By John Bacher
One of the important goals of Ontario’sGreenbelt is to protect the urban river systems which link up with adjacent agriculturally zoned lands outside our towns and cities.
One of too many forest-covered watershed areas in Niagara, Ontario that are destroyed by buzz saws and bulldozer blades to make way for ever more low density sprawl
While part of most urban centres in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe – notably Hamilton and Toronto – such linkages are tragically lacking in Niagara.
Niagara is blessed with a great network of waterway based urban parks. Welland has the Welland River flowing through it, lined with magnificent parks on both sides, as well as the recreational stretch of the former Welland Canal. St. Catharines has a similar system, based on the Twelve Mile Creek, its tributaries, and north end creeks which include the only remnant of the former fruit lands in that area.
There are other forested enclaves in urban areas in addition to river valleys. Quite systematically these forest relics are properly designated and zoned as environmental protection areas in official plans and bylaws of area municipalities.
The City of St. Catharines, for instance, has a fine schedule in its official plan which indicates every surviving forest in the city. It carefully applies data collected by the province’s Ministry of Natural Resources.
Although urban forests are all properly identified and designated in official plans they are not safe. They are just protected until the latest zoning change, which unlike expansions of urban boundaries, are limited to five year comprehensive reviews.
I was personally involved in reviews that unfortunately saw the loss of two urban forests in different municipalities in Niagara in the past three years. Both of these forests were clearly identified and protected through the right official plan designations and zonings.
This however, was not enough to save them.One forest which got axed was in the Lincoln hamlet of Campden. It was in a wetland forested valley and it was . a bizarre experience to sit through the council meeting of the Town of Lincoln where the zoning and official plan changes needed to clear cut the forest were approved.
The planner for the Town of Lincoln presented the staff report. It indicated that since the forest was in what provincial policy defined as “the settlement area”, there were no obstacles to its removal for a proposed single family home. After five minutes of discussion, the council voted to approve the report and the lands were re-designated and re-zoned from environmental protection to residential.
A similar disaster took place regarding an acre of forest on private land immediately adjacent to Lakeside Park in St. Catharines. The removing of zoning and official plan protection to this forest was made subject to an Ontario Municipal Board, (OMB) appeal through the good work of community activist, Jeff Loucks. This appeal however, got dismissed by the OMB before a full hearing could be held.
Our urban forests are too precious to be left to the whims and wiles of municipal councils. This is why the remaining environmentally zoned and designated land in Niagara needs to be put into the Greenbelt
One crucial area to expand the Greenbelt is in a section of the province’s Short Hills Park to the Welland Canal corridor, which protects Lake Gibson – an emergency source for much of Niagara Region’s drinking water supplies. At least here, an expansion of the Greenbelt is fully supported by the Thorold municipal council and its planning department.
Last November 18th, 2014 Thorold planner Evan Darbyson presented a report urging that Thorold City Council and the Niagara Region secure the protection of the Lake Gibson lands into the Greenbelt. His report stressed that, “There has been substantial work done by the task force (one the corridor) that demonstrates the importance of these lands, and the expansion of the Greenbelt would enhance their protection.”
Darbyson sees that there is a “prime opportunity to expand the Greenbelt and enhance the protection of the Lake Moodie and Lake Gibson natural areas.”
If you are concerned about protecting our vulnerable urban forests come out to the Niagara meeting on Greenbelt protection, scheduled for Wednesday, April 15 at in St. Catharines from 6 to 9pm at the Holiday Inn Suites, Parkway Inn Convention Center, 327 Ontario Street.
John Bacher is working with the Greenbelt Program team at the Sierra Club Canada Foundation and the Niagara-based citizens group, the Preservation of Agriculture Lands Society. This is another in a series on articles on the review. Later articles on the review will deal with wildlife, forests, fruitland , water pollution, the Niagara Escarpment and forests.
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