Coordinated review - amendments proposed

NRU
May 11, 2016

Yesterday the Ontario government announced proposed amendments to its land use plans guiding growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, launching the next phase of public consultation on the coordinated review.

Municipal Affairs and Housing minister Ted McMeekin outlined proposed changes to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Greenbelt Plan, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and Niagara Escarpment Plan yesterday aft ernoon. The amendments are based on recommendations from former Toronto mayor David Crombie’s advisory panel and public consultation.

“We need to revise the plans because the [Greater Golden Horseshoe’s] prosperity is attracting more and more people,” McMeekin said at a press conference. “To sustainably support the growth we must continue to create complete communities ... in which people live and work and where businesses thrive.”

The proposed amendments include increasing intensification targets for built-up areas from a minimum of 40 to at least 60 per cent of annual residential development, increasing density targets for designated greenfield areas from 50 to at least 80 people and jobs per hectare, strengthening protection for employment lands and transit corridors and requiring appropriate zoning for transit supportive densities along transit corridors.

Amendments also include the addition of lands into the Greenbelt from 12 major urban river valleys and seven associated coastal wetlands, as well as four parcels identified by the City of Hamilton and Niagara Region as protected countryside. Over the next year the province will study opportunities to expand the Greenbelt in areas with water resources that are under development pressures.

Through the review the policies, terminology, definitions and language used in the four plans and the 2014 Provincial Policy Statement have been streamlined. The proposed changes also seek to create consistent timelines and approaches for bringing municipal official plans into conformity with the amended provincial plans.

Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing spokesperson Conrad Spezowka told NRU in an email that Minister McMeekin is proposing to extend the timeframe for municipalities to bring their official plans into conformity with the amended Growth Plan from three to a maximum of fi ve years. He added that if the proposed amendments to the Growth Plan are enacted a new timeframe for conformity would be triggered for all policies and schedules, including forecasts.

Ontario transportation ministry spokesperson Bob Nichols told NRU in an email that the timeline for the Big Move update allows Metrolinx to incorporate Growth Plan amendments in its plan. Metrolinx is currently undertaking a review of the regional transportation plan, The Big Move, and is anticipated to release a discussion paper to guide public consultation over the summer. An update to the The Big Move, which will include a long-range outlook to 2041, is anticipated in mid-2017.

The public consultation on the proposed amendments will include 11 open houses across the GGH throughout May and June, although stakeholders have until September 30 to provide feedback.