ENVISION DURHAM
Municipal Comprehensive Review
There is a mad rush in Durham Region to lock in a flawed Official Plan that contains a roadmap for way too much sprawl. Help us ask for a pause before it's too late and the costs to taxpayers are debilitating. Envision Durham – the Municipal Comprehensive Review of our Official Plan, should be halted until much-needed clarity is sought from the Province of Ontario and the NEW Regional Council has had time to review the consequences of a new whopping total of 14,000 acres for new growth areas, an amount that has far-reaching costs and undermines our ability to prepare for a net-zero future!
Submit comments before APRIL 3, 2023!
The draft Official Plan has been released for public comment. Despite what you might hear from your local leaders, this is a DRAFT! There is still time to submit comments and ask for amendments. Yes, it is a synthesis of years of planning consultations. No, it is not the best we can do for a viable regional growth plan.
Before including the new Greenbelt carveouts, Regional Council dedicated 3,671 hectares (9,071 acres) of new farmland areas to future urban development out to 2051.
If you haven't already, and you remain concerned about extensive sprawl beyond Durham Region's current urban boundaries, visit our Envision Durham - PAUSE A BAD PLAN automated letter tool.
We also encourage you to comment within the map tool on the Envision Durham page. All that yellow shading in the map is denoting current and future urbanization.
At present, Durham Region is going all-in on creating car-dependent subdivisions and sealing precious Class 1 soil under buildings and pavement. We can aim higher and we're asking for your help in pushing for more intensification in transit station areas, gentle density in established communities, and maximizing existing growth areas already dedicated to development (e.g. Seaton)!
To accommodate new provincial housing pledges, we also don't need the additional Greenbelt lands forced upon Durham Region by the Province. Please continue to say #HandsOffTheGreenbelt too!
Click on the maps below to access the Region of Durham source report and learn more about the urban expansion planned for your area over the next 30 years. You can still influence these plans by speaking with your councillors and mayors and sending the letter under the button above.
Sprawl costs us all, and the push out into more rural, unserviced farmlands and natural heritage areas will be expensive for taxpayers and exacerbate the climate crisis. Don't delay...speak up today!
We made a submission to Envision Durham on January 18, 2023. Feel free to borrow from any of our points when you share your concerns with elected leaders.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
On May 25, 2022, Durham Region Council voted to sacrifice about 3770 hectares (9300 acres) of farmland for more suburban sprawl between now and 2050. In so doing the Council, by a vote of 16 -11, rejected the extensive recommendations of its own professional planning staff, and rejected nearly all the public input received from concerned citizens. Instead, Council endorsed the planning scenario favoured by the big developers and land speculators in BILD (Building Industry and Land Development Association).
The Region’s own professional staff warned that this BILD scenario of continued sprawl will make it difficult or impossible for the Region to meet its climate goals, and will make it difficult or impossible to build and maintain adequate public transit.
Housing Scenario 2A:
2,600 hectares/6,425 acres
Employment Scenario 2:
1,171 hectares/2,894 acres
