[GREN-Exec] Troubling Provincial Growth Plan Changes Coming....

Wed Apr 29 21:20:24 EDT 2020

Hi GREN Exec,

Good news!  Once again we have been able to get the Ford government to back-track and cancel a dreadful proposal.  Apparently, the Growth Plan Announcement was scheduled for 10:00am today but late yesterday there was a pitched battle amongst cabinet where Caroline Mulroney, Rod Phillips and Christine Elliott who had all just learned from us about the Growth Plan changes being worked on by Steve Clark and Doug Ford went ballistic.  There was a pitched battle with Caroline, Rod and Christine arguing that it was insane and beyond common sense for the government to propose changes like these in the middle of a pandemic.

The fact that environmental groups, LUMCO Mayors, Regional Chairs, key former politicians, and agricultural groups were all calling about it and most MPP’s were completely in the dark and knew nothing created quite an impact and was a repeat of Bill 66 again.  The Premier knowing it would be insane to take on all these groups across the province simultaneously told Steve Clark to cancel the announcement and go back to the drawing board.

Many municipalities were aware the government has been working on updated population forecasts but none seemed to know anything about any of the other dreadful aspects we had learned about.  It is expected that in a few weeks time Steve Clark will make an announcement just regarding this population component.  We anticipate that they won’t abandon the other troubling aspects but try to break them up and slip them through the system in the months ahead.  We at least now know what their intentions are, what developers want, their likely approach and we can work to pull together the needed data for the outcomes we desire as the government has no monitoring or data to justify their desire to open up vast amounts of farmland for additional urban sprawl.

The public may never know the bullet that we just dodged but kudos to everyone who spoke up, reached out, and did whatever they could.  I will keep you posted on anything else that I can learn.

Cheers,
Kevin.

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

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

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

> On Apr 28, 2020, at 10:58 AM, Kevin Thomason <kevinthomason at mac.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi GREN Exec,
> 
> Last week as part of the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance, the Steering Committee that I am member of received leaked information from internal staff at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing that significant changes to the provincial Growth Plan will be announced in the coming days (staff were forced to work all weekend on things though we have no idea why such a rush).  
> 
> From what we can cobble together the development industry has convinced Premier Doug Ford to open up significant new lands for development by changing the land needs assessment process and getting rid of the previous density targets and requirements for housing type (diverse, mixed communities).  It is the opposite of Smart Growth that takes us back to 1970’s and 1990’s planning.  It will open up thousands of hectares of farmland to urban sprawl, take away local food and farm gate sales when we need them the most, greatly impact development charges and infrastructure costs for cash-strapped municipalities, and make achieving future public transit densities very difficult to achieve all in the misguided belief that we have a shortage of development lands and that by opening up rural greenfields for more urban sprawl house prices will somehow plummet.
> 
> It is what developers have sought for decades and could have devastating long-term consequences.  Emergency meetings of key environmental groups, experts, and others have been happening over the past few days.  I have spent considerable time with former Waterloo Region Planner Kevin Eby who says this is an exact repeat of what developers tried in Waterloo in 2009 when they tried to overturn our Regional Official Plan and the way that land needs assessment was calculated by using different assesement methods, “market-based” forecasts, and very “creative" density timelines.
> 
> We won’t know the exact details until released by the province in the days ahead but why Doug Ford is trying to push this through in the middle of a pandemic just after overriding the EBR and all need for public consultation is quite troubling.
> 
> Our options for response are quite limited when due to COVID-19 there is no ability to meet in person, to organize rallies, protests, or even just to meet with our MPP’s - so many of the things that helped to turn the tide last year on Bill 66 and get the Ford government to abandon it.  There are Op-Ed’s being drafted, press releases being written, websites to e-mail MPP’s created though in anticipation of the pending announcements. 
> 
> Attached below is information on what we believe they will be releasing - anything could change at the last minute for better or worse though as many Mayors and others are trying to use backchannels to reach Queen’s Park and salvage years of recent good growth planning that for example has seen urban sprawl in Waterloo Region drop from 78% to just 13% of all building permits in recent years.
> 
> Please share any thoughts or ideas and I will keep you posted as we learn more.
> 
> Stay safe in the meantime,
> Kevin.
> 
> <Rumoured Changes Under Consideration for the Provincial Growth Plan.docx>
> 
> -------------------------------------
> 
> 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 <mailto:kevinthomason at mac.com>
> 
> -----------------------------------------
> 
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