[All] Excellent article from Waterloo Federation of Agriculture on importance of LRT

[John Jackson]

Opinion: Waterloo Region's farmers have a vested interest in getting light
rail transit built and used to control urban sprawl
Waterloo Region RecordFarmers work
Modern and traditional farming technologies met in a field outside of Elmira
in May.
Farmers and the agricultural community in Waterloo Region will not be
required to pay for and will, in all likelihood, rarely use light rapid
transit, yet we have a vested interest in ensuring that it is not only built
but also used extensively by our urban neighbours.
Quite simply, without intensification and its key requirement, high-quality
public transit, the future of farming in Waterloo Region is threatened..
Waterloo Region is growing at a rate that is higher than nearly any other
municipality in Canada and the province of Ontario has clearly stated in the
Places to Grow Act that we are to continue that growth. The agricultural
views, vistas, farmsteads and indeed our cultural heritage that we all
appreciate and admire are in peril if we don't continue to take measures to
ensure that the official boundaries of our cities, our countryside lines,
are kept in place.
When one travels outside this region into other parts of Ontario, Canada,
the United States, Europe and the world, the name Waterloo elicits about
four common responses. People are familiar with our universities, our
high-tech sector, Oktoberfest and the unique agricultural heritage of which
we are so proud. These include the traditional old order farms and their
traditional lifestyle, our farmers' markets, the rolling countryside, Noah
Martin summer sausage, cooked cheese, apple butter, maple syrup, etc. We
live in a unique and special place.
In 2002, Waterloo Region Public Health, in co-operation with the Waterloo
Federation of Agriculture, commissioned Harry Cummings and Associates of
Guelph to publish an agricultural economic impact study of agriculture in
the region. If the findings of that report could be summarized in a single
sentence, it would be this: Waterloo Region has the most productive and
prosperous combination of farmers and farmland in all of Ontario and quite
possibly in Canada.
Since 1973, when Waterloo County became a regional municipality, we have
been blessed with politicians and planners who have demonstrated both skill
and vision. We have built three great cities that are the envy of the world
and at the same time protected nearly two thirds of our agricultural land.
This took both courage and foresight. Our planners continue to lead and
innovate and our new official plan and the light rail transit proposal are
proof of that.
What would Waterloo Region have looked like had we not planned for the
future?
Our current population density is about 1,500 people per square kilometre.
Cities in the southern U.S. that lack effective planning policy, such as
Denver, Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix, have densities of less than 500. If we
had not had the visionary planners and politicians we have had for almost 40
years and our population density was only 500 people per square kilometre,
the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge would encompass not only
their present footprint but also all of North Dumfries Township, all of
Wilmot, all of Woolwich, all of Wellesley and more. Agriculture and our
rural countryside would not exist.
Good planning and intensification protect farmland.
Rapid transit, and specifically light rail transit, permit and drive
intensification.
It's that simple.
Building more roads and allowing sprawl is enormously expensive in the long
term. Sprawl is irreversible, If we procrastinate in completing our transit
plan or embrace a less efficient alternative, we risk losing agricultural
land that we can never regain.
No matter what decision we make regarding public transit, we will be leaving
a legacy for the next generation. Would it not be better to leave our
children the opportunity to experience Ayr, New Dundee, Wellesley, St Jacobs
and all of the productive countryside in between in a similar state to what
it is today rather than having it resemble the sprawl of Mississauga,
Brampton, Markham or Oakville?
The pressure to increase our population is not going away. The pressure to
sprawl is not going away.
This is not the time to be complacent and rest on our laurels. It is the
time to redouble our efforts to limit the urban footprint. It is the time to
be even more visionary and protect the countryside we cherish. It is the
time to be even better planners and continue to build three cities that are
the envy of the world. .
We encourage the voters in Waterloo Region to continue to elect councillors,
mayors and a regional chair who are capable of taking the time to carefully
and thoughtfully envision how we can sustain both our rural and urban
communities, who utilize a planning timeline that looks forward nearly a
generation into the future as opposed to just the next election, and who
intentionally hire the very best staff and keep them because the quality of
the people that we employ are a measure of how much we value our future.
Mark Reusser is vice-president of the Waterloo Federation of Agriculture. He
farms in Wilmot Township.
PRINTCLOSE


http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/4940167-farmers-have-a-vested-interes
t-in-light-rail-transit-project/
-- 
John Jackson
17 Major Street
Kitchener, Ontario N2H 4R1
519-744-7503


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