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Greenbelt “not quite big enough to contain poorly-planned, low density, urban sprawl” – Ontario Greenbelt Alliance
A Message from the citizen watchdog group Ontario Greenbelt Alliance
November 2015 – When the Greenbelt was created in 2005, many observers warned that it was not quite big enough to contain poorly-planned, low density, urban sprawl.
Grape vines in Ontario’s Greenbeilt stretching from the Niagara River and Niagara-on-the-Lake, around Hamilton and north of Lake Ontario and outside the urban boundaries of the Greater Toronto Area.
Over the past 10 years we’ve seen that the Greenbelt is effective at limiting sprawl but leapfrog development beyond its boundaries threatens to undermine the Greenbelt Plan.
Over the past 10 years, local citizens’ groups and municipal councils have been working to expand the Greenbelt into their communities and build a tangible connection to local farmland and the greenspace that help to clean our air and water.
Today, over 115 community groups across the region support growing the Greenbelt and shaping future growth patterns to protect critical drinking water sources, healthy watersheds and rivers, and an abundant supply of clean water for agriculture and other businesses. Three quarters of residents in the Greater Golden Horseshoe feel it’s important to continue to grow the Greenbelt and nearly all agree that protecting our water resource systems and agricultural land is important to them.
Click here to see a larger version of the map.
The map shows proposed expansion areas that:
- are highly valued by the public as sources of clean drinking water and are critical to a healthy agricultural sector and biodiversity in the region;
- align with existing criteria developed by the province to grow the Greenbelt;
- respond to continued concerns over growth pressures on important sensitive environmental lands and the continuation of sprawl in select regions; and
- are located outside of current urban boundaries needed to accommodate growth to 2041, and beyond.
Sign up if you support strengthening and growing the Greenbelt.
The Ontario Greenbelt Alliance is a watchdog and defender of Ontario’s innovative Greenbelt. Our vision is to make the Greenbelt a valuable and permanent part of Ontario’s landscape. The Alliance is coordinated by Environmental Defence.
For more information about the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance and its efforts click on –http://greenbeltalliance.ca/ .
Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.
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