ontario that are located outside the Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Areas, have an inability to develop fast enough to meet Ontario’s goal of 1.5 million homes within the next 10 years; and

C. Should the results in steps A) and B) above justify the need to remove and/or re-designate Greenbelt and/or Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Areas, then all proposed development in these lands require the planning of wildlife corridors within them to ensure habitat connectivity, by-laws to maximise soft landscaping (water percolation), and additional protection of natural and agricultural lands to increase the overall area of the Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Areas.

Thank you for your time.