A better option for growth

The Region of Waterloo has announced a Special Virtual Regional Council Meeting (via Zoom) for Public Feedback on the Regional Official Plan Review to be held this coming Wednesday, May 18th at 3:00pm. This Regional Official Plan update will determine where and how we will grow for the next 30 years along with many other important things for the future of our community. If we are going to successfully meet our climate change targets we need to ensure that this ROP Update starts to implement the needed solutions and continues the progressive planning Waterloo Region is renown for.

Regional Staff have proposed 3 Growth Scenario Options all which continue to be insufficient, problematic, and unnecessarily complex. As a result, a group of citizens and community groups are proposing a “Growth Option #4” that is simpler, easier to achieve, and far more congruent with our current intensification. This Proposed Option #4 has zero urban boundary expansion meaning that there would be no farmland loss to urban sprawl, similar to what Hamilton and Halton Region are also proposing. An easy-to-read PDF document outlines this Proposed Option #4. We hope you will help us advocate for it.

Since we don’t have much time in advance of this Wednesday’s Special Regional Council Meeting on the ROP, we hope that you will:

We have only until the May 27th deadline to provide feedback to Regional Staff on these Land Needs Assessment Growth options that will determine if we destroy thousands of acres of prime farmland and breach the Countryside Line (Option #1), destroy hundreds of acres of prime farmland and create considerable discord between municipalities (Option #2), stay within our urban boundaries but have a designated greenfield area (DGA) density metric that is going to be very difficult to achieve (Option #3), or stay within our urban boundaries and grow sustainably using smart growth best practices (Option #4).

Please share any questions or ideas and speak up to make sure that your voice is heard!