Housing minister didn’t approve building parks on Greenbelt neighbourhood: Vaughan councillor

Thestar.com
Nov. 1, 2021

Before York Region's Oct. 28 decision to approve building a park at a Greenbelt neighbourhood, a councillor warned that it's contrary to what the minister had previously allowed.

In an email shared with the Vaughan Citizen, Coun. Marilyn Iafrate told York Region council that the housing minister didn’t approve re-designating agricultural land to allow the building of parks.  

“Hopefully this is my last correspondence for 2021 to members of York Region council,” Iafrate wrote in an email dated Oct. 27, objecting against Regional Official Plan Amendment 7 to Block 41 lands in Vaughan.

“Before you all embark on approving ROPA 7, I would like to remind you that the minister of municipal affairs and housing, when approving the MZO for the Block 41 lands which are before you for the ROPA 7 approval, the use of Greenbelt lands for parks was denied by the minister,” she wrote.

Iafrate also told them that the, “Minister did not include those parks in the boundaries that he approved with the MZO and attached to his decision O.Reg. 644/20 Nov. 6, 2020 was the map excluding the Greenbelt parks.”

With no backing from Vaughan’s city staff, many Vaughan councillors expressed support to the amendment in a July meeting, citing how this could be of a community benefit for people to enjoy and a continuation of their earlier plan in 2015 when the city began its planning process for a new residential community located in Block 41.

This block is considered to be one of the city’s few remaining greenfield development areas, with portions currently designated “Community Area,” “Natural Area and Countryside,” and “New Community Area.”

However, Iafrate said, “For the record, Vaughan council during its deliberations only ‘received’ the report, it did not support or refuse the request for using Greenbelt lands for parks.”

Regionally, it was Coun. Linda Jackson's motion in support of ROPA 7 and seconded by the city’s other regional councillor, Mario Ferri.

“If the minister did not approve such use, does the region have the authority to override the minister of municipal affairs?” she asked, warning not to “usurp” provincial authority.

She also warned that changing the designation from agriculture to rural would allow any developer to build schools or fire halls, for example, on Greenbelt lands.

Vaughan environmental activist Irene Ford is in disbelief over the decision, citing many well-written and informed letters from reputable organizations, urging York Region not to approve the decision.

Ford in a previous email to the Vaughan Citizen on Oct. 27, also highlighted how the minister didn't approve the parks on the greenbelt.

“One of the landowners for Block 41 took the province to court over the Greenbelt and lost. You are enabling and supporting the intent of this developer to build on the Greenbelt,” Ford added.

Ford warned that supporting ROPA 7 would undermine “progress on climate change” in York Region’s municipalities by further depleting its “natural vegetative cover.”

Edward McDonnell, CEO of Greenbelt Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to ensuring the Greenbelt remains permanent and protected, expressed disappointment over York Region's decision.

The decision “would downgrade Greenbelt protections and permit uses that undermine natural heritage protections and agricultural activity if approved by the Government of Ontario,” McDonnell said in a public statement Oct. 28.

“The approval weakens protections for natural and agricultural systems by broadening the future interpretation of recreational uses in the Greenbelt to include more disruptive infrastructure,” he added.

McDonnell also sounded an alarm that this move would pave way to more development and undermine efforts to combat climate change.

“These more active uses would entail hard surfaces and infrastructure in sensitive headwater areas and undermine existing agricultural activity,” he added.

This could also further shake up the agricultural sector, a “key contributor to York Region’s economy,” McDonnell said.