[GREN-Exec] FYI: OGA Stop Sprawl, Grow the Greenbelt Campaign

[Susan Koswan]

Thanks Kevin,

I caught this last night when I was falling asleep. 
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5784390 with Tim Gray from Environmental 
Defence. Writing my column and will include these examples of MZOs in 
action for Nov 12.

My understanding is that municipalities are at the mercy of the 
provincial government. Can anything override an MZO?

Also,  just curious about the choice of wording. Is "urban sprawl" being 
used because most people will get it? This is about land use and 
planning, and trying to balance human needs for food, shelter etc. with 
ecosystem needs. But what can we do when our best laid plans are 
over-ridden by MZOs? Is there any hope here?

Thanks,

Susan

On 11/1/2020 11:35 AM, Kevin Thomason wrote:
>
> Hi GREN Executive,
>
> I have continued to try to balance racing to complete many aspects of 
> our new house build prior to winter along with trying to keep up with 
> the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance campaign that is rapidly unfolding. 
>  Thankfully Dr. Franz Hartman, Linda Lukasic and others are doing a 
> great job keeping things moving forward.
>
> With dozens of MZO’s - Ministerial Zoning Orders now coming forward 
> from developers everywhere now that the Ford government has discovered 
> they are a great way to circumvent all public involvement and process 
> in development decisions there are settlement boundary expansion 
> requests, Greenbelt land removal requests, and all sorts of 
> inappropriate developments happening - including here in Cambridge and 
> Stratford with recent MZO approvals.  There have been more MZO’s 
> approved in the past month than the previous two decades combined…
>
> The OGA and environmental groups are trying to gear up to push back 
> and bring more awareness of this to the public.  Part of the funding 
> grant that GREN is a part of from the Greenbelt Foundation includes 
> getting materials into our community such as this proposed letter to 
> area Councils countering sprawl and promoting green space:
>
> https://protected-places.good.do/oga/sign/
>
> This is still just a mock-up that will be released in the weeks ahead. 
>  I will keep working with the OGA leadership on the development of 
> these materials and keep you posted.  With our Countryside Line in 
> Waterloo Region it makes things a bit different and materials are 
> being adapted for each Region.
>
> Please let me know any ideas or ways that GREN can be involved.
>
> 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
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>> *From: *Franz Hartmann <franzgreenbeltalliance at gmail.com>
>> *Subject: **URGENT: Need "sign off" on ACTION*
>> *Date: *October 31, 2020 at 11:27:06 AM EDT
>> *To: *Tim Gray <tgray at environmentaldefence.ca>, Lynda Lukasik 
>> <llukasik at environmenthamilton.org>, Debbie Gordon 
>> <debbierawngordon at gmail.com>, Margaret Prophet 
>> <margaret at simcoecountygreenbelt.ca>, Kevin Thomason 
>> <kevinthomason at mac.com>, John Bacher <pals at becon.org>, Anne Bell 
>> <anneb at ontarionature.org>
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Here is the draft Action 
>> <https://protected-places.good.do/oga/sign/>. We will "clone" this 
>> once people are happy with this general lay out.  Orgs would put 
>> their logos beside the OGA logo at the bottom. We can also fine tune 
>> the letter to the Council
>>
>> *Please let me know ASAP if you are okay with this.*
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> -- 
>> Franz Hartmann
>> Ontario Greenbelt Alliance
>
>
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