[All] Regional Official Plan More Important Than Ever
Kevin Thomason
kevinthomason at mac.com
Fri Jun 3 11:44:22 EDT 2022
Good morning,
I realize that the election outcome is extremely disappointing to most GREN members, it makes it even more important that we get the best possible Regional Official Plan outcomes in the next few weeks - particularly since most climate change actions and impact happens at the local level. Look at what progressive cities and communities are doing in the US despite awful state and federal governments. Lets ensure we put all our frustrations, energy and effort into creating the bold, visionary ROP we are going to need for the decades ahead.
Municipalities across the Region continue to issue Staff Reports and hold Council meetings to respond to the Region with their preferred Growth Option by June 7th.
Unfortunately, the pattern we are seeing in every Council Chamber so far is that municipal staff don’t have the information they need to make a recommendation to Council or feel that the 3 options put forth by the Region are so flawed that they can not recommend any of them. Angry, poorly informed Councillors are then left struggling on very tight timelines to try to determine their future for the next 30 years and after hours of deliberations time runs out and they then schedule a new emergency Council meeting to happen within days to try to meet the regional deadline.
Kevin Eby, Mark Reusser, and myself have been at every meeting presenting the Community Option #4 as a superior path forward that has no farmland loss and goes the furthest to create the sustainable communities we need. We need to continue to ensure that there is a strong citizen voice at these municipal meetings speaking about climate concerns, farmland loss and sustainability so Councillors know the future that our community wants to see. Letters, e-mails and some delegations are very important and made all the difference in getting Wellesley Councillors to vote unanimously against their Staff Recommendation for Option #2 to breach the Countryside Line and pave over prime farmland for development.
Around the region things are unfolding as follows:
1) Woolwich Township - Council Meeting this coming Monday, June 6th at 7pm - Staff Report (below) is recommending Option #2 with hundreds of acres of farmland loss. We need letters to Councillors and some delegations (need to register asap)
2) Wellesley Township - Special ROP Council Meeting is Tuesday, June 7th at 6:45pm in response to their first Council meeting and rejected Staff Report, a new Staff Report is coming forward in Wellesley and Councillors will try a second time. Once we see the new Staff report (presumably later today) we will need to respond accordingly.
3) City of Kitchener - Special ROP Council Meeting is Wednesday, June 8th at 7:00pm following up their first Council meeting. Deliberations will continue on two motions on the table - one from Councillor Scott Davey and Councillor Paul Singh calling for more farmland loss, breaching the Countryside Line, and requesting 50,000 more population from the province the other motion from Councillor Debbie Chapman advocating for Option #4 and it’s principles of sustainability. We need people to reach out to Councillors expressing concerns about Councillor Davey’s motion and support for Councillor Chapman’s motion.
4) City of Waterloo - Their Staff report (below) has been issued a week early for their Monday, June 13th 7:00pm Council meeting. It is an impressive report expressing desire for more sustainable growth and intensification within urban areas and concerns about too much density targetted for close proximity to environmental areas. Waterloo Councillors need to hear how Option #4 is congruent with their Staff report and is the Option they need to be promoting for the entire Region.
5) Wilmot Township - Second Council Meeting on the ROP Response is planned for Monday, June 13th at 7:00pm. We need to work with Wilmot Councillors to have them help support an excellent motion put on the floor by Councillor Angie Hallman based on Option #4. Delegations aren’t likely allowed but letters and calls to Councillors are going to be important to get all Councillors onside.
6) City of Cambridge - Astoundingly has decided that it isn’t going to do a Staff Report and are not going to bring things to Cambridge Council giving their Councillors and citizens no opportunity to respond to the ROP other than by going directly to the region with letters or at future meetings. This is going to come as a surprise to some Cambridge Councillors I’ve spoken to who are clearly expecting a Staff Report and process similar to other municipalities.
7) North Dumfries - No response to inquiries. Please let me know if you can learn anything about what is happening in North Dumfries.
There is a good article in today’s Record as they finally start to cover the importance of the ROP and report on things: https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/06/02/waterloo-regions-official-plan-update-aims-to-balance-building-new-homes-while-protecting-the-countryside-line.html <https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/06/02/waterloo-regions-official-plan-update-aims-to-balance-building-new-homes-while-protecting-the-countryside-line.html>
Regional Staff will be presenting their recommended Growth Option based on feedback to Regional Council on June 15th.
Channel your election frustrations into the local planning we need for the future. It is more important than ever that we get the bold, visionary ROP required. Please to reach out to Councillors in your municipality to talk to them about the Regional Official Plan and the future that you want to see.
Thanks,
Kevin.
