[All] Letter by GREN member in Record today - well done Deb

[John Jackson]

Regional official plan a progressive one
    
  

Re: Planning battle heads to court ‹ April 4
  

It is disturbing to read about a local planning consultant who represents a
number of area developers request that the Region of Waterloo drop its
defence of the regional official plan and give into the developers¹ demands
to destroy thousands of acres of our remaining farmlands and natural green
space for old-fashioned, unsustainable urban sprawl.
  

The regional official plan is a progressive one. It has been developed over
many years by local citizens, community organizations, municipal/regional
staff, and politicians to accommodate growth and ensure that Waterloo Region
prospers over the next 20 years. It is designed to revitalize our core
areas, improve public transit, and use Smart Growth principles to create
balanced, accessible communities that provide a variety of housing and
transportation choices, including improved walking and cycling alternatives.
  

Defending the official plan will be a much less expensive and wiser use of
taxpayer dollars than spending the millions and millions of dollars required
for the inefficient and unnecessary infrastructure that would be required
for the servicing of greenfield, car-dependent subdivisions these developers
are clamouring to profit from ‹ not to mention the cost to our community
with the loss of these farms and greenfield areas forever.
  

The official plan they are contesting provides the Smart Growth solutions
necessary for the highest quality of life for everyone in Waterloo Region.
  

It is worth the investment to ensure that our future is determined by our
innovative official plans and local citizens ‹ not quasi-judicial courts and
developers forcing old-school, unsustainable urban sprawl that we can no
longer afford, either in the short- or the long-term.
  

And who pays later? Not them.
   

Deb Swidrovich
  

Waterloo
     

-- 
John Jackson
17 Major Street
Kitchener, Ontario N2H 4R1
519-744-7503


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