No shortage of land for development - Room to grow


NRU
March 25, 2015
By Edward LaRusic

A new report by the Neptis Foundation says that municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton have so far used only nine per cent of land budgeted to meet the population projections of the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, a finding that calls into question fears that the region is running out of room for development.

In “Understanding the Fundamentals of the Growth Plan,” released last week by Neptis, the foundation examined the official plan of each municipality in the GTAH and found that 56,200 hectares have been designated for new development following implementation of the growth plan. But of that, only 5,200 hectares-approximately nine per cent-had been urbanized in the five years following enactment of the provincial growth plan between 2006 and 2011.

Neptis executive director Marcy Burchfield said her organization’s findings challenge established assumptions of how much land must be set aside by municipalities for future growth.

“What we’re seeing in this report is that the land is being used much more economically,” she said.

Burchfield said that many regions set aside land assuming a high demand for single-family housing. However, the market had been adding more compact forms of housing even prior to approval of the growth plan. As a result, she contends that municipalities have overestimated how much land they actually need to meet the province’s population and employment targets for 2031. She recommends that municipalities exercise restraint in planning for the province’s 2041 population growth forecasts, commonly known as “Amendment 2.”

“As we go into the growth plan review ... there needs to be a consideration to allocate more strategically than we have in the past with those population and employment projections.”

Ontario Home Builders’ Association chief executive officer Joe Vaccaro told NRU that, in his view, the nine per cent figure demonstrates how difficult it is to get new development approved in the region.

“The process to get it there is lengthy, time consuming and [is] a challenge for the association and its members,” said Vaccaro.

He noted that aside from zoning approvals, developers need infrastructure to be in place for development or redevelopment to occur. He added that not all land, potentially available on paper, can be considered as suitable for development.

“What we don’t know is how much of that [potentially available land] is serviced, how much of that land can be serviced, or how much of that land has environmental features that have to be respected. That’s all part of the bigger process.”