Richmond Hill eyes protected rural lands on Oak Ridges Moraine for development

City looks to work with Whitchurch-Stouffville to develop a Highway 404 economic corridor

Yorkregion.com
March 16, 2020
Shelia Wang

Protected rural lands in the Oak Ridges Moraine conservation area in Richmond Hill may become ground zero for future development.

Richmond Hill council voted to consider expanding its settlement area into the agricultural and rural lands along the Leslie Street and Highway 404 corridor at its Feb. 26 meeting.

The proposed land use change would allow the developers to tap into the current “countryside areas” near the Gormley GO Station, between 19th Avenue and Bethesda Road, that have been designated to buffer the Oak Ridges Moraine from urban sprawl, according to the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (2017).

“I think we need to show the leadership aggressively to say we actually want to be open for business and we want to use lands wisely,” Coun. Tom Muench told fellow representatives.

Only the province can change the designation, according to Patrick Lee, Richmond Hill's director of policy planning.

Muench's proposal doesn't affect the designated linkage area or core area lands that are critical to maintaining the integrity of one of Ontario’s most significant landforms.

Councillors David West and Karen Cilevitz spoke out against the proposal, which they said was not in the agenda in advance of the meeting and lacked supporting documents.

West moved a deferral motion in order to have more time to consult staff and the public, but was outvoted.

Regional Coun. Joe DiPaola, who supported Muench’s motion, said “the intention here would be to create employment lands,” noting the residential to commercial ratio in Richmond Hill was high.

Muench also proposed to formally work with the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville -- whose mayor Iain Lovatt was present -- to approach York Region and Ontario in order to develop a Highway 404 corridor to facilitate the housing and economic development targets by the province.

The neighbouring town's council has recently decided to request York Region not designate the lands south of Stouffville’s Gormley community -- bordering the lands under consideration in Richmond Hill -- as a prime agricultural land in order to expand employment lands.

Stouffville made the move in response to the remapping of agricultural lands by the region as part of the ongoing municipal comprehensive review of the regional official plan.

The review is conducted to guide the projected population growth in the region, where about 1.8 million people are expected to live by 2041. It will allocate the population forecasts to all nine lower-tier municipalities.

Unlike the Stouffville's plan which proposed changes to the region's planning, Richmond Hill's resolution was intended to modify the provincial land use designation within the protected Oak Ridges Moraine conservation area.

The settlement area expansion may be allowed in the conservation area every 10 years during the review of the provincial plan and the next review won’t occur until 2027, according to a staff report.

It also suggests that Richmond Hill conduct consultations with the region and the province to see if the province will consider “an interim change” to the boundaries of Richmond Hill’s settlement boundary between reviews.

Meanwhile, the changes must be “considered as part of” and “need to be supported in” a municipal comprehensive review in accordance with the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the report states.