------------------------
1) Summary of Option #4
2) Woolwich Staff Report and Council Agenda
3) City of Waterloo Staff Report
4) Today’s Record Article
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/06/02/waterloo-regions-official-plan-update-aims-to-balance-building-new-homes-while-protecting-the-countryside-line.html <https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/06/02/waterloo-regions-official-plan-update-aims-to-balance-building-new-homes-while-protecting-the-countryside-line.html>
WATERLOO REGION <https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region.html>
Region needs to prepare for growth with a mix of housing but not at the expense of ‘plowing over farmland’
The Region’s growth plan for the next 30 years will decide how cities and townships grow, where homes will be built and how to address climate change
By Liz Monteiro <https://www.therecord.com/authors.monteiro_liz.html>Record Reporter
Thu., June 2, 2022timer5 min. read
updateArticle was updated 6 hrs ago
<> <> <> <>
<>
WATERLOO REGION — When it comes to regulating growth in the Region of Waterloo, there’s a battle brewing.
Staunch supporters of keeping the greenbelt say the Region must act on the climate emergency and contain urban sprawl to protect precious farmland.
Intensification of housing and people should be kept to the core areas of the cities and the townships, they say.
Another vocal group — many of them developers — say the region is quickly running out of land to be developed. Most of the existing vacant land is already planned for development, they say.
At the heart of the struggle is the housing affordability crisis <https://www.therecord.com/news/provincial-election/2022/05/30/kitchener-couple-put-in-12-separate-house-offers-and-each-time-they-were-outbid-by-someone-willing-to-pay-more-than-650000.html>that many communities in Ontario, including Waterloo Region, are now facing. The region’s population is projected to grow to just shy of a million people by 2051.
Everyone agrees we need more housing, and different types of housing, from three- to four-storey walk-ups, stacked townhomes or tiny homes — the kind of gentle density known as ‘missing middle’ <https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/02/22/housing-report-addresses-waterloo-regions-missing-middle.html>housing.
The question is: where should this housing be located? Advocates would like to see most development in core areas, as well as infill development throughout the region.
This is where the countryside line comes in. This, too, is an issue almost everyone agrees on — the countryside line must be protected <https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2021/11/22/can-waterloo-regions-countryside-line-contain-development.html>.
YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN...
<https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/06/01/officer-suicidal-after-botched-search.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=rec_web_ymbii>
WATERLOO REGION
Officer suicidal after botched search
1 day ago
<https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/06/01/officer-suicidal-after-botched-search.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=rec_web_ymbii> <https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/06/01/fate-of-flair-airlines-and-its-routes-to-waterloo-region-to-be-revealed-today.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=rec_web_ymbii>
WATERLOO REGION
Updated: Flair Airlines keeps its licence and its routes to Waterloo Region after federal ruling in its favour
1 day ago
<https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/06/01/fate-of-flair-airlines-and-its-routes-to-waterloo-region-to-be-revealed-today.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=rec_web_ymbii>
The countryside line is meant to contain future growth within the Region’s urban areas, while protecting farmland and sensitive natural areas from development.
The Region is at a crossroads as it revises the regional Official Plan and sets targets on how it wants to grow and develop from now until 2051, says Kevin Thomason of Wilmot Township.
People need to speak up and be heard as the Region “determines for at least 30 years where and how we grow, what we protect, what we destroy, how we get around and if we are likely to achieve much of our climate change targets,” said Thomason, who spoke at a recent public meeting to gather input on the Official Plan review.
He wants to see dedicated growth in core areas and in the suburbs with a variety of homes, not just towers, and to see farmland remaining untouched.
Nearly all of the 25 delegations who spoke at the meeting, which stretched to nearly three hours, spoke in favour of greater density in core areas with less sprawl into the rural landscape.
Ian McLean, president of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, said development, housing and growth is so important, mistakes can’t be made.
“We have to get it right. It’s too important a decision,” he told councillors.
McLean said people need and want housing choice. A mix of housing is critical and is needed all over the region as well as near transit corridors, but not at the expense of “plowing over farmland.”
“Not everyone wants to live in a highrise. People want choice and want to live where they work,” he said.
In their growth plans, the Region’s planners have presented three scenarios. The lowest-intensity option would see 50 per cent of new growth in built-up areas, while the other two would bump that to 60 per cent.
The main difference between the options is the land needed <https://www.therecord.com/news/council/2021/11/10/waterloo-region-council-calls-for-more-intense-development-targets-in-official-plan-update.html> to accommodate growth. In one scenario, regional staff suggests 2,208 hectares would be required. Another option earmarks 376 hectares of land for development. The third would accommodate growth within existing lands.
