[All] SPAM Re: Breaking News! Province Reverses Forced Urban Boundary Expansions!

Tue Oct 24 09:31:40 EDT 2023

So grateful to hear of this latest reversal. At the same time, I can
appreciate Mayor Guthrie's "Thanks a lot for wasting a year of our time" as
the housing crisis peaks and requires full-out time, attention and energy
on the parts of all levels of government.

Thanks, Kevin, Mike et. al., for awesome advocacy! And for keeping us all
well-informed and connected via your comprehensive and incisive email
updates.

Henriette

On Tue, Oct 24, 2023 at 9:13 AM Kevin Thomason <kevinthomason at mac.com>
wrote:

> Congratulations and kudos to everyone who has spoken up for our Official
> Plans that were overridden by the province last year.  On Monday morning,
> the new Minister of Municipal Affairs Paul Calandra made a surprise
> announcement that the government would be cancelling these forced urban
> boundary expansions!
>
> So not only have we succeeded in getting the Greenbelt removals reversed
> and the devastating 3 rural severances cancelled, we have now succeeded in
> getting the forced urban boundary expansions cancelled too!
>
> Minister Calandra said he had no faith in the process that we have said
> all along bypassed all public consultation, First Nations input, and
> provided no data, rationale, or justification for the forced urban
> expansions that were slated to destroy tens of thousands of acres of
> irreplaceable farmland across the province in municipalities such as
> Waterloo, Wellington, Guelph, Halton, Hamilton, Ottawa, and elsewhere.
>
> The Minister said his embattled government was moving to “reset” relations
> with municipalities and that it now wants “to respect local planning” as
> the RCMP investigates the Greenbelt scandal that has so many parallels and
> unanswered questions similar to these forced boundary expansions.  The
> minister further said “I’m reverting back to what the municipalities have
> put in place.  The process was one that I was just not comfortable with”
> and that “the provincial planning orders had just a little bit too much
> involvement from individuals within the previous minister’s office.”
>
> It’s astonishing to see this last statement so seriously criticizing Luca
> Bucci and other staff of Steve Clark the previous MMAH minister.  We’ve
> been raising concerns for months and the serious issues with Doug Ford’s
> provincial government goes far deeper than any one particular Minister or
> Ministry.  We see consistent patterns of ignoring public consultation,
> First Nations, and the greater public good with decisions that benefit just
> a few well-connected party-insiders, speculators, and developers.
>
> Thanks to everyone who wrote letters, attended rallies, made phone calls,
> put up lawn signs and undertook countless actions to get the government to
> change course and act in the best public interest to see these natural
> areas and agricultural lands protected for generations to come.  We have
> achieved what so many said would never happen.  It is a testament to the
> power of the people and our continuous extensive efforts over the past year.
>
> The media coverage has been extensive:
>
> The Narhwal - Thousands Of Hectares Of Ontario Farmland Won’t Be Developed
> After Ford Government Backs Down:
> “Decisions to impose sprawl on 10 municipalities including Hamilton,
> Waterloo and Ottawa weren’t made “in a manner that maintains and reinforces
> public trust”.
> https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-boundary-expansion-reversal/
>
> CityNews and CityTV - Ontario To Reverse Urban Boundary Expansions For
> Several Communities:
>
> https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2023/10/23/ontario-greenbelt-urban-boundary-expansions/?
>
> CBC - Ford Government To Reverse Controversial Urban Boundary Expansions:
>
> https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/official-plan-reversal-legislation-1.7004947
>
> CKCO CTV News - Waterloo Region Reacts To Provincial Reversal On Urban
> Boundary Expansion:
>
> https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/waterloo-region-reacts-to-provincial-reversal-on-urban-boundary-expansion-1.6613810
>
> Global News - Ontario Reversing Urban Boundary Expansions:
> https://globalnews.ca/news/10042687/ontario-urban-boundaries-reversal/
>
> The Toronto Star - Doug Ford Government To Scrap Municipal Boundary
> Changes After Greenbelt Scandal:
>
> https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/doug-ford-government-to-scrap-municipal-boundary-changes-after-greenbelt-scandal/article_fcd6f9f8-b8a7-5787-b0f6-05064ebf9e8e.html
>
> The Record - “Thanks A Lot For Wasting A Year Of Our Time”:
>
> https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/thanks-a-lot-for-wasting-a-year-of-our-time-province-to-reverse-changes-it/article_bccd5b14-2d48-5abc-a6c3-dd5ef537579a.html
>
>
