Durham Greenbelt: Getting ahead of the province

NRU
April 9, 2014
By Edward LaRusic

As the mandatory provincial review of the 2005 Greenbelt Plan approaches, initial consultation in Durham Region suggests that agricultural viability remains top of mind for most stakeholders.

Durham Region senior planner and Greenbelt Plan review project manager Jonah Kelly said the region is trying to be proactive and prepared when the province undertakes its coordinated 10-year review of the Greenbelt Plan, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and Niagara Escarpment Plan.

“We’re hoping to capture the input and experience of our diverse community members throughout the north, as well as the south, in our municipalities that are affected by the Greenbelt Plan,” Kelly said.

To assist, the region hired Urban Strategies to conduct the public consultation and develop recommendations. Along with five scheduled community consultations - the last of which is April 16 - the region has created an online survey and a downloadable workbook.

Kelly said the purpose of the initiative is to find out how the Greenbelt Plan and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan have been beneficial, where challenges remain and how the plans can be strengthened. “I would say that the benefits we’ve been hearing [make up] a short list, but the vision of the Greenbelt Plan does resonate with a large majority of people.”

Urban Strategies partner Melanie Hare said her firm has talked to hundreds of people and has “literally hundreds and hundreds of pages of notes” thus far. She said that there are some common comments.

“Some of the benefits [of the Greenbelt Plan] that people are talking about are the stronger protection of natural heritage systems, reinforcing the fixed urban boundaries, and encouraging intensification.”

Hare said that the biggest concern she has heard suggests the Greenbelt Plan is “one more layer of planning and policy and regulation” that impedes auxiliary uses that help keep agricultural uses viable.

“I think Durham Region has done a lot in terms of value added agricultural policies that are now embedded in the regional official plan. I think you see a very entrepreneurial agricultural community that wants to make sure that entrepreneurialism is not hampered.”

Hare said that many of the questions and concerns raised in Niagara Region’s Greenbelt Plan review are echoed in Durham. Agricultural viability is a big economic driver for both regions. However, Hare said that community viability is potentially a bigger concern in Durham.

“The tourism base in Niagara is more established. How places like Beaverton, Sunderland and Port Perry continue to thrive and not decline when there are constraints on where growth can happen is a big challenge.”

Uxbridge mayor and Durham planning & economic development committee chair Gerri Lynn O’Connor said that she felt the original Greenbelt Plan was dropped onto municipalities with “very little consultation,” so is very excited about the proactive work that Urban Strategies and the region have been doing. She said that the province needs to loosen up some of the rules.

“Certainly, I live in Uxbridge, and farming is our number one industry. [the Greenbelt Plan] looks at everything in black and white. There’s got to be some gray…the hurdles that a farmer has to go through today to expand farming operations has certainly got to be looked at, and has to not be so arduous that the farmer gets frustrated.”

O’Conner added that some businesses in the region suddenly became non-conforming uses, which affected their ability to get or renew their mortgages, and the Greenbelt Plan has made expanding Uxbridge’s industrial sites impossible.

Additionally, she said the rules have prevented minor additions to residences.

“When you can’t even add a porch to a house, that’s where the ludicrous side of this whole thing comes in. What’s a porch going to hurt for a house that’s already existing?”

Green Durham Association vice-president Brian Buckles agrees that more flexibility is needed, but his organization is focused on ensuring that the greenbelt lands remain. He is concerned that the province seemingly created the Greenbelt Plan borders arbitrarily, as compared to the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan borders. Therefore there may be people who wish to see the greenbelt borders shrink.

“I think there are some fair criticisms around issues around boundaries. But I’m not one of those people who feel that the Greenbelt boundaries should be pushed back.”

Kelly said that while the initiative is intended to inform Durham’s response to the provincial review, this is not the end.

Urban Strategies is expected to present its findings and directions report to the region’s planning and development committee later in the spring. Early in September it will submit its final report. The region intends to forward the final recommendations to the province.