Category Archives: Front Page

We have a new Regional Official Plan!

After 6 years and a lot of drama, we have a new Official Plan for Waterloo Region.

On Thursday, June 18th, the Ontario Municipal Board approved a deal between the Region of Waterloo and developers who were using the OMB to fight provincial and local requirements for smart growth.

A handful of developers had fought the Region’s Official Plan, which had proposed 85 hectares of greenfield land be converted to urban development by 2031, to accommodate projected population growth while protecting farmland and build more liveable urban areas. The developers wanted 1,053 hectares to be converted, and the OMB had sided with the developers.

To its great credit, our regional government fought the decision in court, with strong support from the province and from our community. Against the backdrop of this court challenge, the Region was able to negotiate a deal that protects the key features of our official plan.

The deal approved by the OMB differs very slightly from that originally announced on May 26th. According to The Waterloo Region Record, the minor changes were due to negotiations with a developer who had not been involved in the original case but who made a last-minute motion in front of the OMB to be included. As a result, The Record notes, “Two hectares of land near the corner of Fischer-Hallman and Huron Roads have been brought into the plan for development as part of those negotiations.”

For more information on the deal reached in May, you can see our post.

As the Region of Waterloo’s news release states, the following are the key features of the Official Plan that is now in effect, and with which local-tier Official Plans must comply:

• Countryside line: A new countryside line will establish a long-term development boundary.

• Groundwater and broader environmental protection: Protected Countryside and Regional Recharge areas will further protect groundwater sources and other environmental features.

• New employment lands: The East Side lands prime industrial strategic reserve designation will be completed for lands in north Cambridge, creating new opportunities for business relocation or to attract new business.

• Transit: Public transit policies will be more fully integrated with development policies, especially in the ION corridor.

• Economic vitality: Policies to support the economy have been enhanced.

• Rural prosperity: Rural assets, including prime agricultural lands and rural communities, will continue to be protected and supported.

• Restrictions on aggregate extraction: Protection of significant woodlands from aggregate extraction, and restrictions on aggregate extraction in environmentally sensitive areas.

In addition, as part of the settlement, the Region’s land budget methodology will be used by the applicable settling parties in the future to calculate the amount of agricultural land that can be converted to urban development.

We must offer all of you our congratulations on this great success. We know that support from the community has made a huge difference in achieving this important result for smart growth.

While the fight over the Region’s most recent Official Plan is over, there is still lots to do to protect smart growth here in Waterloo Region and across the province. This fall, we at Smart Growth Waterloo Region will be reaching out to community members to help us determine the work that our organisation should be doing next, and how we can best accomplish it.

If you’re not already on our mailing list, please take a moment to sign up, so you won’t miss any crucial meetings or opportunities to be involved with Smart Growth Waterloo Region as we move on to the next big challenges.

In the mean time, enjoy your summer, and this victory.

Poll shows widespread support for Region’s growth management

Waterloo Region’s Growth Management Strategy, as laid out in the Regional Official Plan, is an ambitious attempt to protect our farms and natural areas while also channelling growth to improve our neighbourhoods and communities. The Official Plan governs where new growth can take place and what form it will take across the entire Region. It’s important to check periodically that plans of this magnitude continue to have public support and understanding.

Fortunately, the Region now has fresh assurances that it’s approach to protecting countryside and building up urban areas are widely supported. As part of its strategic planning, the Region commissioned a representative survey to gauge resident’s priorities and levels of satisfaction with Regional policies and services. Questions were asked on topics which included economic development, the environment, healthy and inclusive communities, transportation, and responsive government services.

Here are a few things they discovered about how people feel about the Region’s smart growth approach: Continue reading →

Submission to the Land Use Planning Review

The first phase of consultations for the provincial government’s Co-ordinated Land Use Planning Review has concluded. Like people from communities across Ontario, we’re eager to see what changes the Province will propose before the second, more specific round of consultations is launched.

