Greenbelts to Contain Urban Growth in Ontario, Canada: Promises and Prospects

Abstract

Greenbelts have been widely applied to contain urban growth, provide recreational opportunities, and improve the quality of life. Since 2005, the Province of Ontario, Canada has established a greenbelt in response to rapid urban growth threatening agricultural lands and natural heritage. This research paper assesses Ontario's greenbelt initiative by examining four factors identified by previous studies as contributors to successful applications of greenbelt policies. Factors examined include: political will, pubic support, greenbelt planning, and enabling legislation. The paper points to Ontario's greenbelt strengths and challenges, and provides policy recommendations that may contribute to successful greenbelt applications.

Notes

1. Innes (1992) proposed three growth management models: the Top Down Bureaucratic model, in which the state uses consistency requirements and sanctions to control processes of local and regional planning; the Laissez Faire Quasi-Judicial model, making local planning voluntary and enabling local units to challenge state plans; and the Collaborative-Consensus Building model, in which local units vote on the state plan through the process of cross-acceptance. RuBino and LaRosa (1999) identified four approaches to manage urban growth: the Top-Down approach, enabling the state to control local land-use planning through consistency requirements and sanctions; the Conjoint approach, achieving local compliance to state standards based on sanctions or incentives, while giving the state a less decisive role; the Cooperative approach in which planning is voluntary based on incentives and participation; and the Bottom-Up approach, in which local governments have autonomy over planning decisions and state goals are driven from local interests.

2. Randolph (2004) defines passive participation as the situation when citizens contribute to decision-making indirectly. For example, citizens vote to select politicians, and then elected politicians make decisions on behalf of citizens.

3. Separate plans were adopted to preserve environmentally sensitive lands within these areas, which are the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan 2002 and the Niagara Escarpment Plan 2005.

4. The Places to Grow Plan defines brownfields as contaminated abandoned sites that are undeveloped or were previously developed; and describes grayfields as commercial properties that are not contaminated but abandoned or under-utilized.

5. The Places to Grow Plan specifies the minimum density targets that should be achieved by 2031 or earlier. The density target of the City of Toronto is 400 residents and jobs combined per hectare; while it is 200 for the downtown of Brampton, downtown Burlington, downtown Hamilton, downtown Milton, Markham Center, Mississauga City Center, New Market Center, Midtown Oakville, downtown Oshawa, downtown Pickering, Richmond Hill/Langstaff Gateway, Vaughan Corporate Center, downtown Kitchener and Uptown Waterloo urban growth centers; and 150 residents and jobs combined per hectare for downtown Barrie, downtown Brantford, downtown Cambridge, downtown Guelph, downtown Peterborough and downtown St. Catharines urban growth centers.