PRESERVATION OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS SOCIETY (PALS)

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Attention : Tija Dirks, Director, Growth Policy, Planning and Analysis Branch of the Ontario Growth Secretariate

1. PALS is Requesting that the Province Appeal Niagara Regional Plan Amendment 2-009 to the Ontario Municipal Board

PALS is requesting that the Ministry of Infrastructure Renewal appeal Niagara Regional Plan Amendment 2-009 to the Ontario Municipal Board. (OMB). The reason for this is simple and straightforward. It is because this amendment, which is required as part of a conformity exercise with the Growth Management Plan, does not conform to its principles. Indeed the amendment contains language that was inserted with the specific intent of subverting these principles, in order to facilitate urban boundary expansions - justified through such means that are contrary to the norms of good planning. These include the use of population projections in excess of what has been allocated to the Niagara Region under the Growth Management Plan guidelines and the innovative break up of Niagara into distinctive housing market areas, in violation of the Growth Plan. The Amendment needs to be appealed to the OMB so that these offending sections are deleted and clear language developed that indicates urban boundary expansions will not be permitted for the next five years.

2. December 8th 2008 Document Dillon Consulting "A Preferred Growth Option For Niagara Phase 3 and 4 Report Final Draft" Opposed Urban Boundary Expansions

The Niagara Region underwent a detailed public consultation in order to conform to the Growth Plan. This included public opinion surveys, and extensively advertised consultative meetings in various parts of the Niagara Region. Proposals that suggested possible expansions of urban boundaries were put forward for public discussion., with options A, B, and C. On this basis Dillon Consulting and the Niagara Regional Planning Department put forward a lengthy report which proposed an Option D, on December 8, 2008. The cornerstone of their approach is that there should be no urban boundary expansions until some time after the next five year review of the Niagara Region's official plan. This approach, although not supported by the Regional Municipality of Niagara, was also endorsed by the City Councils of St. Catharines, Niagara on the Lake, Welland and Port Colborne.

3. No Technical Reasons Have Been Developed to Justify Departure From Dillon Recommendations

Although the Niagara Region did not adopt the Preferred Growth Option, this is not because of any technical recommendation, or discovery of an error in its interpretation of the provincial growth plan. There have been no technical reports from either Dillon Consultants or the Niagara Regional Planning Department to show that there was an error in their December 8th, 2008 recommendation that urban boundary expansions are not justified.

The attitude of the Niagara Regional Council is simply that Provincial Policy can be disregarded. This emerges most clearly in the new 4.6. 6. Section. It stresses that urban boundary expansions "will be considered on their merit and not pre-judged." by the policies of the Growth Plan. This is what is meant by the insertion of a "Notwithstanding" clause, in relationship to the policies of Section 4.2.3, of the proposed amendment. This is the section that contains municipal population, household and employment targets, based on the applications of the principles of the Provincial Growth Plan.

4. Dillon Report Attacked For Reasons Offensive to the Growth Plan

In listening to the various arguments that were subsequently used to justify the rejection of the Dillon recommendations, PALS was struck by the absence of technical arguments in relationship to the principles of the Growth Plan. What was relied upon was the use of population projections higher than the provincial average, and the breaking up of the Niagara Region into distinctive sub-market areas, justified on the basis of the real estate promotion slogan, "location, location, location". One suggestion that was, fortunately, not adopted was quite expressive of the violation of reasonable planning norms behind the opposition to the Dillon report. It was suggested that urban designated lands in Port Colborne and Fort Erie be down-zoned to agricultural use to justify urban expansions in West Lincoln and Niagara Falls.

5. Dillon Report is Quite Clear That Niagara Regional Plan Should Not Permit Urban Expansions in Five Year Period.

The Dillon report is quite clear that urban boundary expansions cannot be justified on the basis of the criterial of the Provincial Growth Management Plan. In Section 5.5.3 of their report it is stressed that based on their "residential and employment needs analysis", "there is no need to recommend any immediate settlement area expansions in Niagara. " They found that in total there is a 41 supply of residential land in Niagara.

( the figures are higher for "employment" lands). Even in West Lincoln, they found a 13 year land supply in its approved and draft approved residential subdivisions.

6. Many of the Assumptions Behind Dillon Recommendations Are Conservative

While supporting the recommendations of the Dillon report to Niagara Regional Council, PALS stressed that a number of their assumptions were conservative regarding land demand and supply. Most seriously, and against a lengthy presentation by PALS, Dillon and the Niagara Regional Planning Department, in violation of the growth plan and the PPS, adopted population targets higher than the provincial average. No estimate was made of the capacity for brownfield redevelopment. There are also major re-zonings of industrial land for residential development in Niagara Falls. It was assumed that no growth at all will take place on lands that are zoned for dry industrial purposes (around five thousand acres) and on any other lands that are outside urban boundaries. Although growth will be limited here by combinations of zoning and public health considerations, much will be permitted on an as-of-right basis. When these factors are properly taken into consideration as required by the Growth Plan there is even less justification for any urban boundary expansions.