> It may have been two different legal actions by Ecojustice against the
> Forced Boundary Expansions that helped the government realize the need to
> reverse course:
> Ecojustice Statement On Boundary Expansion Reversal Announcement:
>
> https://ecojustice.ca/news/ecojustice-statement-on-boundary-expansion-reversal-announcement/
>
> Official Provincial Release From Minister Calandra:
>
> https://news.ontario.ca/en/statement/1003689/ontario-winding-back-changes-to-official-plans
>
>
> *Next Steps:*
>
> The impacted municipalities now have 45 days to respond to the Minister.
> This should be a very easy process as we already have spent several years
> working on the Official Plans that we need for the next 30 years and these
> long-term community plans were just overwhelmingly approved by our
> municipal and regional councils in the summer of 2022.  Millions of
> taxpayer dollars have been invested in these plans that included input from
> thousands of citizens, businesses, and organizations throughout our
> communities.  These are the visionary, sustainable plans for the future
> with complete, walkable communities, affordable housing, the missing
> middle, improved public transit, and stronger environmental protections we
> will need to succeed in the future.
>
> Karen Redman, Chair of the Region of Waterloo has committed to responding
> to the province within 45 days while Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie said he was
> beyond upset and blasted the province for “wasting a year of time, and for
> nothing.”
>
> The pressure from developers and land speculators will be intense over the
> weeks ahead to get these local Official Plans changed to promote urban
> sprawl on the specific lands they own and we will need to continue to speak
> up loud and clear for the sustainable future that we want to see.
>
> Join us on our regular bi-weekly group Zoom call this Friday, October 27th
> at 5:30pm to discuss things further (
> https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82644695701?pwd=bnRsUGtWSUcrRnFWR21uYVBISG9jZz09)
> and please reach out to your local Councillors to urge them to support our
> visionary, sustainable Official Plans already approved in summer of 2022.
>
> Minister Calandra also hinted that some recent Ministerial Zoning Orders
> (MZO’s) may be revisited.  Now that the government has admitted their
> approach to housing policy has failed as we never had a shortage of land
> designated for development, we need to fight to get the Conservation
> Authority changes and orders to sell off Conservation Authority lands
> reversed as well.
>
>
> Congratulations!  Once again by working together with citizens and groups
> across our municipalities along with other groups in communities across the
> province we have accomplished what many said was impossible!
>
> Cheers!
> Kevin Thomason and Mike Marcolongo on behalf of all our community groups.
>
> ---------------------------------------
> *The Narwhal, October 23, 2023:*
>
> Thousands of hectares of Ontario farmland won’t be developed after Ford
> government backs down
> Housing Minister Paul Calandra said decisions to impose sprawl on 10
> municipalities including Hamilton, Waterloo and Ottawa weren’t made “in a
> manner that maintains and reinforces public trust”
> <https://thenarwhal.ca/author/emma-mcintosh/>
> <https://thenarwhal.ca/author/emma-mcintosh/>
> By  Emma McIntosh <https://thenarwhal.ca/author/emma-mcintosh/>
> Oct. 23, 2023   5 min. read
>
> <https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Thousands%20of%20hectares%20of%20Ontario%20farmland%20won%E2%80%99t%20be%20developed%20after%20Ford%20government%20backs%20down:%20https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-boundary-expansion-reversal/>
> <https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite?mini=true&url=https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-boundary-expansion-reversal//&title=Thousands%20of%20hectares%20of%20Ontario%20farmland%20won%E2%80%99t%20be%20developed%20after%20Ford%20government%20backs%20down>
> <https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-boundary-expansion-reversal/&title=Thousands%20of%20hectares%20of%20Ontario%20farmland%20won%E2%80%99t%20be%20developed%20after%20Ford%20government%20backs%20down>
> <?subject=Thousands%20of%20hectares%20of%20Ontario%20farmland%20won%E2%80%99t%20be%20developed%20after%20Ford%20government%20backs%20down%20%7C%20The%20Narwhal&body=Thought%20you%20might%20be%20interested:https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-boundary-expansion-reversal/>
> Ontario will reverse its decision to impose urban sprawl on Hamilton and
> nine other municipalities, preserving thousands of hectares of farmland and
> green space. The move is another huge reversal of the Progressive
> Conservatives' housing policy.
> Photo: Christopher Katsarov Luna / The Narwhal
>
> The Doug Ford government is walking back its plans to extend the urban
