Councillors here are wondering whether expanding the provincial Greenbelt into Wellington County would even achieve its intended effect.
On Feb. 17, councillors here reviewed information from the County of Wellington regarding proposed Greenbelt Expansion.
Councillor Matthew Bulmer noted that council had talked about the potential Greenbelt expansion earlier and that he’d mentioned the number of aggregate licenses in areas considered as the Greenbelt – which includes the Niagara Escarpment.
“The perception that is out there that somehow the Greenbelt is a magical protection against aggregate extraction is not true.”
Lever added that Wellington County’s manager of policy planning Mark Paoli’s report to county council also indicated the county felt there are sufficient protection measures already in place.
“Expanding the Greenbelt would not add anything additional to that,” Lever said.
“It’s not going to be a magic bullet.”
Bulmer added the report produced by the county also pointed out that Greenbelt legislation predated Ontario’s Places To Grow policy statement “which has done as much, if not more.”
Bulmer said he often wondered if “Places To Grow had a friend such as a Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, would we think differently about it. Marketing will do a lot for the perception of a policy.”
“Absolutely,” Lever agreed.
Recent reviews of the Greenbelt are looking into whether the Greenbelt should expand into urban areas.
The Greenbelt Alliance proposes a significant expansion of the Greenbelt which would extend further into Wellington County, as described below:
The current Greenbelt Plan includes southern parts of the Paris-Galt Moraine (which is a watershed divide) that drain towards Lake Ontario.
Expansion areas
The proposed expansion includes all of the Paris-Galt Moraine which would enlarge the Greenbelt in Puslinch and Erin, and establish a new area in the southern part of Guelph/Eramosa.
The largest area of expansion into Wellington County includes: the Orangeville Moraine, the Grand, Eramosa and Speed Rivers in Erin, Guelph/Eramosa and Centre Wellington; and Luther Marsh in Wellington North.
There is a smaller expansion into Mapleton that is part of a larger area in Waterloo Region that includes the Macton Moraine.
The Conestogo River was excluded for the most part.
Paoli’s report to Wellington County suggested that based on the material on Greenbelt Expansion reviewed to date, “we see no reason to change the position that council approved in April 2015 which stated as follows:
“The Greenbelt Plan is doing its intended job reasonably well, and we see no rationale for expanding beyond its current boundary in Wellington County.”
