[All] Great News! Regional Official Plan Potential Settlement

Tue May 26 15:13:32 EDT 2015

Personally, I'm deeply disappointed.  This agreement came because of bully tactics by a powerful group of land speculators challenging one of the most important pieces of legislation that determines how planning is to proceed in our province.  The Region gave in because of the punitive legal costs.  It's too close to capitulation for my tastes.  I would only accept this if there is a firm commitment from the Province of Ontario to revise acts respecting the OMB  so that challenges to official plans would be prohibited.  I can just see Paul Britton, who has been behind so many knock-out blows to progressive planning here, gleefully hoisting the celebratory champagne once more.  About 15 years ago I was one of the group who unsuccessfully tried to stop Mutual Life from demolishing 30 homes for a vast parking lot on King St. instead of building a compact parking garage.  Paul Britton engineered that one too.

Our problem is the vast power of the Ontario development industry to disfigure and maim our cities.  They have enormous financial resources and are politically well-conneced.  Look at how awful our suburbs are, how much space is wasted, how socially backward they are, how aesthetically impoverished, how expensive, how carbon-intensive, how much agricultural land is cannibalized.  Remember how Costco acted, threatening to go to the OMB, and will now gobble 22 acres of land for something that could be accommodated on about 5.These speculators and "developers" own all the land around the cities and along potential transportation routes.  They stand to make vast profits from this I don't think this is very smart at all.

Dissenting, Greg Michalenko
________________________________
From: All [all-bounces at gren.ca] on behalf of Kevin Thomason [kevinthomason at mac.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2015 2:44 PM
To: GREN
Subject: [All] Great News! Regional Official Plan Potential Settlement

Hello,

You may or may not have heard the excellent news today about the potential settlement for the Waterloo Regional Official Plan.  At the Planning and Works meeting this morning a detailed settlement was announced that seems very positive.  It not only deals with the 2009/2010 OMB challenges that have been ongoing for years but also deals with other issues and cases such as the increased 2041 Places to Grow growth projections for our Region all at once.

This settlement limits urban sprawl, protects our rural areas along with our water aquifers, and should allow finally for the approval of the Regional Official Plan and all of the good things it contains for transit, intensification, trails, farmland protection, etc.

This settlement is complex but seems quite good - particularly compared to gambling at the OMB or in Divisional Court.  More details are available in the reports, press releases, and on the websites listed below.

Please let me know any questions or ideas on how we can best support the Region to ensure that the Countryside Line, Protected Countryside, Significant Valleylands, new ESL's, etc. become reality with this settlement and ROP approval.

Cheers,
Kevin.

------------------------------

-------------------------------------

----------------------------

SmartGrowth Waterloo - www.smartgrowthwaterloo.ca<http://www.smartgrowthwaterloo.ca>

Kate Daley posted: "This morning, the Region of Waterloo announced that it has reached a settlement with the greenfield developers who appealed the Region's new Official Plan to the Ontario Municipal Board. The agreement, which still must be approved by the OMB, would ope"
New post on Smart Growth Waterloo Region
        [http://s0.wp.com/i/emails/blavatar.png]
[http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d9a5dcf85873c2c19f6ef343f42e6534?s=50&d=identicon&r=G]<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/?author=2>
Major news: Negotiated settlement on the OMB case<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/2015/05/26/major-news-negotiated-settlement-on-the-omb-case/>
by Kate Daley<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/?author=2>

This morning, the Region of Waterloo announced<http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/newslist/index.aspx?corpId=58cynQlfgqiAYQyTLmpurQeQuAleQuAl&newsId=bau4mb0CY9Zn7ZsdxOkeogeQuAleQuAl> that it has reached a settlement with the greenfield developers who appealed the Region's new Official Plan to the Ontario Municipal Board.

[http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/settlement-agreement-map-300x190.png]<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/settlement-agreement-map.png>

A map released by the Region, showing changes based on the settlement agreement.

The agreement, which still must be approved by the OMB, would open up 255 hectares of new land to settle the original dispute, with an additional 198 hectares in the coming years to accommodate new higher population growth projections. Developers had asked for 1053 hectares of new land for urban development to 2031.

While this is a compromise, it's a good compromise that will allow us to move forward with smart growth approaches in our community. It will help protect our farmland and environmentally sensitive areas, while allowing us to encourage more people and jobs in built-up areas to create more liveable urban areas.

As many of you know, in January of 2013 the OMB ruled against crucial smart growth provisions of the Region's Official Plan, and threatened key provisions of the province's Places to Grow Growth Plan covering much of Ontario. The Region has been fighting this dangerous decision in provincial court, with the support of the provincial government, as well as pursuing a negotiated settlement. (Read more<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/whats-going-on/about-the-omb-decision/> about the OMB decision.)

This deal means we won't have to rely on the unpredictable court system to fix the mess left by the OMB, and can move forward sooner with a locally-designed solution.

You can see the Region's press release on the deal here<http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/newslist/index.aspx?corpId=58cynQlfgqiAYQyTLmpurQeQuAleQuAl&newsId=bau4mb0CY9Zn7ZsdxOkeogeQuAleQuAl>, and their full report here<http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/regionalGovernment/resources/Council/CA2015-0526.pdf>.

