Please maintain the current…

Please maintain the current parkland dedication rates of 1 hectare per 300 dwellings. Also maintain the current cash in lieu of parkland rate at 1 hectare per 500 dwellings, and do not introduce new upper limits on parkland for new development sites.

Reducing parkland will make more dense neighbourhoods less desirable and lead to even more urban sprawl. Reduced parkland will create more intense heat islands, making neighbourhoods less liveable and increase demand for air conditioning to boot. The goal should be to encourage living within existing urban boundaries, and having sufficient parkland within walking distance is key to that goal. Once parkland is lost, particularly in an urban setting, it is virtually impossible to restore, so a mistake like this will last for generations.

Luckily, it is possible to keep existing parkland rates and still support more dense development. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that work-from-home models can vastly decrease the need for downtown office space, which could be repurposed for dense housing. Providing incentives to increase work-from-home could maintain and accelerate this trend. Once example is to fund municipally owned fibre optic data networks to provide affordable ubiquitous internet access.