4-Plan Review Advisory Releases Report: Planning for Health, Prosperity and Growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, 2015-2041
Posted: December 18, 2015
Categories: GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Members / News from Sustain Ontario / Policy News
On December 7th, the Advisory Panel on the Coordinated Review of the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the Greenbelt Plan, the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Niagara Escarpment Plan released its final report, Planning for Health, Prosperity and Growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe: 2015-2041 with 87 recommendations reflecting six strategic directions. The 6-person panel, led by David Crombie, heard from thousands of stakeholders in 17 Town Hall Meetings held across the GGH and attended by about 3,000; in the over 19,000 submissions and briefings received from the public, municipalities, and organizations; site visits to places of interest in the region; and background papers prepared by staff of the Ministries of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and Natural Resources and Forestry, in collaboration with partner ministries (Ministries of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Environment and Climate Change, and Transportation).
In May, Sustain Ontario member Ontario Farmland Trust led a small working group (Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance, Farms at Work, and Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable) in an alliance submission to the Advisory Panel during the public consultation period. While this review focused on the Greater Golden Horseshoe region, these important plans shape the future of agriculture, land conservation and urban growth in the Province at large by setting a precedent in population-dense Southern Ontario. Click here to read our detailed Comments on Co-ordinated Land Use Review.
According to the Working Group, in order to be effective the review process needed to result in recommendations that would address how to:
- Provide policy protections that are consistent for farmland across the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH);
- Address outer-ring areas under ‘leapfrog’ development pressure;
- Expand on the concept of an “Agricultural System”; and
- Provide more balanced protection of prime farmland and mineral aggregate resources.
Protecting Agriculture
We are encouraged to see these four considerations in final recommendations that reflect strong recognition of the inseparable relationship of land conservation and urban growth planning. The core principle of permanently protecting all working farmland in Ontario articulated by the Working Group resonates in the Panel’s recognition that the “GGH is home to some of Canada’s most important and productive farmland – a finite, non-renewable resource.” In Chapter 5 of the report, it offers 12 specific recommendations to protect productive lands broadly with cross-cutting emphasis on supporting agriculture by, among other things:
- Building on the Agricultural System approach in the current Greenbelt Plan, work with municipalities, the agriculture sector and other stakeholders to provide policy direction and guidance toward the consistent identification, mapping and protection of an integrated agricultural system across the GGH
- Considering stronger criteria to limit the conversion and fragmentation of prime agricultural lands, particularly in the outer ring of the GGH.
The priority of protecting farmland from urban development, especially in outer ring or White Belt areas, is reflected strongly in the Providing Infrastructure systems-based recommendations outlined in Chapter 7 that would:
- Direct more new development to existing urban areas through intensification, and less to new greenfield areas
- Require greater integration of infrastructure planning including transportation, watershed planning, climate change management with land use planning
- Designate and protect corridors for provincial and municipal infrastructure.
Balanced protection of prime farmland is referenced as well in recommendations aimed at:
- Requiring integrated watershed and sub-watershed planning as a prerequisite for settlement area expansion, and major new developments and infrastructure projects
- Growing the Greenbelt by adding areas of critical hydrological significance, such as headwaters of major rivers, moraines, groundwater recharge areas, surface water features and urban river valleys
- Developing a long-term strategy for ensuring the wise use, conservation, availability and management of aggregate resources
For critical focus on protecting sensitive waterways in the context of the Coordinated Land Use Review, see the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation response which suggests creation of a “Bluebelt” around water resources.
Climate Change
Related to water issues in the GGH is the critical issue of climate change which is integrated throughout the recommendations and addressed specifically in four recommendations for Mainstreaming Climate Change. The Working Group’s suggested use of a Development Offsetting Requirement and support for land conservation via Ontario’s Cap-and-Trade Climate Change Mitigation Initiative are reflected in these recommendations which:
- Apply more aggressive intensification targets for compact, low-carbon communities;
- Promote stronger protection and enhancement of natural systems and agricultural lands;
- Direct upper- and single-tier municipalities to prepare climate change plans or incorporate policies to advance common climate change mitigation and adaptation goals
Implementation
The report states the Ministry’s desire to conclude the Coordinated Review and have amended plans in place by summer 2016. The Advisory Panel urges quick action on all policy amendments (within five years).
Sustain Ontario offered concrete implementation tools that, while not specifically mentioned in the report, are supported by the Panel’s focus on addressing designation and boundary concerns of existing plans with policy changes for: settlement area expansion; agricultural viability; protection of farmland; water resources; and climate change.
What’s next?
How is your organization responding to the new report? Add your comments below! Be sure to Save the Date for the Greenbelt Telephone Town Hall Meeting with David Crombie on January 26, 2016 at 7pm. See event details at greenbelt.ca/tth_2016.
Further Reading
Read responses to this new report from the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation and the Oakridges Moraine Foundation.
Stay Connected!
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, or sign up for our weekly or bi-monthly newsletter.
Become a member and work with us to transform Ontario’s food systems!