> boundaries of 10 southern Ontario municipalities that would enable housing
> development on farmland.
>
> In recent weeks, the government had faced increasing heat over the urban
> boundary changes — especially those affecting Hamilton
> <https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-housing-hamilton-halton/> — which critics
> said followed a similar pattern to contentious and now-reversed carveouts
> from Ontario’s Greenbelt <https://thenarwhal.ca/topics/ontario-greenbelt/>.
> In a press conference Monday morning, Housing Minister Paul Calandra said
> he had reviewed the urban boundary decisions, including Hamilton’s, and
> found they weren’t done “in a manner that maintains and reinforces public
> trust.”
>
> “The process was one that I was just not comfortable with,” Calandra told
> reporters.
>
> “I think there was just a little bit too much involvement from the
> minister’s office, from individuals within the previous minister’s office.”
>
> [bravepop id=”49308″ align=”center”]
>
> Calandra’s decision comes weeks after an investigation by The Narwhal
> <https://thenarwhal.ca/hamilton-urban-boundary-expansion-docs/>showed the
> province made many of the changes to Hamilton’s urban boundaries in
> response to requests from unnamed third parties, and despite public
> opposition and warnings from public servants about unknown environmental
> consequences. The reversal means 2,200 hectares of land in Hamilton alone
> are no longer on the table for development, along with thousands of
> hectares more in nine other municipalities.
>
> Grassroots group Stop Sprawl Hamilton, which has pushed against urban
> sprawl, hailed the announcement as a victory for citizens who protested the
> decision to allow development on farmland.
>
> “Thousands of Hamiltonians have engaged in this fight,” the group said in
> a statement. “People power has won the day.”
> For the past year, Hamilton residents have protested the province’s
> decision to expand the city’s urban boundary. Photos: Stop Sprawl HamiltonFord
> government’s boundary expansions went against trends in urban planning
>
> Urban boundaries separate farmland and green space from land that is
> developable. In Ontario, municipalities set those lines by planning how
> much they’ll need to build in the coming years to keep up with population
> growth. That’s because land is a finite resource — especially in the
> Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, where urban planners are reconciling the
> urgent need to build more housing with an ever-diminishing amount of
> farmland <https://thenarwhal.ca/southern-ontario-housing-farmland/>.
>
> Meanwhile, land speculators buy up land on the edges of urban boundaries,
> betting that as cities grow they’ll be able to lobby to have their land
> added to the developable area and see its value go up.
>
> For a long time, cities have approached urban expansion by building
> suburbs of detached, single-family homes. But now, many cities are looking
> to preserve farmland and green space by enabling denser development in
> existing urban centres, like apartments and townhouses, which require less
> room and also discourage car travel that begets more pollution. This shift
> has other benefits too: farmland ensures a local supply of food, and
> unpaved green spaces sequester carbon and provide habitat for species at
> risk and naturally mitigate floods.
>
> The Ford government, however, has pushed cities over the last few years to
> sprawl outwards to enable construction of more single-family homes, which
> it has said are what most people want to buy. The conflict came to a head
> last fall, when previous housing minister Steve Clark overrode municipal
> councils and imposed sprawl on two municipalities
> <https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-housing-hamilton-halton/%5D>, Hamilton and
> Halton Region, that had wanted to protect farmland instead.
>
> Clark handed down the directives the same day in November 2022 that he
> introduced now-reversed changes to the Greenbelt. In the year since, he
> also expanded urban boundaries in a slew of other municipalities, including Waterloo
> Region <https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-waterloo-sprawl-farmland/>, west of
> Toronto, and Ottawa.
>
> Over the summer, public backlash over the Greenbelt changes escalated into
> a political crisis
> <https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-greenbelt-report-reaction/> that led to
> Clark resigning on Labour Day.
> The City of Hamilton had decided to maintain its boundary after a
> year-long public consultation process, before the Ford government required
> it to sprawl into farmland. Photos: Carlos Osorio / The NarwhalCalandra
> could walk back some land zoning orders
>
> Calandra’s decision is a significant reversal for the Ford government: in
