[denfromoakvillemilton]

A controversial Markham plan to become the first GTA municipality to freeze expansion on prime farmland to make way for a permanent food belt has been narrowly defeated after one last debate at council that ended late Tuesday.

The final 7-6 vote in support of a staff proposal to expand onto the so-called white belt that lies outside the urban boundary and the provincially protected Greenbelt came after hours of debate and hundreds of presentations and meetings over the past few years.

The critical vote in support of expansion came from regional Councillor Jim Jones, who was absent for a crucial 6-6 tie vote that supporters of the food belt recently lost.

That motion called for Markham to request the province to ask York Region and the province to reduce Markham's population allocation by about 40,000, the same number of people slated to be housed through an urban expansion.

Green Belt? What?
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/art...pand-city-on-gta-farmland-to-go-ahead#article

 

[Second_in_pie]

This makes me angry. So close, yet so far. Why not house those extra people in new development in MTC and along Highway 7? Instead of rocketing towards urban growth, densification and avenuization, they're just appeasing the developers so they can make more cookie cutter sprawl on precious farmland.

 

[urbandreamer]

Although really, how great is that farmland? I know quite a few families that farmed in this area and moved to Perth County. They discovered the actual ground conditions in PC were better suited to farming than the land around the GTA. Many Mennonite families traditionally farmed the Markham-Whitchurch-Stouffville area from c.1820's to late 1960s (some even into the 1990s.) They've all since become even more successful in the Perth and Waterloo Counties.

 

[lead82]

As long as city policies do not force developers to building decent sized apartment units in mid to low-rise buildings, combined with people's desire to own a piece of land and raise children in a home, the sprawl outward will continue until Toronto merges with Barrie, and Keswick

 

[MisterF]

Green Belt? What?
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/art...pand-city-on-gta-farmland-to-go-ahead#article

Like the article said, this area is outside the greenbelt.

To be fair to Markham, it's made a lot of effort to design its new growth so that it's not merely faceless sprawl. It's still not the type of growth I'd like to see, but it's better than what they were building 30 years ago and much higher density. There's room for greenfield growth as well as infill, as long as the greenfield growth is properly designed.

 

[waterloowarrior]

As long as city policies do not force developers to building decent sized apartment units in mid to low-rise buildings, combined with people's desire to own a piece of land and raise children in a home, the sprawl outward will continue until Toronto merges with Barrie, and Keswick

Most families can't afford a $600,000 condo.... Why not buy a semi-detached or townhouse and get more space for your money?

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Like the article said, this area is outside the greenbelt.

To be fair to Markham, it's made a lot of effort to design its new growth so that it's not merely faceless sprawl. It's still not the type of growth I'd like to see, but it's better than what they were building 30 years ago and much higher density. There's room for greenfield growth as well as infill, as long as the greenfield growth is properly designed.

True but this coule provide food for us in the GTA.

 

[doady]

^ Food which would heavily subsidized by the government and leave people in developing countries poor.

Hmmm, perhaps it would be better for the farmland to be paved over.

 

[Spoonman]

^ Food which would heavily subsidized by the government and leave people in developing countries poor.

Hmmm, perhaps it would be better for the farmland to be paved over.

Many said developing countries devote great swathes of land to growing commodity crops for export rather than staple crops, which helps to streamline those economies into money-making machines, yet is of little benefit towards feeding the local populations.

I see no detriment in promoting local, sustainable agriculture on whatever fertile farmland we have left here that, potentially, produces food of higher nutritional and gustatory quality, reinforces the local economy and is less damaging to the environment.

 

[Chinese Jamaican Bloke]

Most families can't afford a $600,000 condo.... Why not buy a semi-detached or townhouse and get more space for your money?

They can always rent and there are condos for under $600,000