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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Thanks Lulu and Peter for keeping things
current.....I am so grateful we were able to have Yvonne elected. She is
one of the most environmentally experienced councilors capable of
representing us citizens in many areas of the environment. We had
worked together on so many issues over the past 4-5 yrs and she has made herself
become well informed as some of the other "powers that be" know; and so capable
of gleaning some respect and the ears of those less informed than she is. Gald
so many of us can try to keep up to issues . Ginny</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=sustainab@hotmail.com href="mailto:sustainab@hotmail.com">Peter
Kofler</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=butterflybluelu@rogers.com
href="mailto:butterflybluelu@rogers.com">Louisette Lanteigne</A> ; <A
title=all@gren.ca href="mailto:all@gren.ca">all@gren.ca</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, January 25, 2011 1:38
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [All] Excellent KW Record
article re: Doon South Phase II in Kitchener</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Methinks the Carl doth protest too much. <BR> <BR>
<HR id=stopSpelling>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:29:36 -0800<BR>From: <A
href="mailto:butterflybluelu@rogers.com">butterflybluelu@rogers.com</A><BR>To:
<A href="mailto:all@gren.ca">all@gren.ca</A><BR>Subject: [All] Excellent KW
Record article re: Doon South Phase II in Kitchener<BR><BR>
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<DIV class=ecxtd_page_info><SPAN class=ecxtd_page_author>By Terry
Pender, Record staff </SPAN><BR><SPAN class=ecxtd_page_date><SPAN
class=ecxts-publishdate>Mon Jan 24 2011</SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN
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<H1>Planning Act loophole gives developers control, Zehr says </H1>
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<DIV class=ecxtd_page_media><IMG class=ecx
alt="Kitchener Councilor Yvonne Fernandes stands near land in the Doon area of Kitchener that is scheduled for development. Fernandes opposes the development which will eventually surround environmentally sensitive areas including Jefferson salamander habitat."
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<DIV class=ecxtd-EndPageImageInfo><B>Development:</B> Kitchener
Councilor Yvonne Fernandes stands near land in the Doon area of
Kitchener that is scheduled for development. Fernandes opposes the
development which will eventually surround environmentally sensitive
areas including Jefferson salamander habitat.
<DIV class=ecxcredit>David Bebee, Record staff</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV class=ecxtd_page_body>KITCHENER<B> — </B>The pending construction
of thousands of new homes in the south end of the city came about as a
result of a deeply flawed process that allows developers to hijack the
planning of cities, Mayor Carl Zehr says.<BR>Zehr was commenting on a
section of the Planning Act that allows developers to appeal to a
provincial tribunal that rules on land-use disputes if a municipality
takes longer than 180 days to decide on a subdivision
application.<BR>The City of Kitchener was not ready for new subdivisions
in what is known as Doon South Phase II when developers Monarch, Hallman
and Activa started filing applications several years ago.<BR>When the
city did not hand down a decision after 180 days the developers resorted
to the Ontario Municipal Board. The result was more than 18 months of
closed-door meetings between city officials and developers that put in
place the big-picture planning for the new subdivisions.<BR>While the
municipal board mediates these closed-door sessions there are no public
meetings. Only later, once the plans are largely agreed upon, is the
public allowed to comment.<BR>This process undermines a city’s ability
to control development, Zehr said.<BR>“I think what happens is that
developers are anxious to proceed with projects before municipalities
have had the opportunity to do the overall community planning,” Zehr
said.<BR>When this happens the city must focus resources and staff time
on negotiating plans for new subdivisions instead of pursuing other
priorities.<BR>“What happens in that sort of circumstance is that a
municipality is forced into putting its energy into those plans, those
appeals,” Zehr said.<BR>Essentially, that section of the Planning Act
allows developers to take control over local planning, he
said.<BR>That’s what happened with Doon South Phase II, an area bordered
by Stauffler Drive and Thomas Slee Drive to the north, New Dundee Road
to the south, Reidel Drive on the west and Robert Ferrie Drive on the
east.<BR>Douglas Stewart, president of the Waterloo Region Home Builders
Association, said developers rarely appeal to the Ontario Municipal
Board when a city council has failed to make a decision on a subdivision
application.<BR>But the developers did so in this case because there was
no indication the applications would be processed in a timely
way.<BR>“It makes the process and the council accountable,” Stewart
said. “They have to make a decision, and it can be a refusal, it can be
an approval with conditions, but they need to make that in a fair and
reasonable time frame.”<BR>Without that option in the Planning Act, some
subdivision applications could take years to process, Stewart
said.<BR>“Often the 180 days passes, but because there is progress or an
understanding that at some point a decision will be provided, there
isn’t an appeal,” Stewart said. “It isn’t that we all appeal at 181
days.”<BR>When developers started filing subdivision applications in
2007-2008, Coun. Yvonne Fernandes was a member of the city’s
environmental advisory committee. She opposed the construction of new
subdivisions, but was frustrated at the time because so much of the
planning occurred behind closed doors under the auspices of the
municipal board.<BR>“The Ontario Municipal Board needs to be revamped,”
she says.<BR>Fernandes was elected to city council last October and
later this year she will have a direct say and vote on the location of
the Strasburg Road extension that will access the new
subdivisions.<BR>About 2,682 homes will eventually be built in the
rolling countryside that features woodlots, marshes, streams, vernal
ponds containing Jefferson salamanders — listed as a species at risk —
and recharge areas for aquifers that supply drinking water.<BR>But
Fernandes says the question of whether development should even be
allowed in the area was never debated and discussed in public
meetings.<BR>She believes the whole process needs to be changed so a
city has more control about where and when development occurs. That
would require far-reaching changes to the Planning Act and the municipal
board.<BR>“That whole situation was very frustrating, from my
perspective,” Fernandes said.<BR>The draft plans for the subdivisions
were approved before she was elected. After sanitary sewers in the area
are upgraded, some of the new homes can be built.<BR>Another
sewage-pumping station and an extension of Strasburg Road must be in
place before most of the houses are constructed.<BR>The new homes will
be built in stages that could take years to complete, said city planner
Juliane von Westerholt.<BR><I><A
href="mailto:tpender@therecord.com">tpender@therecord.com</A></I><BR></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>_______________________________________________
All mailing list All@gren.ca http://gren.ca/mailman/listinfo/all_gren.ca
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