Community News

ENVIRONMENTALISTS OPPOSE OPENING GREENBELT IN DURHAM

KEITH GILLIGAN kgilligan@durhamregion.com

A proposal to review the implications of opening up the Greenbelt in Durham region for development was shot down recently.

Regional council voted against the review, although recent reports from environmental groups say there is enough land already available for redevelopment and there is no need for the Greenbelt to be opened.

The provincial government passed Bill 23 in the fall to open up 7,400 acres of Greenbelt land to development, while adding an additional 9,000 acres to the Greenbelt.

Premier Doug Ford said the land is needed to help the provincial government meet its target of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.

An Alliance for a Livable Ontario report written by professional planner Kevin Eby said there is enough existing capacity in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) to meet the housing needs the province is seeking.

"No additional overall housing capacity was required in the GGH to meet its share of the 1.5 million housing target," Eby wrote.

He added that the private sector alone can solve the housing affordability crisis in Ontario.

"The private sector will play a supporting role in this process, but simply providing them with more urban designated land in the vain hope that somehow this will result in more and cheaper homes being built faster is not a realistic solution," Eby added.

During the recent regional council meeting, Lynda Mackie said, "Mother Nature seems to know how best to weather the weather and the Greenbelt is a great swath of Mother Nature."

She said the farmland is important to preserve.

"The animals that currently dwell on the Greenbelt will be displaced and will become a nuisance as they toddle around suburbia," she said.

Phil Pothen, the counsel and Ontario environment program manager for Environmental Defence, said, "First of all, if the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve lands, which are formally part of the Greenbelt, are opened up for residential sprawl as the province says it intends, the Durham Region is legally obliged to make a corresponding reduction in the amount of whitebelt land

adding to the settlement boundary."

He noted the provincial regulations prevents the region from making more land available for home building unless development takes place in areas already designated for residential development.

"If, as the province wants, these Greenbelt lands that have been stripped of Greenbelt protection, are made available for building, then it must come out of some other part of the proposed boundary expansions," Pothen said.

He said the previous regional council approved expansion of the urban boundary to "appease" developers.

"You have plenty of space available within the existing settlement area to meet your house needs. There is certainly no need to add more land than you've already allocated for boundary expansion," Pothen said.

Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe opposed the matter, saying there is a need to plan and develop infrastructure so there is serviced lands that can provide jobs.

"This motion is about pausing, stopping, deferring and that's not in the best interest of our residents. It opens up this body to criticism, it opens it up to political intervention. So that if we're not willing to plan our future, we know the provincial government will," Ashe said.

He said Envision Durham isn't about building on the Greenbelt.

"Pausing isn't in the interest of our residents, both current and future. It's not in the best interests of our businesses, both current and future and it's not in the best interest of job seekers, both current and future," Ashe said.

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2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

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