PelhamToday received the following letter to the editor from a reader regarding Bill 23.
I doubt if Doug Ford even knows where Wainfleet is, but if he knew anything about the municipality he could only be pleased.
Whilst many other municipalities in Ontario are opposed to his recent Bill 23, Wainfleet has been busily approving urban sprawl developments wherever developers want to build, even condos on agricultural land.
Better yet planning staff are already working hard to approve Wainfleet’s third condo development. Funny that!
According to Provincial policy and the new Niagara Region Official Plan, multi-unit developments (condos) on communal septic systems on rural lands conflict with both. And both also designate Wainfleet as the sole rural municipality in Niagara Region with no urban lands, also the only municipality with no mandated Expansion Target.
Current population predictions in Niagara Region’s new Official Plan show that Wainfleet will be required to build about 14 single detached family residences each year to 2051, based on Wainfleet being described as a zero growth municipality, again the only municipality in Niagara Region so designated.
There are currently at least 130 single detached residences approved in Wainfleet, over nine years’ worth, the majority of which have not yet started.
But who cares about good planning or existing planning policies when you can just ignore them and welcome the Ford way of development? Bill 23 and Wainfleet’s planning policy? A match made in a developer’s paradise.
Andrew Watts
Wainfleet
