It’s time for Waterloo Region to be included in the Greenbelt. And we need your help to make it happen.

The provincial government is considering expanding the Greenbelt beyond the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area. Right now, they’re asking for comments on where it should go, as part of their land use planning review.

We need to make sure that Waterloo Region isn’t left out of the Greenbelt again. When the Greenbelt was originally created, the Region of Waterloo asked several times to be included. But our community has not received the protections that other communities got from the Greenbelt.

In response, our local leaders stepped up to fill in the gaps. They created the Protected Countryside, which is intended to permanently protect a large band of agricultural lands and environmental features to the south, west, and north of our major urban areas (marked with green dots):

Map 7 of the Region of Waterloo’s 2015 Official Plan, showing the Protected Countryside. From http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/regionalGovernment/resources/Consolidated_ROP_2015/Map_7-_The_Countryside.pdf

Combined with the other policies of the Region’s 2015 Official Plan, the Protected Countryside is designed to ensure that we can build more liveable urban communities while protecting and supporting agriculture and our environment.

These local protections are important, impressive, and strong. But they are not yet as strong as they need to be. Under provincial planning rules, municipal governments are not allowed to make permanent plans. Any future regional government could make a rash change that threatens the lands that our community has decided to permanently protect.

Our local plans aren’t permanent, but the Greenbelt is. Overlaying the Greenbelt on our Protected Countryside would provide a second layer of protection. Because of our existing local protections, inclusion in the Greenbelt wouldn’t change things on the ground for landowners. But it would make sure that our local protections are permanent, just like they were intended to be.

Looking beyond our borders, we find more good reasons to extend the Greenbelt to Waterloo Region. While our local protections are strong, they are only within the boundaries of Waterloo Region. But our key environmental features don’t stop at municipal borders, and their protection shouldn’t, either.

Fortunately, people from all over the Greater Golden Horseshoe are calling for Greenbelt expansion. There’s a proposal supported by grassroots groups across the province that would expand the Greenbelt to protect the sensitive water resources on which Ontarians rely. They’re calling it the Bluebelt. Given that we’re one of the largest communities in Canada to rely primarily on groundwater, we’re especially dependent on the features identified in the proposed Bluebelt:

The proposed “Bluebelt” as envisioned for the Grand River watershed. From http://www.growourgreenbelt.ca/bluebelt_resources

This map of their proposed Bluebelt extends beyond our local Protected Countryside to include all of our moraines. But it shows just how large our moraines are, and that they extend well beyond municipal boundaries. To truly protect our local resources, we need our local protections to be integrated with protections for our neighbouring municipalities, some of which have not had the same local leadership that our community has had.

We need your help.

Use our handy contact form, and take 30 seconds right now to email our local MPPs and regional councillors, and tell them that you want the Greenbelt in Waterloo Region. Give them the support they need to make sure we don’t get left out of the Greenbelt this time.

On May 10, the provincial government announced proposed changes to land use planning rules in Ontario.

There’s been a lot of excitement about some of these changes, and some of them should help other communities to follow the Region of Waterloo’s example in promoting intensification and higher densities for more livable urban areas, and coordinating land use planning with transit planning.

Unfortunately,  the province did not announce plans to expand the Greenbelt into Waterloo Region. The Region asked to be included in the Greenbelt several times while it was being created. Several years later, our municipal governments have worked hard to create our own local protections, including a Protected Countryside, to preserve our sensitive environmental and agricultural resources. Our local protections mean the Greenbelt wouldn’t change anything on the ground for landowners. But Greenbelt designation would add an extra layer of protection, and integrate our local protections with those in other municipalities, since environmental features don’t stop at the border.

So this month’s announcement fell short for us here in Waterloo Region. It seems that, while the province is helping other communities meet Waterloo’s standards, their announcement doesn’t bring the protections other communities have from the Greenbelt to Waterloo Region.

But this fight’s far from over.

We Need Your Help!

There are three things you can do right now to help make sure upcoming changes protect our agricultural and environmental resources and promote livable cities:

• Mark your calendar. The provincial government is hosting a series of open houses all across the province on these changes, and the first one is right here in Waterloo Region! Join us on Tuesday May 31st from 5:00 to 8:00 pm at the Preston Auditorium at 1458 Hamilton Street.
• Submit your comments. The province is asking for feedback on its proposed changes. They’ve specifically asked for suggestions on places outside the GTHA where the Greenbelt should be expanded. Tell them that after more than a decade of exclusion, we need the Greenbelt in Waterloo Region. All the provincial documents and the official feedback form are online, so getting involved is easy. You have until September 30th to submit your comments.
• Make sure you’re on our email list. We don’t send emails very often, but when we do, it’s because important things are happening about smart growth in the province and in the region. You can sign up quickly and easily right here. And of course, unsubscribing is just as easy.

Learn More About Proposed Changes

There’s lots to learn about the proposed changes. The official documentation from the province is all online, but that’s not all.

You can read our news release on the announcement here.

We’ve been quite pleased that a number of our local news organizations understand how important Greenbelt expansion in the area is, and have provided some solid coverage in the last two weeks:

• CBC posted a story about our continued exclusion from the Greenbelt, and why expansion is important. They also ran a follow-up story with statements from local builders with an interest in urban expansion, who seem open to discussions about the Greenbelt, though perhaps not overly eager to ensure province-level safeguards for our existing local protections.
• Recent coverage from the Waterloo Chronicle/Kitchener Post, based on an interview with our own Kevin Thomason.

You can also check out other responses to the announcement from other groups and writers:

• Ontario Greenbelt Alliance
• Neptis Foundation
• Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition