Local environmentalist cheers Greenbelt study
Expansion could provide multiple levels of protection, he says
WATERLOO REGION — Some are calling it a “once in a generation” chance to help guide how Waterloo Region grows and preserves its rural land in the future.
Local environmental groups are celebrating a study by the provincial government that could expand Ontario’s protected Greenbelt into Waterloo Region — and they say the next few months will be a critical time to speak up in support.
“This is the piece of the puzzle that was missing,” said Kevin Thomason, co-founder of Smart Growth Waterloo Region.
“These are some of the most important decisions we will make. It’s only every so often that we make these kind of decisions about broad, landscape use planning. It’s about where are we going to grow and how are we going to develop?”
The government is studying a broad, 345,000-hectacre area outside the Toronto region, focusing on seven key areas that stretch from Simcoe County to Niagara. That includes the Waterloo moraine, the underground aquifer that provides Waterloo Region with its drinking water.
No decision on expanding the Greenbelt will be made until the province finishes a 90-day consultation period on a study of wetlands, streams, rivers and moraines in Waterloo, Wellington, Brant, Simcoe and Dufferin counties.
As Ontario continues to grow, conservationists argue Greenbelt expansion is needed to combat urban sprawl that is eroding farmland and putting more pressure on infrastructure and water sources.
Not everyone shares environmentalists’ enthusiasm about potential Greenbelt expansion locally. Many point out the Region of Waterloo already has municipal policies in place that protect local farmland, woodlands, wetlands and other groundwater resources — and Thomason agrees they are in some cases better than what the province can do.
But there are areas where Greenbelt legislation is stronger than local powers, particularly around restricting the expansion of gravel pits and aggregate extraction, he said. Thomason and others want to see both provincial and local protection for rural land and environmentally sensitive areas.
“This gives us multiple levels of protection that no one government can undo,” he said. “This could be really good for Waterloo Region because it’s an important second layer of protection.”
Thomason applauds the Region of Waterloo as a pioneer when it comes to rural land protection, and acknowledges the situation is much better here than in “wild west” of some other municipalities, where developers have been allowed to operate almost unchecked.
The region’s Countryside Line, a policy that protects farmland from urban growth, was unique in Canada when it was first implemented. The Regional Official Plan, which was opposed by developers in a lengthy legal battle, also protects woodlands, watercourses, river valleys, wetlands and groundwater supply areas.
Ken Seiling, the regional chair, says he wants a guarantee from the province those hard-fought local policies won’t be weakened if the Greenbelt expands in Waterloo Region.
But it just takes one change in leadership at the municipal or provincial level to repeal some of those conservation policies, and that’s why environmentalists want multiple levels of protection, Thomason said.
“I think we’ve managed things pretty well and we’re in better shape that other jurisdictions because of our good planning. But just because we’ve had good planning in the past doesn’t mean we’re going to have good planning in the future,” he said.
As climate change makes our watershed more vulnerable, we also need to make sure we have stronger protection heading into the future, Thomason said.
Waterloo Region needs to support neighbouring communities that don’t have as progressive policies to protect against urban sprawl, he added. Underground moraines and watersheds don’t follow municipal boundaries, so what happens in one community can impact another.
It’s about having one seamless level of protection for Ontario’s must vulnerable, farmland, forests, wetlands, and watersheds — not a piecemeal approach that varies municipality by municipality, he said.
“We need to ensure there’s continuity and collaboration between all levels of government,” Thomason said. “We need to have everyone singing from the same song sheet.”