The Association of Municipalities Ontario will be submitting a list of recommendations to the province that would be alternatives to Bill 23, known as the More Homes Built Faster Act which was tabled on October 25th.
AMO President Colin Best says that the organization is giving the recommendations to ensure Bill 23 takes individual municipalities’ concerns into account when it comes to land and development.
Best says that AMO can’t figure out why there’s an issue with land availability according to the province, given that there was already land available to be developed.
Being a councillor from the Region of Halton, he says, “We’re very concerned most of the land is available already within the urban areas like within the GTHA there was already 88,000 acres already designated for future development that hasn’t even got applications on it yet.”
AMO also says municipalities across the province are concerned about the toll the bill may take on agricultural land, or on land protected by conservation authorities.
“We need the cooperation of the conservation authorities and also regional planning in terms of doing it right so we don’t impact on other municipalities on the national environment, and also make sure that it’s affordable. Sprawling out doesn’t help anyone.”
There have been concerns from environmental groups about the toll that a fast and loose homebuilding initiative could possibly have on either lands protected by conservation authorities, or on agricultural land.
“Within our submission, we have over 90 recommendations, not only from large municipalities but also small ones, on how we can do it better, and also to streamline planning. We have hopes [of working] with the province in terms of doing this properly without having it favour the private sector.”
Best also says that he didn’t like that the bill was tabled in the Ontario Legislature the day after most Ontario municipalities held their elections for the new term, meaning that a lot of municipalities haven’t even had a chance to discuss the bill around the council table yet.