Places to Grow
Planning for Growth in Ontario’s Greater
Golden Horseshoe 7 Years Out
THE ECONOMIC CASE
FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION
November 4, 2013
Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe
•
110 municipalities (21
regions/counties)
•
32,000 km2
•
Urban, suburban, rural,
recreational, agricultural
and resource-areas
•
10 of Canada’s 30 most
populous cities
•
2001: 7.8 million
2031: 11.5 million
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Province’s Role in Land Use Planning
•
Land-use planning in Ontario has traditionally
been governed by the Planning Act and the
associated Provincial Policy Statement (PPS).
•
PPS provides policy direction on land use
matters of provincial interest.
o Includes policies related to urban boundaries,
appropriate development, managing resources
such as aggregates, protecting natural features
and agricultural areas, improving water quality
and quantity, cultural heritage, etc.
o Municipal planning decisions must be
“consistent” with the PPS
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Developing the Growth Plan (2001-2006)
• “Smart Growth Panel” created by the Provincial
Government in 2001
o Representatives from municipalities,
development industry, environmental groups and
academia.
o April 2003 report with 44 recommendations.
•
“Places To Grow” initiative launched in the
summer of 2004.
• Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe
released on June 16, 2006.
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The Growth Plan
Vision
♦
Where and How To Grow
♦
Infrastructure to Support Growth
♦
Protect What is Valuable
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10 key policies and innovations
in Ontario’s Growth Plan for the
Greater Golden Horseshoe
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Key Policies and Innovations
1. A Regional Plan, Backed-up By Legislation
• All planning decisions must conform with the Growth Plan’s
policies (includes provincial, municipal and Ontario
Municipal Board decisions).
• Local Official Plans must be brought into conformity with
the Growth Plan within three years (i.e. by June 2009).
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Key Policies and Innovations
2. Coordinated Growth Forecasts For All
Counties and Regions
• The Growth Plan allocates population and employment
growth forecasts for every county and region.
• Municipalities must use these forecasts as the basis for
their local planning.
Population
Region
of Peel
Employment
2001
2011
2021
2031
2041
2001
2011
2021
2031
2041
1,030
1,320
1,490
1,640
1,970
530
730
820
870
970
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Key Policies and Innovations
3. Clear Requirements for Density
Future greenfield areas
25 downtown areas
Average density of 50 people and
jobs combined per gross hectare.
Density of 150 to 400 people and
jobs combined per gross hectare.
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Key Policies and Innovations
4. Clear requirements for intensification.
A minimum of 40% of new residential development in each region
and county must take place in areas that are already built-up.
40% of new
development
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Key Policies and Innovations
5. Focus on Downtown
Nodes
• Growth Plan identifies
the downtowns of the
large and mid-sized
cities as “urban growth
centres” (25 in total).
• Focal points for
intensification and higher
density development.
• Minimum density
requirements for each
centre.
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Key Policies and Innovations
6. Tests And Criteria For Future Urban
Boundary Expansions
• Municipalities must initiate, not developers.
• Must be done “comprehensively”, not site-by-site.
• Look “inside” at intensification opportunities before you look
“outside” for new land to accommodate growth.
• Maximum 20 year land supply.
• No expansions into the Greenbelt.
• Land needs must be determined based on application of the
Growth Plan’s population and employment forecasts, and
achievement of the intensification and density targets.
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Key Policies and Innovations
7. Limited Development Outside of
Settlement Areas
• Only development related
to resource management,
resource-based
recreational activities, or
rural land uses that cannot
be located in settlement
areas.
• No estate residential
developments.
• No new settlement areas.
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Key Policies and Innovations
8. Protect Employment Lands
• Only municipalities can initiate an amendment to
convert employment lands to non-employment uses.
• Conversions of employment lands to non-employment
uses must meet several criteria, including a needs
test.
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Key Policies and Innovations
9. Where To Grow. Where Not To Grow.
1.8 million acre protected Greenbelt includes the region’s most
prominent natural systems: the Niagara Escarpment and Oak
Ridges Moraine.
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Key Policies and Innovations
10. Integration Of Land-use Planning and
Infrastructure Investment
Explicit commitment by the province to give priority to
infrastructure investments that support the policies of the Plan.
