Is this a coherent "plan" that will help densify the Golden Horseshoe?
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New outlook urged on urban sprawl
By ELIZABETH CHURCH
Friday, June 3, 2005 Page A16
REAL ESTATE REPORTER
The Ontario government's plans to harness urban sprawl in the suburbs and cities that circle Toronto will take a major change in attitude on the part of new home buyers and builders as well as the residents of established neighbourhoods, a land-use conference heard yesterday.
"The only thing people oppose more than sprawl is intensification," said Burlington Mayor Rob MacIsaac, referring to initiatives by the province to require more development within existing communities.
"We have to make people understand why these issues are important. We have a long way to go."
This spring, the province laid out its plans for growth for the massive section it calls the Greater Golden Horseshoe -- a region that stretches from Peterborough all the way to Niagara. The government also introduced new planning legislation, called Places to Grow.
The draft regional plan requires that 40 per cent of all new residential development be built in urban areas by 2015, a goal critics say is too severe.
Yesterday, David Caplan, Minster of Public Infrastructure and Renewal, told the conference that the experience of other countries in reducing sprawl shows this is not the case. "Ontario's intensification targets are relatively modest and very realistic," he said.
Still, Mr. MacIsaac, who has been Burlington's mayor for close to eight years, said more co-ordination is needed if the growth plan is going to work.
The province needs to establish an area-wide transit body and "spend some serious dollars" in that area, he said. Mr. MacIsaac said residents of his city and elsewhere also have to understand the benefits that growth will bring to their communities, such as new cultural facilities and improved quality of life.
Mark Mendelbaum, an executive with H&R Developments, a major builder of single homes and multi-unit projects in the Toronto area, said working within existing neighbourhoods takes more time and more creativity. For intensification to work, he said, there must be "a major change in social views" and a reduction in not-in-my-back-yard attitudes.
______________
New outlook urged on urban sprawl
By ELIZABETH CHURCH
Friday, June 3, 2005 Page A16
REAL ESTATE REPORTER
The Ontario government's plans to harness urban sprawl in the suburbs and cities that circle Toronto will take a major change in attitude on the part of new home buyers and builders as well as the residents of established neighbourhoods, a land-use conference heard yesterday.
"The only thing people oppose more than sprawl is intensification," said Burlington Mayor Rob MacIsaac, referring to initiatives by the province to require more development within existing communities.
"We have to make people understand why these issues are important. We have a long way to go."
This spring, the province laid out its plans for growth for the massive section it calls the Greater Golden Horseshoe -- a region that stretches from Peterborough all the way to Niagara. The government also introduced new planning legislation, called Places to Grow.
The draft regional plan requires that 40 per cent of all new residential development be built in urban areas by 2015, a goal critics say is too severe.
Yesterday, David Caplan, Minster of Public Infrastructure and Renewal, told the conference that the experience of other countries in reducing sprawl shows this is not the case. "Ontario's intensification targets are relatively modest and very realistic," he said.
Still, Mr. MacIsaac, who has been Burlington's mayor for close to eight years, said more co-ordination is needed if the growth plan is going to work.
The province needs to establish an area-wide transit body and "spend some serious dollars" in that area, he said. Mr. MacIsaac said residents of his city and elsewhere also have to understand the benefits that growth will bring to their communities, such as new cultural facilities and improved quality of life.
Mark Mendelbaum, an executive with H&R Developments, a major builder of single homes and multi-unit projects in the Toronto area, said working within existing neighbourhoods takes more time and more creativity. For intensification to work, he said, there must be "a major change in social views" and a reduction in not-in-my-back-yard attitudes.