The province has recently released the Co-ordinated Land Use Planning Review, which is gathering input for policy updates to Greater Golden Horseshoe, the Greenbelt Plan, the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Niagara Escarpment Plan. These four have far reaching implications for a large part of southern Ontario, but for us here in Whitchurch-Stouffville we fall under the Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine Plans.

The update is available here

And they certainly are an impressive set of documents. The Advisory Panel has deservedly earned it's pay.

Long awaited as well. Baited breath and everything. I have already had several landowners/interested parties in the ward reach out to me with the news of the release of this report. Everyone is pretty excited. Sort of.

The documents do rely heavily on the "preserve this, protect that, and maintain the other" mantra that we had come to expect from the province, so those who wish to see the Greenbelt, the ORM and the Escarpment never change will certainly be pleased. Others, not so much.

However, the provincially mandated growth has to go somewhere, and as such the most important (and impactful for the Town as a whole) phrase to come out of this exercise  is  " increase the intensification target to ... a minimum of 60 percent of all new residential development...in the existing  built-up area". This is going to have a huge impact on our further growth, especially when it comes to redevelopment of our downtown. 

Pace on Main (a new condo to be built on Main Street at LLoyd, just east of the track) will be only the beginning. 

And these updates will certainly have an impact upcoming Main street rehabilitation plans.

As to Wards 1 and 3, and the 404 corridor industrial/commercial development, there is a small dim light at the end of a long dark tunnel, as the report speaks to "...priority transit corridors...where municipalities would focus transit related planning, zoning and development efforts" Time will tell.

I invite your comments and questions as always, 647-542-4154 or via email at the contact page.