How to Stop the Big Sprawl: Webinar & News
By Claire Malcolmson, Executive Director, Lake Simcoe Coalition
Growth planning MATTERS:
Join a free webinar this Friday at 1 PM!
All around Lake Simcoe, huge development decisions are being made. Make no mistake, this is the issue that will most affect the lake’s health. The problem is that the province has created a nearly impossible-to-meet timeline for regions/counties to update their Official Plans through the Municipal Comprehensive Review. This contributes to a culture of not REALLY wanting people to understand or weigh in on the choices or implications.
Along with our ENGO friends, we are trying our best to educate and lead on this important topic by offering a free webinar this Friday at 1 pm called “How to Stop the Big Sprawl: What you need to know to save farmland, woodlands and protect water.”
If you miss it we will post it on our YouTube channel ASAP.
If you simply want updates and alerts please sign on to our MCR updates lists here.
And sign the petition here.
In Simcoe County, on October 1st the County will release Land Needs Assessment and Growth Management discussion papers, and there is a session about that on Oct 5th. On Oct 18 & 19 they are presenting information about Natural Heritage and Watershed Management.
You can register for their presentations and Q&As here.
In York Region, on Sept 16th, the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition and a number of people and organizations made delegations to York Region Council and helped a successful push for a delay in deciding on the Region’s intensification rate, or what percentage of new residents to 2051 will be accommodated in the built-up area. York Region will meet again on October 21st to decide on this critical question.
Overall we are asking for York and Durham Regions, and Simcoe County, to prioritize its immediate needs, which are:
- Building more affordable housing in existing towns and cities,
- Increasing access to public transit,
- Reducing the climate and water impacts of new development by choosing more density over sprawl,
- Protecting farmland, and
- Reducing residential taxes rate increases by making the most efficient use of the infrastructure that is already built.
Learn more – join the webinar this Friday!
Come Out and Enjoy Live Music while supporting RLSC!
Innisfil residents – join us at the Big Bay Point Golf Club, this Sunday, October 3rd for a fun music event starring our favourites, the Boathouse Blues Band!
Sunday, October 3rd 2:45 – 4:45
Big Bay Point Golf Club: 30th Sideroad and BBP Road, outdoors
The music will be an energetic mix of old blues standards and rocking hits, provided by THE BOATHOUSE BLUES, a fine local band. Skip Wilson & the HACK JAMS, a large group of Ukulele players will also perform.
Grouped seating and a cash bar will be provided and guests welcome. During the Intermission Claire Malcolmson, RLSC Executive Director, will speak briefly.
Admission is free. We welcome donations of any amount to The Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition.
A tax receipt will be available for donations of $20 or more. A Boathouse T-shirt is available for contributions of $50 or more.
To help with audience control, please RSVP to Judy Cooper, Golf Club GM (705-436-1378) or Don Avery, Event Convenor, (cell 705-896-0703 or averydon35@gmail.com), of the planned attendance of you and your guests.
Successful BEAUTIFUL WATERS auction
42 bidders tried to secure 30 artworks ranging from oil paintings, pastel drawings, prints and silkscreens, and sets of greeting cards based on our headliner work YELLOW CANOE.
We raised $4565 in total! Hearty thanks to Anna Bourgeois for photographing the works and all her technical expertise formatting the entire online enterprise.
Our board member Linda Wells totally enjoyed meeting and persuading the artists to donate a work based on our BEAUTIFUL WATERS theme. Without the artists’ generosity, the auction would not have been possible.
Please look for their work and support them: Dylan Court, Michael Scott, Charles Pachter, Sherryl Hopper, Susan Rudoler, Richard Vandermeer, Gillian Lowry.
Court ruling against ‘freer use of MZOs’ justifies groups’ concerns: local environmental coalition
Read the courts’ reaction to the way the province allowed themselves to use Minister’s Zoning Orders (which is what brought the Orbit to light).
“The Ford government did not consult with the public prior to passing Bill 197 into law. Under the province’s Environmental Bill of Rights, the people of Ontario have the right to be heard and consulted before any major changes are made to environmental laws,” they wrote. “The consequences of Bill 197’s legislative changes are now causing conflict in communities across Ontario — for example in the government’s freer use of Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZOs) to greenlight controversial development projects.”
“I would like someone to explain to me how putting 20,000 in a cornfield between Alcona and Lefroy is a COVID recovery move?”
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