Over the past three years the Province of Ontario has taken major steps to modify its land use planning policies to reduce urban sprawl. However, more work is needed to ensure that these changes in policy are translated into real action in the location and form of urban development in southern Ontario. Those are the conclusions of a major report released today by the Pembina Institute on the province's progress on curbing urban sprawl and promoting more sustainable urban development patterns.
Building Sustainable Urban Communities in Ontario: A Provincial Progress Report examines the Government of Ontario's initiatives in the areas of land-use planning, infrastructure funding, fiscal and taxation measures, and regional and municipal governance over the past three years.
The report concludes that major progress has been made in aligning the province's land-use planning legislation and policies with smart growth and urban sustainability principles, particularly through the Greater Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt and Growth Plan initiatives, and the revision of the Provincial Policy Statement made under the Planning Act. At the same time, the report identifies a number of major barriers to the implementation of the province's new policies and plans. These barriers include the following:
- The unwillingness of some municipalities to conform to the new provincial policies and plans, as highlighted by recent developments in the Durham region regarding the implementation of the Greenbelt Plan.
- The question of whether municipalities and conservation authorities have the capacity to carry out the required information gathering, analysis and planning activities.
- The impact of decisions by the province to exempt many existing development proposals from the new planning rules. Substantial areas of the greenbelt may be affected by these decisions. York region, for example, is proposing to convert more than 640 acres (260 hectares) of greenbelt protected countryside into the "Keswick Business Park" under these rules.
- The likely ineffectiveness of the Ontario Municipal Board in enforcing municipal compliance with the new provincial plans and policies.
- The need for mechanisms to ensure that the province's own major projects, like highways, and municipal infrastructure initiatives that receive financial support from the province, such as roads and sewers, support the province's new plans and policies.
- The failure to adopt complementary financial and taxation reforms, such as the reform of the development charges system, to support more sustainable urban development patterns.
"The province has taken a number of major steps towards the implementation of a policy framework to curb sprawl in southern Ontario, but a more comprehensive package of reforms is needed if the face of urban development is to really be changed," concluded Dr. Mark Winfield, Director of the Pembina Institute's Environmental Governance Program, and author of the report.
Copies of Building Sustainable Urban Communities in Ontario: A Provincial Progress Report may be downloaded from www.pembina.org.
For more information, contact
Mark S. Winfield, PhD
Director, Environmental Governance
Tel: 416-978-3486
Cell: 416-434-8130
e-mail:markw@pembina.org