Pelham’s Director of Community Planning and Development had some candidly strong comments regarding Premier Doug Ford’s controversial Bill 97 during Pelham Town Council’s May 17 meeting.
“Broadly speaking, the proposed changes in the planning statement, and the repealing of the growth plan is regressive, quite frankly.” Barb Wiens told council. “We are going back 20, 30 years in terms of planning policies.”
Bill 97 was tabled in response to Ontario’s increasing housing shortage. However, critics have been quick to point out that most of Ford’s proposals favour land-eating sprawl development and do little to address affordability. Wiens essentially joined that chorus.
“We’ll probably be looking at allowing development in … natural heritage features going forward,” she said, applying concerns to Niagara in Ford’s controversial decision to approve development in the province’s Greenbelt.
“It will lead to more sprawl, urban boundaries will expand. The loss of agricultural land is going to be significant. The number of farmers is decreasing.”
Included in Bill 97 is an allowance for farmers to sever off up to three additional residential lots on their properties. While densification has become a hot-button issue in Pelham the last few years, the province is primed to go in the opposite direction by encouraging suburban sprawl on historically rural lands.
The staff report Wiens was addressing stated that “the lack of guidance with regards to minimum density targets and intensification targets will lead to inconsistent decision making and less certainty for public regarding what the expectations are and is a regressive policy approach.”
Ward 2 Councillor Brian Eckhardt asked Wiens how much impact a municipality like Pelham would have in terms of managing growth under the new system. Her answer was not much.
“It’s a fait accompli once implemented,” she said.
Wiens added that the Ford government feels municipal planning is holding up private development in the province, but the director said that’s really not the case — instead pointing the finger at developers.
“We’re all sitting here very perplexed,” Wiens said. “There are other reasons why developers are not bringing those lands to the market. And they’re controlling the market because they want to keep the land prices high. So they release the supply when it’s in their best interest to do so.”
Wiens said Pelham, like other similar-sized municipalities, plans to respond to the province with concerns and comments.
“I hope they listen,” Ward 3 Councillor Shellee Niznik offered.
Ford’s Progressive Conservatives won landslide re-election last year amid the lowest voter turnout in Ontario history. The party’s pro-developer mandate is set to shape provincial policy for at least the next half century.
