Sustainable development advocates call for more ambitious regional plan
CBC
Advocates for sustainable development say the region needs a more ambitious plan for future growth.
The Region of Waterloo is currently updating its Official Plan, a document which will guide growth and development over the next three decades.
During Tuesday's council meeting, regional planners asked council to consider three potential scenarios for future growth.
Planners favoured a scenario that would see the region expand by 227 hectares with 60 per cent intensification, in which 55 per cent of new homes would be high density.
After hearing from over twenty delegates, council asked regional planners to head back to the drawing board.
"While there are some varying views on the issue that we heard from today, the consistent point is 'we want more data and we want more dialogue,'" said Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic.
That's welcome news to Aleksandra Szaflarska, with the non-profit Hold the Line.
She said intensification targets should be higher than the ones outlined in the region's recommended scenario.
"Kitchener and Waterloo have been achieving 70, and Waterloo, nearing 100 per cent intensification over the last few years," said Szaflarska. "Obviously, we can't just keep intensifying, but we know we have enough land within our urban boundaries that we can build up."
She also emphasized broader consultation, including with local Indigenous communities.
Mark Reusser also addressed the meeting. The vice-president of the Waterloo Federation of Agriculture said that sustainable development should focus on developing urban areas, not expanding into agricultural ones.
"Farmland is a non-renewable natural resource," he said.
He said Waterloo Region has a history of good planning decisions, which has kept it from experiencing the same level of sprawl that equivalently sized American centres have seen.
"Things that are good need to be protected," he said. "There are certainly ways to accommodate growth within the urban envelope. We just have to do them," Reusser said.
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