[GREN-Exec] Important - Region Official Plan - Troubling News....
Susan Koswan
susankoswan at execulink.com
Fri Oct 29 14:13:58 EDT 2021
My next column isn't until Nov 11 - can we get Leah Gerber on this right
away? Or Catherine Thompson?
The fact that the Region spent all that time and money to prevent what
they are now approving is beyond reprehensible! It is time to call in
the calvary!
Susan K
On 10/29/2021 12:29 PM, Kevin Thomason wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> Excellent questions. Yes, it is my understanding that Staff will be
> asking Regional Council for a final decision on the three growth
> scenarios on November 9th and they are recommending Scenario #2.
> Worse yet, it now appears that as of this morning Scenario #2 has
> seen an even further jump the employment lands being sought from 600ha
> to now 800ha which when combined with the 230ha of residential
> greenfield being sought is now over 1023ha of greenfield being sought
> - an amount almost equivalent to what Kevin Eby and the Region fought
> for five years and spent $5 million to avoid just a few years ago.
>
> The Region just this morning released the following update on the
> Engage WR region page claiming that “based on the feedback received
> during the public consultation this past summer…” despite the fact
> that the only engagement I am aware of was a Story Board posted on the
> Regional Website on June 24th that sought no feedback or even provided
> any way to respond.
>
> https://www.engagewr.ca/regional-official-plan
>
> It appears that Regional Staff is now trying to pull a fast one
> claiming that these Scenarios have been around for months and there
> has been public consultation despite the fact I’m not aware of any
> open house, meeting, media coverage, or public engagement of any sort.
> The only community engagement of any sort that I am aware of was an
> “Ask a Planner” webinar in June and our Regional Liaison ROP
> Stakeholder Committee last Friday.
>
> This new posting on the Engage WR site is also very misleading in that
> it appears to position things such that the Land Needs Assessment over
> the coming months will be when how much land is needed will be
> determined, yet this is wrong. By then we are already locked into
> Scenario #2 (after November9th) with over a thousand hectares of land
> committed to destruction - what the Land Needs Assessment will be
> determining is what farms where will get paved over.
>
> It is also very troubling that in no place anywhere does the Region
> mention that all of these Scenarios will require breaching the
> Countryside line and driving farmers off their properties into order
> to get all of this required land.
>
> Please share any thoughts or ideas.
>
> 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 <mailto:kevinthomason at mac.com>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
>> On Oct 29, 2021, at 10:27 AM, John Jackson <jjackson at web.ca> wrote:
>>
>> Kevin
>>
>> Thanks for the update. Very distressing.
>>
>> One item for clarification. Am I interpreting correctly that the
>> staff plans to have final council approval on Nov 9? That it isn't
>> just a public input session to committee of the whole or a council
>> committee with a decision being made at a later meeting? When people
>> were arguing at the stakeholder committee against this timeline, what
>> reasons did the staff giving for finishing off and approving the plan
>> so quickly.
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> John Jackson
>> 17 Major Street
>> Kitchener N2H 4R1
>> 519-744-7503
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Oct 28, 2021, at 8:07 PM, Kevin Thomason <kevinthomason at mac.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> <Region of Waterloo 2051 ROP Oct Mtg Slides.pdf>
>>
>
>
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