Working Together: Greenbelt Act turns nine

NRU
March 5, 2014
By Edward LaRusic

Proponents of the Greenbelt Act, which marked its ninth anniversary last week, say that its continued success will require an ongoing commitment to mesh growth and environmental issues in the face of rapid development in the province.

The act comes up for its legislated ten-year review in 2015. To mark the anniversary, NRU asked Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing minister, Linda Jeffrey to reflect on progress since passage of the greenbelt legislation in 2005.

“It was a very brave thing to do nine years ago,” she said. “We did it because we saw what had happened previously: there were years of unchecked sprawl and growing gridlock and all of us recognized that were was a loss of the best farmland. So we met with all of the leaders whether they were municipal, environmental, or scientists, we talked with farmers, landowners and developers. The result was the Greenbelt Act back in 2005.”

Last month, Toronto, Oakville and Mississauga city councils each passed resolutions to add protected lands to the Greenbelt, along the Humber and Etobicoke Creeks, Credit River and Etobicoke Creek, and Fourteen Mile Creek.

“That people still want to build onto [the Greenbelt Act] was the surprising thing,” said Jeffrey. “The fact that it’s so well accepted, that municipalities wanting to grow on it speaks to that success. I think that helps give confidence to a policy decision. The fact that the Greenbelt is part of a UNESCO world biosphere reserve is pretty momentous. I think that puts Ontario on the map from a world-wide perspective.”

One organization thrilled with the Greenbelt Act is the advocacy group Environmental Defence. Erin Shapero, program manager of land and water, told NRU she believes the act has made Ontario stand out among jurisdictions in North America.

One of the breakthroughs, she said, was the government’s decision to put in place a companion piece of legislation, Places to Grow, which sets the framework for growth in the province and was implemented one year after passage of the Greenbelt Act.

“Those two plans have been shown to be world leading plans,” said Shapero. “There’s no other jurisdiction in North America that has such a co-ordinated approach to development and planning.”

Shapero still sees room for improvement. She cites inconsistencies between the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act and the Greenbelt Plan as leading to confusion.

“One issue we’ve heard a lot from municipalities is that the Niagara Escarpment plan is perhaps stronger in certain protections than the Oak Ridges Moraine plan, say, around aggregates,” said Shapero. “But then there are policies within the Oak Ridges Moraine Plan around water that are stronger than in the Niagara Escarpment plan. The discussion has been, is there a way to look at those policies and have them be consistent across all three plans under the Greenbelt Act?”

Ontario Home Builders’ Association chief executive officer Joe Vaccaro said that the Greenbelt Act has, along with the Growth Plan, been a useful tool for focusing land use planning in Ontario. He said the challenge for industry has been to educate residents that setting aside land under
the Greenbelt Act means accommodating growth under the Growth Plan.

He said an inability to get projects approved puts stress on the whole system.

“Let’s focus on making things happen, where it’s supposed to happen, through the Growth Plan, and that will complement where things are not supposed to happen, through the Greenbelt Act.”

An expected review of the Greenbelt Act next year has not yet begun, but Jeffrey noted the ministry is getting feedback “all the time” on potential changes. She said she will be working with the Ministry of Infrastructure, responsible for the Places to Grow Act, on coordinating the review of both plans.

“People are not shy about telling us about how we can improve it and make it better,” she said of the Greenbelt Act. “The development industry understands that they need to be part of the conversation. I will be working close to [Ministry of Infrastructure] minister Glen Murray with this issue, and making sure we align any conversations we have with our shared stakeholders. We have a significant asset that we want to grow, and we’ll work together to make sure that.”

Shapero said that Environmental Defence is looking at all policy areas under the Greenbelt Act, such as where aggregate resource extraction is allowed, to see where the opportunities are areas to make it more effective.

“Really, the keys to success for the Greenbelt and Places to Grow are in the implementation. We’re nine years later with the Greenbelt Act, and eight years later with Places to Grow, and we sort of feel that we’re still at stage one of the process. Stage two is really about making sure that both plans are being implemented well and effective. That’s where our focus is going to be in regards to both reviews.”

Vaccaro said that there are 11 home-building associations that are affected by the Greenbelt Act, and they are looking forward to the review.

“We look forward to the provincial government setting out the criteria for the review, as that still has not been determined. We’ll wait for the opportunity to present once the province puts the framework in place.”