I do not support the re…

I do not support the re-designation of lands in the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Area; specifically, land located in the Township of King north of Highway 9 and west of Bathurst Street. I think it would be a foolish and unnecessary decision to redesignate these lands.

The amount of greenfield land already designated for development, and added to municipal settlement boundaries, but still sitting unbuilt far exceeds what is needed to meet long range housing targets. That includes 86,000 acres within the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area alone. According to Ontario’s Housing Affordability Task Force, “a shortage of land isn’t the cause of the problem … land is available.” The Task Force further advised that “Greenbelts and other environmentally sensitive areas must be protected, and farms provide food and food security. Relying too heavily on undeveloped land would whittle away too much of the already small share of land devoted to agriculture.”

There is no servicing in this area. Upper York has no servicing capacity to give, existing 2010 growth can’t be fully serviced and the Upper York Sewage System, now abandoned, was supposed to be the solution for this growth. It is implausible that the lands in King Township would be an eligible candidate for new housing development -- northern York Region doesn’t have a servicing capacity solution for what was just approved in the new Official Plan.

Also, everything that has transpired with this land is highly suspicious. A big developer just purchased the land in August of 2022 for a bargain price of $80 Million. The removal of Greenbelt protection and subsequent re-zoning would increase the land value exponentially. It seems these big developers were tipped off by the Provincial Government. This has little to do with actually solving the housing crisis; instead, it seems to be more about increasing profits for the development industry.