> the weeks since he took over from Clark, Calandra had maintained that the
> government would not reconsider Hamilton’s urban boundaries, even though
> the process that led to those changes involved some of the same
> government staffers and developers
> <https://thenarwhal.ca/hamilton-urban-boundary-expansion-docs/> implicated
> in the Greenbelt scandal.
>
> On Monday, Calandra said he’ll soon introduce a bill doing just that. If
> passed, the bill would also walk back urban boundary changes in Barrie,
> Belleville, Guelph, Ottawa, Peterborough, Halton Region, Niagara Region,
> Peel Region, Waterloo Region, York Region and Wellington County. Many of
> those changes opened more land for development than local councils had
> wanted, sparking public and political backlash. Speaking to reporters
> Monday, Calandra said a discussion with Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe
> <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/shawn-menard-letter-council-urban-boundary-ottawa-1.6979785>helped
> frame his approach.
>
> “This really is a reset for me as a minister to work with municipal
> partners, so that we can remain focused on working together,” Calandra said.
>
> Calandra said the legislation would have an exception for cases where
> construction might have already started, or where cancelling the official
> plan would go against another provincial policy. The municipalities
> included in the bill will now have 45 days to work with the government to
> amend their urban boundaries. He also said the government will “assist”
> with the costs of writing their growth plans again. The province is already
> facing requests for reimbursement
> <https://globalnews.ca/news/10037164/ontario-municipalities-greenbelt-costs-province-repay/> from
> two municipalities, Pickering and Grimsby, for expenses from the
> government’s Greenbelt reversal.
>
> Calandra also said more walkbacks on the government’s housing policy may
> be coming: he has also reviewed the government’s use of a controversial
> land zoning power
> <https://thenarwhal.ca/ministers-zoning-order-ontario-explainer/> called
> a minister’s zoning order, or MZO. The orders, which are unappealable and
> can be issued without public consultation, instantly fast-track development
> by changing how a piece of land can be used.
> Former housing minister Steve Clark signed off on the urban boundary
> expansions the government is now reversing. Photo: Carlos Osorio / The
> Narwhal
> Paul Calandra became the new minister of municipal affairs and housing
> after Clark resigned amid the Greenbelt scandal. Photo: Alicia Wynter / The
> Narwhal
>
> The Ford government has used these orders more than any past Ontario
> government and faced criticism for using them to override environmental
> concerns, and for giving them to developers who have sought to sell their
> rezoned land
> <https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/mr-x-and-his-mzos-the-greenbelt-consultant-has-claimed-credit-for-getting-special-zoning/article_98189833-b37e-5e12-ada1-cb717db59314.html> instead
> of building on it.
>
> “The vast majority of them, frankly, I’m not concerned with,” Calandra
> said, referring to the over 100 minister’s zoning orders issued by the
> province since 2018.
>
> “Where I want to look at, full disclosure, is those that have been given
> [a minister’s zoning order] but work has not started in any way.”
>
> Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the Ford government’s
> flip-flop is yet another admission that their approach to housing policy
> has failed.
>
> “For two years, this government has poured their time, money and energy
> into helping well-connected insiders cash in on sprawl,” Schreiner said in
> a statement.
>
> “This government is spiralling out of control.”
>
> *–With files from Fatima Syed*
>
> *Updated Oct. 23, 2023, at 3:00 p.m.* *ET: This story was updated to
> include comment from Stop Sprawl Hamilton. *
>
> [bravepop id="49320" align="center"]
> PUBLISHED BY
> Emma McIntosh <https://thenarwhal.ca/author/emma-mcintosh/>
> Emma McIntosh is a reporter based in Toronto who really likes being
> outside. She started her career in newspapers, working for the...
> *-----------------------*
> *2) Provincial Statement:*
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> Kevin Thomason
> Vice-Chair, Grand River Environmental Network
> www.gren.ca
>
> Phone: (519) 888-0519
> Mobile Phone/WhatsApp: (519) 240-1648
> Mastodon: @kthomason at mstdn.ca
> E-mail: kevinthomason at mac.com
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
Henriëtte Thompson

Residing on the traditional lands of the Neutral, Anishinaabe, and
Haudenosaunee peoples and on the Haldimand Tract (1784).
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[All] ***SPAM*** Re: Breaking News! Province Reverses Forced Urban Boundary Expansions!

[All] SPAM Re: Breaking News! Province Reverses Forced Urban Boundary Expansions!