September 9, 2022
We have submitted comments on proposed changes during Durham Region’s Official Plan Review. We cheered plans to protect three important farming areas as Prime Agricultural Areas under the Province’s Agricultural Mapping System. We also called for the Region to eliminate several wrongheaded exclusions:
• The “Pickering airport lands.” The Province has rightly identified them as a Prime Agricultural Area.
• Rouge National Urban Park’s farm areas. National parks aren’t excluded by the Province so why should they be excluded by the Region?
• Rural Pickering areas called “Major Open Space” – a designation based on false premises. The sought-after “greater variety of economic uses” already exists as “On-Farm Diversified Uses.” No need for Pickering or the Region to create redundant designations.
We backed up our arguments with facts and sources. It’s time the Region listened.