The option with the most land for development will breach the countryside line and even Rod Regier, the Region’s commissioner of planning and development, says this option would be “regressive.”
The Region is currently growing and developing and seeing growth that is more dense than the Region’s planning targets require. Housing has already become more compact, which makes it more affordable, he said.
“Few people can afford a 60-foot lot with a single detached home,” he said.
Regier said there is still plenty of land to develop, with more than 30,000 lots in stages of approval or draft plans for development, he said. The past three years have seen a record-breaking number of building permits issued in the region.
And this development doesn’t go past the countryside line, which he describes as unique to the region.
Former regional chair Ken Seiling is credited with coming up with the idea, which became part of the regional growth strategy in 2003 and part of the Official Plan in 2009.
Developers appealed the plan to the provincial land tribunal, saying it was too restrictive and put limits on how much land could be developed. They wanted 1,000 hectares of land for development.
The land tribunal settled a few years later after appeals and legal challenges, allowing for 450 hectares of land for new development. It also allowed for the countryside line to be part of the regional Official Plan.
In choosing an option for future growth, the Region must also work with developers, Regier said.
“We absolutely need a partnership with the development community to implement the community we want live in. We need to build complete communities to reduce the carbon footprint,” said Regier, referring to neighbourhoods with shops, professional offices and areas that are inviting for cyclists and pedestrians.
Coun. Tom Galloway, who sits on the Region’s steering committee for the Official Plan revision, said he is still reviewing which option will best serve the future growth needs of the Region.
RELATED STORIES
WATERLOO REGION
Can the countryside line contain the pressures of development?
Nov. 22, 2021
<https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2021/11/22/can-waterloo-regions-countryside-line-contain-development.html>COUNCIL
Waterloo Region council calls for more intense development targets in Official Plan update
Nov. 10, 2021
<https://www.therecord.com/news/council/2021/11/10/waterloo-region-council-calls-for-more-intense-development-targets-in-official-plan-update.html>PROVINCIAL ELECTION
Kitchener couple put in 12 separate house offers and each time they were outbid by someone willing to pay more than $650,000
3 days ago
<https://www.therecord.com/news/provincial-election/2022/05/30/kitchener-couple-put-in-12-separate-house-offers-and-each-time-they-were-outbid-by-someone-willing-to-pay-more-than-650000.html>
“One of my must-haves: We are not jumping the countryside line,” he said in an interview.
Galloway said there is a lot at stake in this Official Plan review for both developers and for each of the Region’s seven municipalities. Developers want more land located within municipal boundaries to develop, while municipalities also want to expand the amount of land to be developed, because that translates into additional assessment growth and more tax dollars, he said.
“This is a tricky balance not to jump the countryside line,” he said. “All seven municipalities want a piece of the pie. We have to keep peace in the family.”
Coun. Michael Harris said it’s all about balance when it comes regional growth projections and building housing for residents who want to live in the region.
He wants to see a diversity of housing stock, including single family homes.
“That everyone should live in a condo in downtown Kitchener, that is not practical,” he said. “Some families want to raise children in suburbia.”
People shouldn’t be “forced to leapfrog to Ingersoll or Woodstock” to buy a single-family house, he said.
Harris believes adding the housing supply can still be done within the Region’s boundaries.
“I don’t think we are at that point to push the countryside line,” he said.
A report by regional staff recommending a growth option will come before council on June 15. A public input session is planned for July and council is expected to make a decision in August. For more information, check the Region’s engagement page <https://www.engagewr.ca/regional-official-plan>.
<https://www.therecord.com/authors.monteiro_liz.html>
<https://www.therecord.com/authors.monteiro_liz.html>Liz Monteiro <https://www.therecord.com/authors.monteiro_liz.html> is a Waterloo Region-based general assignment reporter for The Record. Reach her via email: lmonteiro at therecord.com <mailto:lmonteiro at therecord.com>
-------------------------------------
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 or kevthomason at gmail.com
-----------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0008.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ROP Option #4 2 Page Summary v1.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 161527 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0003.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0009.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Woolwich Council Agenda Package June 6 2022 Missing Maps.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 5855192 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0004.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0010.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: City of Waterloo Agenda and ROP Report June 13 2022 Condensed.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 2258357 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0005.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0011.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Screen Shot 2022-06-03 at 12.21.32 AM.png
Type: image/png
Size: 761328 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0012.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Monteiro_ Liz_logo2019.webp
Type: image/webp
Size: 4670 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0003.webp>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0013.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: angie_rivers.webp
Type: image/webp
Size: 4038 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0004.webp>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0014.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: flair1.webp
Type: image/webp
Size: 4510 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0005.webp>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220603/ccc48785/attachment-0015.html>
More information about the All
mailing list