OP comment: text of petition

AWARE Simcoe August 26 2012

This is the text of the petition that was posted on the Environmental Defence website August 15-22 and signed by 295 people. August 22 was Simcoe County’s deadline for public comment on its Official Plan, made public June 26. The petition is now closed.

Will Simcoe County be developed sustainably, protecting agricultural lands and clean water? Or will poorly planned, developer-driven, sprawling growth will be allowed to pollute our land and water, and erode our quality of life?

We, the undersigned, call on Simcoe County Council to make the following changes to the Simcoe County draft Official Plan, 2012:

Eleven important changes to the Simcoe County draft Official Plan:

1. Organize a series of public meetings and find out what Simcoe County residents want before finalizing a blueprint that will guide changes to land use at a time of unprecedented development pressure. Barrie’s open public dialogue with residents regarding its annexed lands is a good model to follow;

2. Require proponents of new development to demonstrate how their development benefits the whole community, specifically in the three key areas of economic, environmental and social benefits. Providing low-cost housing for GTA employment areas does not justify sprawl;

3. Close the loopholes in Amendment 1 to the Growth Plan, and limit new greenfield growth to the seven primary settlement areas. Ensure development in the other 91 settlement areas take the form of intensification within built boundaries, making use of existing infrastructure;

4. Ensure development charges cover the full capital and infrastructure costs of development and are based on actual rather than projected or allocated costs;

5. Determine the environmental carrying capacity of Simcoe County and use the data to guide appropriate levels, locations and limits for growth. To that end, the still incomplete “implementation analyses” called for in the province’s Growth Plan must be undertaken. These are analyses of the regional economy and employment areas, implications of growth on water and wastewater servicing, transportation, identification of natural areas, agricultural areas, and aggregate resources; 

6. Do not proceed with employment areas on Hwy 400 until the Growth Plan’s “implementation analyses” have been completed, and there is proof that new employment lands are required by industry;

7. Reduce the impacts of growth by introducing a Simcoe County community design, water/wastewater management and green building standard, against which population allocations can be assessed;

8. Prohibit designation of agricultural lands within settlement for urban uses;

9. Strengthen the protection of agricultural lands to remove ambiguity, and specifically deny development on class 1 to 3 lands. In view of concerns about the outdated Canada Land Inventory, require site-specific soil studies prior to consideration of development on agricultural land;

10.     Extend the low impact development policies and regulations from the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan to all of Simcoe County;

11. Protect water quantity and quality by protecting water recharge areas and by extending the requirement under the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan to undertake environment assessments on supporting infrastructure before approving land use designations, to all of Simcoe County.