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7 Years Later …
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7 Years Later
Local conformity
o Places To Grow Act required all OPs to be brought into
conformity with the Growth Plan within the 3 years. Actual
conformity process in most cases took much longer. As of
October 2012, all upper- and single-tier municipalities had
adopted conformity amendments, but still less than half of lowertier municipalities had done so.
o Criticisms of uneven implementation and a patchwork of differing
approaches to growth management rather than a coordinated
regional approach.
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7 Years Later
Changing housing mix
o In 2011, multi-unit housing starts reached their highest level since
1988, while other forms of housing were at near record lows.
Source: Five-Year Progress Update on the implementation of the
Growth Plan, Province of Ontario, July 2011
Inner
Outer
Ring
Ring
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7 Years Later
Intensification Rates
o Of the 63,000 new residential units added to the GGH between
June 2009 and June 2010, approx. 67% represented
intensification.
o Half of these were in Toronto, and 25% were in the urban growth
centres.
Source: Five-Year Progress Update on the implementation of the Growth Plan, Province of Ontario, July 2011
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7 Years Later
Intensification Targets
o Most municipalities have
adopted the minimum
intensification target.
o Five have set lower targets
(ranging from 15 to 32%).
o Only two have set a higher
target (Waterloo Region at 45%
and Region of Peel at 50%).
Source: Implementing the Growth Plan for
the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Neptis
Foundation, October 2013
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7 Years Later
Greenfield Densities
o Most municipalities have
adopted the minimum greenfield
density target.
o Nine have chosen to use lower
alternative density targets
(ranging from 29 to 39 p+j per
hectare).
o Only one (Waterloo Region) has
proposed to exceed the
minimum (55 p+j per hectare).
Source: Implementing the Growth Plan for
the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Neptis
Foundation, October 2013
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7 Years Later
Sprawl
o Growth forecasts do not depart
from historic trends. Do not direct
growth away from the rural areas
beyond the Greenbelt and towards
the more heavily urbanized areas
in the Inner Ring.
o Nearly half of the land designated
for urbanization is in the Outer
Ring, even though the Outer Ring
is expected to attract only 1/3 as
many new residents and 1/4 as
many jobs as the Inner Ring.
Source: Implementing the Growth Plan for the Greater
Golden Horseshoe, Neptis Foundation, October 2013
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Remaining Challenges
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Remaining Challenges
• The fate of the “whitebelt”
o Approximately 58,696 ha of land available beyond currently
designated lands for urban expansion in the whitebelt. Municipal
OPs have identified a need for an additional 10,115 ha to
accommodate greenfield population and employment to 2031.
• “Planning by Numbers”.
o The criticality of good urban design.
• Planning for evolution over time – planning as process
not fixed product.
o Time returns as a critical element in planning (lessons from “The
Unplanned Era”).
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Remaining Challenges
• A finer grain of densities.
o Distinguishing Urban Growth Centres, from Intensification
Corridors, from Mobility Hubs, from greenfields areas, respectively.
• Intensification targets … what happens when the “low
hanging fruit” is gone?
o Intensifying urban areas that were not necessarily planned for it.
o Planning for new greenfields to intensify in future
o The question of stable neighbourhhoods
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Remaining Challenges
• Infrastructure investment.
• Leading by example with public institutions
o
Public school campuses, LCBOs, redevelopment of rail stations.
• Is the way that retail is happening now undermining
everything else?
• Achieving greenfield densities despite increasing
public land takings and “green sprawl”.
o Pre-designation of greenlands in advance of urban development
and without consideration for it, is creating problems in emerging
new urban communities.
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Remaining Challenges
• Planning for employment in concert with existing
and proposed residential areas, transportation
corridors and Urban Growth Centres.
o Focus on 400-series highway corridors alone is resulting in
separation of employment from residential areas
o Need to plan for a finer grain of employment - from home-based,
to neighbourhood, to district, to regional
• Planning for a full range of agricultural production.
o More-intensive forms of “urban” and “near urban” agriculture in
appropriate locales.
o Protect and encourage larger, full-time operations within the
Greenbelt Areas.
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Jason Thorne + John van Nostrand
Principals, planningAlliance
110 Adelaide Street East – Toronto, ON
10104–103 Avenue NW, Ste 2401 – Edmonton, AB
416.593.6499
jthorne@planningalliance.ca
jvannostrand@planningalliance.ca
www.planningalliance.ca
For more information about Places To Grow:
www.placestogrow.ca
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