[All] Regional Official Plan Passes First Vote!!!!

Fri Aug 12 01:13:16 EDT 2022

Congratulations to everyone who has written, e-mailed, called, delegated, attended, and spoken up for the future that they want to see.  Early Thursday Evening the Regional Planning and Works Committee (which is comprised of all the members of Regional Council) voted 12 to 2 to approve and endorse the amendments as recommended by Regional Staff for the Regional Official Plan from 2022 to 2051.

This is a tremendous achievement for our community to see this bold and visionary plan initially approved.  It will now go to full Regional Council next week (August 18th) for a final approval vote.

It was very unfortunate to see the Chambers of Commerce along with developers and land speculators oppose the ROP and request that the Premier and Minister of Municipal Affairs intervene to override the ROP and destroy more farmland for additional sprawl development.  It remains to be seen how this will unfold and both Councillor Mike Harris and North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton voting against the best public interest and the ROP - siding with the developers seeking unjustified and unneeded sprawl for profit instead.  Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic also was critical of Regional Staff and very supportive of the sprawl advocating developers but voted in favour of the ROP possibly fearing the public backlash knowing how much strong support this innovative ROP has with citizens across the Region and an election pending.

You can read about the meeting in today’s Record article:

	https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/08/11/waterloo-region-councillors-set-to-debate-and-expected-to-vote-on-30-year-growth-plan.html <https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/08/11/waterloo-region-councillors-set-to-debate-and-expected-to-vote-on-30-year-growth-plan.html>

With such a strong climate change focus, 15 minute communities, more intensification, more housing choice, more affordability, better public transportation, and so many other progressive elements it will be fantastic to see how this ROP will transform our community over the decades ahead.

Please continue to call and write Regional Councillors and Mayors in support of the Regional Official Plan over the next week as we approach the final vote on August 18th.  While they won’t be allowing any delegations at the final meeting, written submissions are being encouraged.  We shouldn't underestimate the efforts and determination of those opposing this progressive plan we need for a sustainable future.

Congratulations, thank you, and well done!

Cheers,
Kevin.

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1) Upcoming Dates:

Thursday, August 18th at 5:00pm  - Final vote and approval of the 2051 Regional Official Plan by Regional Council

Monday, October 24th - Municipal Elections

2) Most Recent Staff Report for this meeting:

3) Key Data Points of the Regional Official Plan:

	- Intensification rate: 61%
	- Density: 59 pj/ha
	- Community Area Expansion: 150 ha
	- Employment Area Expansion: 456 ha

There is a very strong climate change and complete 15 minute neighbourhood focus.  This is much less Community Area (residential) greenfield farmland loss than former Option #2’s 376 ha of farmland loss, and even less than the 220 ha proposed back in December or the 180 ha of farmland loss proposed November.  While ideally we would see 0ha of farmland loss we’ve known from the onset that additional employment lands were required, a solution would have to be found for Wellesley Township’s land needs, and there were situations were rounding out or adding a few acres of expansion could help to complete a community or provide space for needed/missing services.  

Learn more at: https://www.engagewr.ca/regional-official-plan <https://www.engagewr.ca/regional-official-plan>

4) Contact Regional Councillors and Staff - Please Show Your Support and Speak Up for the Future You Want to See:

Write all Regional Councillors at: regionalcouncillors at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:regionalcouncillors at regionofwaterloo.ca>

Or contact individual Councillors at:

Karen Redman (Regional Chair) - kredman at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:kredman at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Kathryn McGarry (Mayor, Cambridge) - kmcgarry at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:kmcgarry at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Karl Kiefer (Regional Councillor, Cambridge) - kkiefer at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:kkiefer at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Helen Jowett (Regional Councillor, Cambridge) - hjowett at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:hjowett at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Berry Vrbanovic (Mayor, Kitchener) - bvrbanovic at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:bvrbanovic at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Tom Galloway (Regional Councillor, Kitchener) - tgalloway at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:tgalloway at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Geoff Lorentz (Regional Councillor, Kitchener) - glorentz at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:glorentz at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Michael D. Harris (Regional Councillor, Kitchener) - mharris at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:mharris at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Elizabeth Clarke (Regional Councillor, Kitchener) - eclarke at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:eclarke at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Dave Jaworsky (Mayor, City of Waterloo) - djaworsky at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:djaworsky at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Jim Erb (Regional Councillor, City of Waterloo) - jerb at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:jerb at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Sean Strickland (Regional Councillor, City of Waterloo) - sstrickland at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:sstrickland at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Les Armstrong (Mayor, Wilmot Township) - larmstrong at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:larmstrong at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Joe Nowak (Mayor, Wellesley Township) - jnowak at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:jnowak at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Sandy Shantz (Mayor, Woolwich Township) - sshantz at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:sshantz at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Sue Foxton (Mayor, North Dumfries Township) - sfoxton at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:sfoxton at regionofwaterloo.ca>

Contact Regional Staff at:

Bruce Lauckner - CAO - blauckner at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:blauckner at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Rod Reiger - Commissioner - Planning, Development and Legislative Services - rregier at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:rregier at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Danielle DeFields - Director, Community Planning and Development - DDeFields at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:DDeFields at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Brenna MacKinnon - Manager, Development Planning - bmackinnon at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:bmackinnon at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Cushla Matthews - Principal Planner - CMatthews at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:CMatthews at regionofwaterloo.ca>
John Lubczynski - Principal Planner - jlubczynski at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:jlubczynski at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Kate Daley - Environmental Sustainability Specialist - KDaley at regionofwaterloo.ca <mailto:KDaley at regionofwaterloo.ca>

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Kevin Thomason

1115 Cedar Grove Road
Waterloo, Ontario Canada  N2J 3Z4

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

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