FUN ADVOCACY POSITIONS

FUN AGM Presentation – Saturday, June 18, 2022

Guest Speaker: Graham Churchill, Executive Director, A Better Richmond Hill

Sprawl, Tall, or Infill – Are These Really Our Only Choices

With the Ontario government expecting the GTA to grow by an additional 2.9M people in the next 25 years, we need a sensible growth plan. The politicians aren’t doing it so citizen groups need to come together to create one. Graham Churchill has a plan, and he’s looking for like-minded community groups to help refine it.

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Question 1:

• What are the biggest barriers and delays to diversifying the types of housing built in existing neighbourhoods?

Response

The question is built on several assumptions – which are unproven:

1. That the housing price issue can be solved through increasing supply.  Instead we need to address the demand issues, such as land speculation e.g. flipping, vacant housing, the real estate industry practices that force up prices;
2. That there is a housing shortage when in fact the number of homes increased at a greater rate than population;

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The Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods (Ontario) is an umbrella group of community associations throughout Ontario. As such we maintain a close interest in the changes to provincial planning legislation introduced by the Government. The latest changes amount to another massive overhaul of the planning process and a new set of directives focussed on supply, rather than demand for homes, but in addition, reducing the role of duly elected municipal councils, and attacking residents who devote their time and energy to contribute to their communities’ development.

The Government’s policy changes, including moving forward with Highway 413, and making municipalities designate more farmland for development, have favoured companies looking to build low-density sprawl outside Toronto.

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RE: Proposed Bradford Bypass Project

We wish to advise you of our strong opposition to this project, a four lane 400 series highway, misnamed as the Bradford Bypass. In May 2021, Minister Wilkinson made a determination that the Bradford Bypass Project did not warrant designation under the federal Impact Assessment Act. The reasons for the decision, are specified in the Minister’s Response on the Designation Request for the Bradford Bypass Project.

While these are undoubtably valid reasons, we feel strongly that this project deserves a similar calibre study as the Highway 413 project.

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This is to advise you that the Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods has serious concerns with the proposal to proceed with the Highway 413. It represents the start of what is in essence a whole new 400 series highway system north of Toronto that we believe will have major negative implications for the residents of the Town of Caledon. 

Our concerns can be summarized as follows:

1. The highway, if built, would encourage and facilitate an unprecedented level of urban sprawl in the GTA, which would destroy important green spaces and prime farmland.
2. People who live along the highway route (your residents) will suffer health impacts.
3. Commuters will see diminishing benefits from the highway (due to induced demand). And in any case the pandemic has drastically changed our commuting patterns.
4. It will incur a significant cost to taxpayers which will be borne by the Provincial Government alone (the Federal Government has indicated it will NOT cost-share).

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FUN recognizes the significant fiscal challenges facing the Government of Ontario, especially in light of the continuing Pandemic. We also believe that investing in and maintaining physical and social and health infrastructure, all the while addressing the Climate Emergency are critical to the future wellbeing of all Ontario residents. However, we are choosing to focus at this time on the growing Housing Market and Housing Affordability issue and offer a recommendation for inclusion in the Spring 2022 Ontario Budget.

We are all aware that Housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable in all urban areas of Ontario, especially Toronto. We are concerned however that the Government of Ontario is not effectively addressing the issue. The core issue is the rampant speculation in the housing market.

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The Made in Ontario Environment Plan commits the province to: “Build on previous successes and continue to implement the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan to protect and restore important natural areas and features of the lake.” It is the Christmas wish of the 28 signatory groups to this letter that you honour that promise.

In early 2019, the year the statutory review of the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan was to commence, the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition launched the Protect Our Plan (POP) campaign, promoting the importance of the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan. The Province hosted a survey, an online consultation and an online science forum in early 2020. The list of extensive consultation, education, and engagement conducted by the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition is available at Rescue Lake Simcoe.

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In the December 12 edition of the Toronto Star 100+ groups – from community organizations to health groups to farmers – sent Premier Ford a strong message: Don’t destroy Greenbelt lands! Cancel Highway 413 & the Bradford Bypass.

Highway 413 will destroy over 2,000 acres of prime farmland including 400 acres of the Greenbelt. It will cross 85 rivers and streams and will spew over 17 million tonnes of greenhouse gases by 2050.

The Bradford Bypass will destroy a section of the provincially significant forested Holland Marsh Wetland in the Greenbelt.

It will pave over the home of several endangered species, add more salt and oil pollution to Lake Simcoe, and contaminate private wells.

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