RLSC: Big Update

York-Simcoe MPP Caroline Mulroney, Bradford Councillor Jonathan Scott and Georgina Councillor Dave Neeson met with Minister of the Environment David Piccini last week to discuss how to move forward the stalled Holland Marsh phosphorus recycling facility in York Region.

By Claire Malcolmson, Executive Director, Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition

Big update! The next year is truly a pivotal one for the long-term sustainability of the Lake Simcoe watershed. Whether you choose to get involved at the municipal or provincial level, it’s go time.

With a new Federal cabinet signalling intentions to get serious about climate change, we have a window of opportunity to fight GHG – spewing sprawl development and highways. But public opinion FOR the environment needs to be clear, and public. 

In this newsletter:
1. The Good News: Municipal support for phosphorus reclamation plant
2. The Bradford Bypass just went from bad to horrendous
3. Growth Planning (Municipal Comprehensive Reviews)

1. The Good News: Municipal support for phosphorus reclamation plant

Momentum is building around asking the province to pay York Region’s share of a phosphorus (P) reclamation plant on the Holland River. This idea has been around for decades, and it represents the best opportunity available to reduce phosphorus loads by 2.5 tonnes a year. We are trying to cut P loads in half, from approximately 90 to 44 tonnes per year, so while it represents a drop in the bucket, we will take it.

The province made it illegal to approve the Upper York Sewage “Solution” (UYSS), which was positive news for the lake. But it takes away the development cost charge funding that York Region (YR) was going to use to pay their share ($24 million) of this P removal plant. We need to take the money on the table – the Federal government committed $16 million to the project last year. We want YR to support our ask to the province to pay YR’s share. Instead, the YR Chair Wayne Emmerson just keeps asking that the UYSS get approved, while YR oversees a massive expansion of development in green fields. This topic offers an interesting insight into the neglect of Lake Simcoe and the prioritization of sprawl.

• Please support this initiative by signing Lake Simcoe Watch’s petition to MPP Mulroney,
• Read more about it here.

2. The Bradford Bypass just went from bad to horrendous

We are not in this line of work so that we can say “I told you so,” but the very thing we cautioned municipalities about has come to pass: The province exempted this 16 km highway project from the Environmental Assessment process. The project is essentially approved. No provincial Ministry of the Environment sign-off is needed. Told you so. (That was not satisfying.)

At this point, we are evaluating our options and will share future actions when they are public!

Day of Action
In the meantime, join us on Saturday, November 13th, 1 – 3 at MPP Mulroney’s office to protest. (45 Grist Mill Rd. Holland Landing) Meet kindred spirits and make your views heard and seen. Bring signs about sustainability, climate and the lake. Bring a friend, and watch for this on social media and share.

• We need help with flyering in the Bradford West Gwillimbury area – please email rescuelakesimcoecoalition@gmail.com if you have time to do so between now and then.
• The flyer can also be downloaded and printed.
• Sign the petition here.

Learn more:

• New! Details of the corruption and lies related to the Bradford Bypass (including some found through a Freedom of Information request from our friends at the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition) were published over the weekend in both the Toronto Star and the National Observer.
• The Ecojustice press release about the exemption approval
• More Toronto Star news coverage

Please write letters to the editor, like this amazing one from Julie Johnson in Shanty Bay.

3. Growth Planning (Municipal Comprehensive Reviews)

We continue to track growth plans in York and Durham Regions, and Simcoe County.

Durham
Today, November 1st, is the last day to use this letter template to support good planning in Durham Region. They are facing heavy pressure to sprawl more.
Simcoe County
MASSIVE natural area losses planned – UNLESS… 

The County has released their “Natural Heritage Systems, proposed additions and removals map,” here, and there are a huge number of removals.

Big Bay Point, Gilford, all over the shoreline of Oro-Medonte, someone is asking for less natural area protections. Please protect nature now by reviewing these maps and sending me any information you have about why these natural features must be protected by November 14th. Send me pictures and be as site-specific as you can. Comments on this are due December 3rd, and we can coordinate a response, with your help.

In Innisfil last week, the growth plan population allocations were presented to the public and Council. The biggest problem is that despite assurances that the Orbit MZO, which was rammed through with virtually no public support, would reduce the need to sprawl, that just isn’t the case. It is possible that Innisfil will accommodate 40,000 people through the mandated conformity to the new Growth Plan, which involves lots of building on green fields, AND another 150,000 over “a lifetime” at the Orbit.

We are trying to find out more but if you have a relationship with your Councillor, please let them know your priority is protecting all the natural areas we have and building sustainably while reducing per capita GHG emissions. 

Here is some media coverage about the Innisfil MCR process by Innisfil Today.

York Region

On September 16th, advocates like us were able to delay a YR Council decision to approve an intensification rate for the Region. That decision was subsequently made on October 21st. Residents did their best by sending in more than 80 letters and making about 20 delegations to Council urging them to support higher density and intensification, and less farmland loss. Council did otherwise despite a lack of public support for sprawl. 

YR approved a 50% intensification rate to 2041, and 55% from 2041 – 2051, opting to accommodate growth through sprawl instead. This is almost as low as they could go. It is not ambitious at all. Additionally, motions from a number of municipalities asking for growth that had been essentially recommended against by staff, all passed. Lots of back-scratching there. The result is a shame. Ultimately, York Region decided to open up 2,050 hectares of land in undeveloped farmland and countryside areas.

A motion by Newmarket Mayor John Taylor for a 60% intensification rate (which would have required 700 hectares of farmland) instead, in order to build denser, more environmentally friendly developments in existing communities, was defeated in a 5-16 vote. Taylor, Markham Reg. Coun. Jack Heath, Georgina Mayor Margaret Quirk, Richmond Hill Coun. Godwin Chan, and Markham Deputy Mayor Don Hamilton voted in support.

Read some media coverage of the outrage, there’s more here, too.

All of this is to say, the next year matters; the stakes are high. None of us want to squander the opportunity to build a resilient future.

Keep these wise words from a successful activist in mind:
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get it”- Mahatma Ghandi