You can also check out our press release<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/2015/05/26/news-release-community-members-support-official-plan-settlement-agreement/>.

Congratulations to all those at the Region of Waterloo who have been working so hard on this deal, and to all of you for your ongoing support of our community's smart growth vision. Our community's dedication has been a crucial part of this success.

Kate Daley<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/?author=2> | May 26, 2015 at 1:03 pm | Categories: Front Page<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/?taxonomy=category&term=front-page>, Updates<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/?taxonomy=category&term=updates> | URL: http://wp.me/p3kpTC-gb

Unsubscribe<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=8a76ee907330bafdba4dd87e0f3964d3&email=kevthomason%40gmail.com&b=aL-%7CEDu%2Ct%3DDY00cJ7%25SH.f%26Ca5%25BlfZvH2C%25Qw%25hcvsLkChM> to no longer receive posts from Smart Growth Waterloo Region.
Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=8a76ee907330bafdba4dd87e0f3964d3&email=kevthomason%40gmail.com>.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://smartgrowthwaterloo.ca/2015/05/26/major-news-negotiated-settlement-on-the-omb-case/

-----------------------

-----------------------

The Region of Waterloo has reached a deal on the OMB case
View this email in your browser<http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&id=eb99e8e751&e=a7bb7767c7>

[cid:d33b3f99-57d5-4790-bc0d-434ca8052032 at connect.uwaterloo.ca]

Big News: Settlement Reached
Deal still must be approved by the OMB

This morning, the Region of Waterloo announced<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&id=ab48978a0e&e=a7bb7767c7> that they have reached a settlement on the Ontario Municipal Board case on the Regional Official Plan. The deal, which still must be approved by the Ontario Municipal Board, will allocate 255 hectares of new land for urban development, instead of the 1053 hectares that were sought by greenfield developers, to settle the original dispute. About 200 additional hectares will be opened to accommodate new higher population forecasts for the area over the next few years.

While certainly a compromise, the deal will allow us to contain urban sprawl and build more liveable cities while protecting our farmland and environmentally sensitive areas. We no longer must rely on the unpredictability of the courts to fix the mess left by the OMB, and we can move forward with our community's commitment to smart growth.

You can learn more at the links below.

We want to offer you all our congratulations on this moment of success, and to thank you for your support over the last few years. Yet there is still work to do to protect our rural areas and strengthen our urban areas. We'll need your help in the future to ensure our community can grow up instead of our, and we'll be in touch about next steps for Smart Growth Waterloo Region.

[cid:d5ff3be9-0811-4280-a55e-71e7e301d504 at connect.uwaterloo.ca]

Read the Region of Waterloo's news release<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&id=118cad17e0&e=a7bb7767c7>, or their full report<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&id=08f81bdcba&e=a7bb7767c7> on the settlement deal.

[cid:f1b99976-fab2-4ef9-8b7c-6380344aab8f at connect.uwaterloo.ca]

Read our news release<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&id=cad4e1a859&e=a7bb7767c7> and blog post<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&id=42e2045794&e=a7bb7767c7> on this breaking news.

Our mailing address is:
Smart Growth Waterloo Region
234 Weber St E
Kitchener, ON N2H 1G1
Canada

Add us to your address book<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.us7.list-manage.com/vcard?u=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&id=e4c8a5533f>

unsubscribe from this list<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.us7.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&id=e4c8a5533f&e=a7bb7767c7&c=eb99e8e751>    update subscription preferences<http://smartgrowthwaterloo.us7.list-manage.com/profile?u=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&id=e4c8a5533f&e=a7bb7767c7>

<http://www.mailchimp.com/monkey-rewards/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=monkey_rewards&aid=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&afl=1>

[cid:ca19d5cc-2a6b-4ef9-ad01-633d7e322154 at connect.uwaterloo.ca]
<http://www.mailchimp.com/monkey-rewards/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=monkey_rewards&aid=8503862a4d025da42ef96c95d&afl=1>

-----------------------------------------

Kevin Thomason

1115 Cedar Grove Road
Waterloo, Ontario Canada  N2J 3Z4

Phone: (519) 888-0519
Mobile Phone: (519) 240-1648
Twitter: @kthomason
E-mail: kevinthomason at mac.com<mailto:kevinthomason at mac.com>

-----------------------------------------

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20150526/4c82a900/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 0bf0a896-e83d-4088-91ee-093f18a1022e.png
Type: image/png
Size: 493882 bytes
Desc: 0bf0a896-e83d-4088-91ee-093f18a1022e.png
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20150526/4c82a900/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 619d4cb8-49a4-45bc-b55c-3ae4bad23ac3.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 46394 bytes
Desc: 619d4cb8-49a4-45bc-b55c-3ae4bad23ac3.jpg
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20150526/4c82a900/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ac741e70-39c7-4ac4-beae-0376e67273dc.png
Type: image/png
Size: 23050 bytes
Desc: ac741e70-39c7-4ac4-beae-0376e67273dc.png
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20150526/4c82a900/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MC_MonkeyReward_15.png
Type: image/png
Size: 4068 bytes
Desc: MC_MonkeyReward_15.png
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20150526/4c82a900/attachment-0002.png>