Residents raise concerns about growth

About 60 people were at an open house held by Halton Region in Georgetown last Thursday night on the proposed Regional Official Plan Amendment 38 that incorporates the results of the Sustainable Halton planning exercise to accomodate new population and growth.

[Increased Taxes for sure]

Another round of ROPA 38 public open houses will be held in November, 2 days before they want to cut off written replies ?

The session in Halton Hills will be at Christ The King Secondary School Nov. 10 from 6 to 9 p.m. A presentation will be held at 7 p.m.

At that open house details on the fiscal impact on the region and

Halton municipalities of the Sustainable Halton growth plan will be included.

[POWER]

Too Bad the Comments & Background to the Region:

Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity.

Learn more about 350 – Watch A Video

http://www.350.org/mission

what it means, where it came from, and how to get there as it relates to this ROPA 38 GTA project

& the correspondence from Tom regarding this Sat

http://maps.google.ca/maps...

as discussed that night, weren't included in the story

http://www.topix.net/ca/halton-hills-on-georg...

[News corrections Oct 23]

http://www.thestar.com/corrections/article/71...

apparently POWER reps at the meeting witnessed this topix among others raised but wasn't included in the story either

http://www.topix.net/forum/ca/halton-hills-on...

[Clarification]

Apparently your town was mentioned that night too

for reasons similar to your pictures taken here

joke wrote:

Lots of taxpayer money spend so far on man power to clean down town after snow fall

but the local Editor choose to not print that either?

http://www.topix.net/album/detail/ca/halton-h...

[todays HALINET info]

ROPA38 and Natural Heritage System

Make your voice heard !

Tuesday, November 3 at 6:00 p.m.

Bishop Reding Catholic Secondary School

(and maybe learn about the tax impact, too!)

http://www.miltonrra.org/

[todayt more sprawl]

Niagara to GTA Corridor Planning & Environmental Assessment
Study

Tuesday December 1st, 2009
4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Holiday Inn Burlington
Halton Hall
3063 South Service Road, Burlington

THE STUDY:

Phase 1 of the Planning and Environmental Assessment (EA) Study for the
NGTA
Corridor, initiated by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO),
will
support the transportation objectives of the provincial Growth Plan for
the
Greater Golden Horseshoe by providing for the efficient movement of
people
and goods within the corridor to Milton Halton Region 401 Corridor areas

Information to be presented at the PICs will be available on the study
website beginning on November 24th, 2009.

www.niagara-gta.com

[Agricultural Food Supply]

text from elsewhere which cannot be construed as case law info as of yet & might be handy to share

Ron Glenn of the Planning Dept at the Region outlined ROPA38 and the NHS.

Further discussion of the NHS did occur at Region Council on Wed. Sept.30th and came back to Milton Council during the next cycle.
----------
like the Special Milton Council Meeting
September 14, 2009

This meeting was called to get Council approval to initiate projects receiving government funding. They included: John Tonelli Arena renovations, Nassagaweya Tennis Club reconstruction and the rehabilitation and construction of a Town multi use building on the site, Arts and Cultural centre, Milton Sports Centre expansion, and creation of the E.C.Drury Trails.
Council asked for milestone reports to be presented at regular intervals.
Funding agreements were passed.,
----------
Ron Glenn indicated that the process was 95% completed and that they hoped for consensus before the final presentation in December 2009.

He acknowledged the lack of consensus on the NHS and recognized Milton’s concerns.

He indicated that the NHS statements in ROPA38 were a Halton response to the Provincial policies on NHS.

a Bill Mann of the Town expressed Milton’s concerns about the NHS above the brow and related these concerns to Agriculture and Horticulture.

Councilor Mowbray questioned the need for NHS and argued that it had an adverse effect on agriculture and land use.

She questioned the accuracy of maps included in the draft and

Glenn said they would be corrected before the final draft.

She & others still wondering via questions at other Halton Public meeting locations who will interpret the policies in ROPA38 and

who will enforce,

of which the Coloured Woman hired to do the Dog & Pony show at these meet ups,

still hasn't placed on her overhead slide show months later ...

[NOT wanted]

one voice for GTA economy

The Greater Toronto Area is made up of 29 municipal governments, each its own little fiefdom.

But the GTA economy pays little attention to these boundaries. People reside in Markham and commute...

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/art...

[Public pushed out]

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/72625...

[other non reported info]

The CFFO Commentary

Title: Ensuring the Greenbelt is a Success for Farmers

By Nathan Stevens

November 20, 2009

The Christian Farmers considers the preservation of prime farmland in
Ontario to be essential to the long-term success of farmers in this
province, both for this and future generations. The Greenbelt that was
put in place in 2005 is in many ways the prototype for what could be a
successful land-use policy for agriculture throughout the entire
province. However, it must be demonstrated that the Greenbelt Plan has
had a positive impact not just for agriculture land, but also for the
farmers that are working the land.