In the mean time, some of you may be interested in Smart Growth Waterloo Region’s short submission to the first phase of the review.

We’ll keep you posted on the review. Given the huge interest expressed in our community during the first consultation round, we know you’ll want to be in the loop.

Major news: Negotiated settlement on the OMB case

This morning, the Region of Waterloo announced that it has reached a settlement with the greenfield developers who appealed the Region’s new Official Plan to the Ontario Municipal Board.

A map released by the Region, showing changes based on the settlement agreement.

The agreement, which still must be approved by the OMB, would open up 255 hectares of new land to settle the original dispute, with an additional 198 hectares in the coming years to accommodate new higher population growth projections. Developers had asked for 1053 hectares of new land for urban development to 2031.

While this is a compromise, it’s a good compromise that will allow us to move forward with smart growth approaches in our community. It will help protect our farmland and environmentally sensitive areas, while allowing us to encourage more people and jobs in built-up areas to create more liveable urban areas.

As many of you know, in January of 2013 the OMB ruled against crucial smart growth provisions of the Region’s Official Plan, and threatened key provisions of the province’s Places to Grow Growth Plan covering much of Ontario. The Region has been fighting this dangerous decision in provincial court, with the support of the provincial government, as well as pursuing a negotiated settlement. (Read more about the OMB decision.)

This deal means we won’t have to rely on the unpredictable court system to fix the mess left by the OMB, and can move forward sooner with a locally-designed solution.

You can see the Region’s press release on the deal here, and their full report here.

You can also check out our press release.

Congratulations to all those at the Region of Waterloo who have been working so hard on this deal, and to all of you for your ongoing support of our community’s smart growth vision. Our community’s dedication has been a crucial part of this success.

Deadline: Submit your comments on the review!

You’ve got until Thursday to submit your comments on the Province of Ontario’s Coordinated Land Use Planning Review.

The review is covering the Places to Grow Growth Plan and the Greenbelt. Given how important intensification and protecting our urban and rural spaces is in Waterloo Region, and how much local leadership we’ve seen on these issues, we want voices from our area to be well represented in the comments.

We were lucky to have a wonderful turnout at the local consultation back in March at Bingeman’s. If you were there, please still take a few moments to submit some of your comments in writing by Thursday. If you missed it, you can catch up on some of the tweets here.

Please take a few moments to look through the province’s consultation document, and submit your comments online by Thursday May 28th. We’re told that comments at this stage will be considered as the province drafts proposed changes, which will be brought back for public consultation later in the year.

If you’re wondering about what some of the local municipalities are submitting to the Province’s review, links to some of the submissions are below:

Region of Waterloo

Cambridge (see page 131)

Kitchener

Waterloo (see page 66)

Mark your calendars! Coordinated Land Use Planning Review

The Province of Ontario recently announced its Coordinated Land Use Planning Review. Taking a big-picture view, the Province has decided to include several related policies in the same review, and is including:

The Province has released a discussion document for this stage of the consultations, which can be viewed here.

Most exciting for us, Waterloo Region has been selected as the site of the first regional town hall meeting. The meeting will take place on Wednesday March 25th at Bingeman’s Conference Centre in Kitchener. The open house will start at 6:00 pm, and the meeting will start at 7:00 pm.

If you’re able, please join us at Bingeman’s on the 25th. With Waterloo Region leading the way on smart growth, environmental and farmland protection, and more liveable communities, we need to make sure that local voices are heard in this review. The results of this review will have a huge impact here at home and across the province.

We’ve set up a Facebook page for the event, so let us know you’ll be joining in! We’ll also be tweeting at #LandUseON, so join in the conversation online, too.

And if you can’t make it, you can submit your comments online until May 27th, 2015.

One more note: the Province of Ontario is also holding consultations about its strategy for addressing climate change. A consultation will take place at the Kitchener Public Library on March 19th, and full details are available here.