Urban boundary made region distinctive. Soon it will be gone
In just two days last week, Premier Doug Ford wiped out our strongest tool to preserve farmland and natural areas, then came to Kitchener to tell us we can do whatever we choose, without provincial interference.
At a news conference Thursday to reward the City of Kitchener with $14 million for exceeding its target to build homes, Ford made it clear that municipalities aren’t required to take some of the richest farmland in the country and turn it into a giant industrial site.
That’s what Waterloo Region is trying to do. In a controversial move assailed for its secrecy and for targeting prime agricultural land, the region hired a company to threaten farmers with expropriation of 770 acres they own on a parcel of land bound by Highway 7 and 8, Nafziger Road, Wilmot Centre Road and Bleams Road.
Ford said that wasn’t a requirement from his government.
“We’re just asking regions around the province: assemble land. But there has to be a willing host. If they’re not willing, then just move on. That’s what it comes down to,” he said Thursday.
Those are the words he spoke. But the actions of his government told a different story.
The day before he came to Kitchener with the giant $14-million cheque, Ford’s government announced the Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, which includes the news that the Region of Waterloo will lose its authority to provide planning.
“Once in effect, planning policy and approval responsibilities of the regional municipality will be removed and the lower-tier municipalities will assume primary responsibility for all planning in their geographies, except for matters requiring provincial approval,” the document says.
It also says: “Ontario remains committed to reducing municipal duplication across the province to deliver on shared provincial-municipal priorities, all while supporting its municipal partners.”
This is a huge change — and not a good one — for us.
The Region of Waterloo has always overseen the big picture of planning, outlining where new homes should be built, where industry should locate, where environmentally sensitive areas need protection, and where agricultural land should be preserved for growing food.
The region is less vulnerable to pressure from developers than are the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, and the townships of North Dumfries, Wilmot, Wellesley and Woolwich that make up the seven lower-tier municipalities.
All these seven municipalities have planning departments too. Has there been occasional confusion as residents, business owners and builders try to figure out who does what?
Certainly.
But the region’s planners, enabled by its elected leaders, have taken several visionary steps with their authority that have benefited us all.
One is the light rail transit line in Kitchener and Waterloo, which was always more of a planning tool than a mode of transportation. It drew development away from the outer edge of the cities and into their inner hearts instead.
The other was the Countryside Line.
It is a set of principles, very unusual in North America, that are embodied in the region’s Official Plan. It protects farmland and environmentally sensitive areas, and limits suburban sprawl so that you can be less than a 15-minute drive from the countryside, no matter where you are.
The Countryside Line did this by literally drawing a line around parts of the region that could not be developed.
You can see this line dramatically, if you drive along Wilmot Line north of Erb’s Road. On one side you’ll see Waterloo’s suburban homes; on the other, the fields of Wilmot. It was such a successful concept that the provincial government, under then-premier Dalton McGuinty, adopted those same principles in its “Places to Grow” document that laid out planning rules across the province.
We’re in a new world now. When Waterloo Region is stripped of its planning authority, the region’s Official Plan will mean nothing.
The Countryside Line will die with it.
Of course, the individual municipalities have skilled and respected professionals working in their planning departments. But those municipalities are also hungry for the tax revenue that comes with new assessment. It’s more difficult for them to say no to developers.
The pressure to develop is at a boiling point now, as elected officials try to manage population growth by increasing the supply of homes and workplaces.
There’s an urgency, a speed and a secrecy around what’s happening that means decisions are already being made carelessly.
And the voices that are speaking up for the right of future generations to have clean drinking water and a secure food supply are about to lose their microphone.