Environmental group has ‘justifiable fear’ despite province's Greenbelt protection promises

The province says it's committed to protecting the Greenbelt despite its talks with a developer

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 12, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Advocacy group Environmental Defence says it has a “justifiable fear,” despite assurances from Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark that his “commitment to protecting the Greenbelt has not changed.”

Environmental Defence executive director Tim Gray said in a public statement on Monday, Sept. 9, that Ontario Premier Doug Ford “keeps promising he won’t touch the Greenbelt.”

“Yet his Minister of Municipal Affairs started a process to allow subdivision development on protected Greenbelt land,” he added, in reaction to a CBC news report published the same day.

The report says that Ford’s government spent almost a year in talks with Lucia Milani of Rizmi Holdings about a proposal to build on a 60-hectare property in the northeastern corner of Vaughan, where the Greenbelt stretches, despite Ford’s promise to keep the area protected.

Gray said the forested land in Vaughan is not only located in the protected Oak Ridges Moraine, but it “supports important wildlife, including endangered species such as bobolink, butternut and bats.”

In an emailed statement, Clark told the Vaughan Citizen, “This was a very complex case.

“This has been an issue for the municipality since 1989 and has had appeals to the LPAT/OMB since 1994,” he said.

“At the request of Vaughan and the Region of York, the minister of the day imposed a stay in December 2003, effectively deferring the hearings of 4 RIZMI appeals," Clark's statement said.

“At Vaughan’s request, the previous government agreed to settle 100 acres and placed an Order under Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act (ORMC) to permit residential uses.”

Last November, Vaughan, York Region and landowners, with the help of the Provincial Land Development Facilitator (PLDF), agreed to consider a settlement on the basis that a “final conclusion would be reached on all matters and that the majority of lands and natural heritage features shall remain protected under the ORMC Plan and Act,” Clark stated.

But after almost a year in talks, the PLDF was “unable to recommend a settlement based on agreed-upon principles and my direction.”

“The file is now closed with the PLDF,” he concurred. “My commitment to protecting the Greenbelt has not changed. Our government remains steadfast in protecting it for future generations.”

The fear

Gray, however, expressed concerns shared by others, especially the environmentally conscious.

“Our concern is that the minister started the process to open the Greenbelt in the first place after the premier promised repeatedly that this would not happen,” he told the Vaughan Citizen.

“This is the second time in less than a year the provincial government has moved to open the Greenbelt and then reversed, so we have a justifiable fear it will happen again.”

Earlier this year, Vaughan’s council rejected Ford’s draft Bill 66 “in its present form” after some residents disapproved of the proposed legislation.

Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, seeks to make sweeping changes to legislation that the government says will reduce bureaucracy and red tape. But critics charge it's harmful to the environment, especially in the Greenbelt area.

At the time, the City of Vaughan said, “There continues to be a great need to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine and the lands in the Greenbelt, to reinforce the importance of public consultation, and to ensure any legislation adheres to the Clean Water Act and Vaughan’s Official Plan.”

Proponents of protecting the Greenbelt also say that Vaughan has no shortage of land that’s already approved for development.