7. Dillon Report Shows That Urban Boundary Expansions Would Be Barrier To Improvements in Public Transit.

The Dillon report documented how proposed urban boundary expansions would harm efforts to improved public transit and make the Niagara Region less dependent on the automotive transportation mode. It found that one of the benefits of foregoing such expansions would be "Concentrated urban development especially in a north-south corridor between Port Colborne and St. Catharines, " that would increase "the opportunity for inter-city/regional transit as well of the feasibility of local transit in this corridor." One of the lower-tier municipalities that has been most insistent on urban boundary expansions, West Lincoln, currently has no pubic transit at all, and moreover, is not planning to have any in the future.

8. Dillon Report Shows Dangers of Proposed Urban Expansions.

The Dillon report went into considerable detail to highlight some of the harm caused by specific urban boundary expansions. They note that the expansions proposed "could result in the loss of 390 hectares of good general agricultural land." They also found that the "Conceptual expansions contain or are immediately adjacent to 40 hectares of the Core Natural Heritage System (including Provincially Significant Wetlands)." The expansions also pose a threat to Niagara's groundwater. They note that "some 15 hectares of the proposed expansion fall within the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) designated high intrinsic susceptibility areas." A proposed urban expansion in Niagara Falls it concluded would undermine "tourism potential in the Niagara Parkway and QEW corridor where factors such as traffic congestion and urban encroachment on tourism assets will continue."

9. Niagara Region Should Form the Regional Market Area

PALS believes that the entire Section 4.5 re "Regional Market Area", should be eliminated from proposed Amendment 2-009. The use of the four proposed sub-areas have already been used as legitimation devises for urban boundary expansions that are contrary to the provincial growth plan.

The Niagara Region's attempt to justify urban expansions through sub-market areas is contrary to the provisions of the provincial Growth Plan. The Plan provides a definition of what the market area is supposed to be. It indicates that, "In southern Ontario, the

upper or single0tier municipality will normally serve as the regional market area." PALS does not find anything abnormal about the small sized Regional Municipality of Niagara that would justify a departure from that policy.

10. Section 4.2.3. Provides Good Reasons For Why No Urban Boundary Expansions Should Be Permitted.

Section 4..2.3. itself, which is the target of the "notwithstanding" clause of the Niagara Regional Plan, contains good reasons why urban boundary expansions should not be permitted. Its delegation of a schedule to lower tier-municipalities, which the Regional Council of Niagara is determined to ignore, is a basic requirement of the Growth Plan.

The clause is correct in pointing out that its targets were "derived through a comprehensive and collaborative process involving a wide variety of stakeholders, including local municipalities, the private sector, the Niagara Region Conservation Authority, residents and not-for-profit organizations." As the Dillon report indicates, in "all the community workshops there was strong support" for policies that would "ensure that new growth is not sprawling in form and does not infringe on environmentally sensitive areas and cultural heritage assets." What the Niagara Regional Council is simply saying in their "Notwithstanding" clause is that urban expansions can be permitted without regard to the density requirements for them which are required by the Provincial Growth Plan. These recommendations were not developed by Dillon Consultants or the Niagara Regional Planning Department, but were inserted into the amendment by a motion made by a councillor of West Lincoln.

11. PALS Has Additional Concerns Regarding Proposed Expansions.

While Dillon made an excellent summary of the harmful impacts of proposed urban boundary expansions PALS would like to make some additional comments regarding the three expansions which we are aware of that were the focus of extensive debate in the last few months at the Niagara Regional Council.

A. Welland.

The urban expansion proposed for Welland involves land that is designated as Good General Agricultural in the Niagara Regional Policy Plan. It also contains two forests which are designated as Significant Environmental Conservation areas in the Niagara Regional Policy Plan. Welland Council passed a resolution indicating that it would not support any expansion here, as long as other municipalities in Niagara, did not obtain any such expansions.

B West Lincoln

The West Lincoln urban expansion proposal would inevitably involve the loss of designated Good General Agricultural Land,. The area where this expansion is

proposed, the community of Smithville is entirely surrounded by such high capability soils.

Much of the area surrounding Smithville is comprised of ecologically sensitive Karst formations. These lands, underlain by soluble rocks such as limestone and dolomite, contain sinkholes, depressions, underground caves and buried rivers. They contain important hydrological features that contribute to ground and surface water supplies. Development here can be the focus for sinkhole formation, dangerous for urban development. Groundwater on such lands can be easily polluted and if contaminates are introduced they can spread swiftly.

Further urban boundary expansions in Smithville are a threat to the vulnerable Twenty Mile Creek. The watershed plan for the Creek developed by the NPCA notes that it is stressed by "increased stormwater flows and flooding, erosions and sedimentation and loss of natural features."

C. Niagara Falls

While formally designated as as Good General Agricultural Land in the Niagara Regional Policy Plan, the lands on which an urban expansion is proposed for Niagara Falls, are actually Good Grape lands, and as such, should be protected through the Provincial Greenbelt. It is composed of predominately well drained, Class One Oneida soils, and has the excellent microclimate conditions for grape growing enjoyed by the lands immediately across Mountain Road that are in high quality grape production. It also contains significant forests and is a headwaters for the Ten Mile Creek. A significant Carolinian forest here is proposed to be disrupted by a storm management pond to facilitate development.

12. Ministry of Infrastructure Renewal Should Appeal Amendment 2-2009 to OMB

In conclusion PALS repeats our request that the Ministry of Infrastructure Renewal appeal Amendment 2-009 to the OMB. The proposed urban expansions and low density sprawl they would encourage can most efficiently be prevented by the strict application of the Growth Plan to Niagara that such an appeal would encourage.