When we consider the Greenbelt Plan, its primary functions are the
following:

1. Protect against the loss and fragmentation of the agriculture
land base and support agriculture as the predominant land use.

2. Give permanent protection to the natural heritage and water
resource systems that sustain ecological and human health and that form
the environmental framework around which major urbanization in
South-central Ontario will be organized, and

3. Provide for a diverse range of economic and social activities
associated with rural communities, agriculture tourism, recreation and
resource uses.

With those three criteria in mind, a number of government ministries and
stakeholders are currently looking at determining the performance
measures that will judge whether this land-use plan was a success or a
failure at meeting these objectives.

From the perspective of the Christian Farmers Federation there are
several reasons to see the Greenbelt succeed. First, we view the
long-term preservation of our highest quality farmland as essential to a
competitive agriculture sector in this province. Second, long-term
trends point towards rising transportation costs and shortening supply
lines for food, which increases the need for food production close to
home. Third, ensuring that a country is able to feed itself if serious
disruptions to trade flows were to occur, even for a brief period of
time, should be a high priority for government.

These are good reasons to support such a policy, but at the end of the
day, farmers have to be able to prosper within this regulated landscape.
The province needs to be sure that this approach to preserving our best
land is not inadvertently regulating our farmers out of business. The
performance measures must include ways to measure the signs of
prosperity, from new building projects to net farm income.

The Greenbelt Plan is an important step in protecting our most valuable
farmland. An even surer step to preserving farmland is to ensure that
farmers are able to profit and innovate within the protected
countryside.

Nathan Stevens is the Research and Policy Advisor for the Christian
Farmers Federation of Ontario. The CFFO Commentary represents the
opinions of the writer and does not necessarily represent CFFO policy.
It can be heard weekly on CKNX Wingham and CFCO Chatham, Ontario and is
archived on the CFFO website: www.christianfarmers.org/index.html . The
CFFO is supported by 4,350 farm families across Ontario

[GTA City Ontario]

issues raised at these meetings were also unknown @

http://www.topix.com/forum/ca/halton-hills-on...

[Money report 7MB]

This report that wasn't reported by your local newspaper editor either, was prepared for Halton Region’s Corporate Services Department by Watson and Associates who did the School Board Development Charges too.

It analyzes the potential costs to implement Sustainable Halton.

Sustainable Halton - Fiscal Affordability Analysis Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)7MB

http://www.halton.ca/ppw/Planning/PDFs/Sustai...

[Where homes grow]

http://www.topix.net/ca/halton/2009/12/where-...

[2 million new residents]

Halton tightens reins on new growth

With a promise of law and order to protect the wide,
wide west, the region is sticking to its guns
to manage healthy, new urban development...

http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/series/sprawl/0...

[Halton bold plan]

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/art...

[not in GTown print]

from these meetings as heard by Barbara Halsall, past president of POWER

www.haltonhills.ca/calendars/2008/2008-05-05m...

If commuters weren't already inundated with road construction,

http://www.topix.net/forum/ca/brampton-on/T3U...

Peel Region councillors are being asked to give the go ahead on

http://www.topix.net/forum/ca/brampton-on/T7N...

a couple more intersection improvements for Brampton...

http://www.topix.net/ca/brampton-on/2009/12/m...

[Burlington reports]

interesting your Metroland editor choose not to tell you this either ???

Don't think Halton editors don't have lunch & discuss these things either

... What I heard was a lot of buck passing ...

I attended the Burlington meeting. The shouting started when I said the growth strategy included ever-shifting urban boundaries, which are certain to eat into prime agricultural land.

The shouting continued when I said it's well known that development does not pay for itself. Development fees and the new property tax base don't come near paying for all the things a thriving community needs -- hospitals, schools and transportation networks, to name a few, which are already overcrowded, underfunded and struggling to serve the needs of Halton's current population.

Thus, price and tax increases are inevitable, pricing seniors and young families out of our community.

The proposed plan will only lead to more sprawl and traffic and taxes, and isn't nearly as stringent or comprehensive as it needs to be. This is not sustainable growth by any definition. And these results are entirely predictable.

The reaction of a few intemperate landowners in the room was also predictable -- shouting insults because their land is protected (for now) and they can't make a fortune subdividing and selling it to developers. At least they didn't threaten to beat me up, as they did another resident who spoke out.

But all the drama, as unsettling as it was, isn't what bothered me most about this meeting. Rather, I was struck by the futility of the entire exercise, which by its very design pits city dwellers like me against struggling farmers who want to unload their land and retire.

It doesn't have to be like this ...

http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/...

[unresponsible journalism]

documented by the public of the (2?) local editor(s) during this process

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/...

[Where homes Grow]

other issues brought up@ the meetings never published by local Metroland newspaper ???

“You can't take your tractors out on the road for fear of an accident...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/...