这篇今日多伦多星报头版的文章值得一读：这个规划意味着安省南部现有居住集中地区的房价会越来越贵，既得利益者的利益将得到了强力的保护。
没有实力买贵房子的人，还打算在远郊买一处便宜的房子将来看涨吗？这种可能性将变得渺茫……
Province targets sprawl
Ontario considers legislation to thwart development
Growth to be aimed at certain urban centres, Caplan says
KERRY GILLESPIE
CITY HALL BUREAU
The province has unveiled an ambitious plan to end urban sprawl in southern Ontario by restricting growth to 26 urban areas over the next 30 years.
The proposal, “Places to Grow: Better Choices, Brighter Future,” would direct the expected growth of 4 million people and 2 million jobs to 11 priority urban centres and 15 emerging urban centres. The priority centres include the Toronto waterfront, North York and Yonge-Eglinton centres and the downtowns of Mississauga, Brampton and Oshawa, while Scarborough, Markham, Vaughan and Newmarket centres and the downtowns of Burlington, Milton and Pickering are among the emerging urban centres.
“For the first time in our history we are trying to manage population growth and economic expansion in a rational, intelligent way, instead of simply trying to catch up,” David Caplan, minister of public infrastructure renewal, told the Toronto Board of Trade in a speech yesterday.
With the province spending about $2.5 billion a year building new infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals, Caplan said the discussion paper proposes designating new infrastructure money only to areas the province thinks should grow in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, an area that stretches from Niagara through the GTA to Peterborough and north as far as Collingwood.
But the minister said provincial legislation, which could come in the fall, will have to be strong to deter developers who thrive on building sprawling communities in the countryside.
On top of discouraging sprawl by not putting in the necessary infrastructure to support it, like roads and schools, Caplan said the province has other tools it can use, including:
Property taxes, land transfer taxes and development charges can all be raised to financially deter sprawl-style development and lowered to encourage compact development within city boundaries or on reclaimed industrial land.
The province could also legislate urban boundaries, outside of which development would not be allowed, Caplan said.
Car-dependent sprawl that eats up farmland, what the region has now, is bad for the environment, leads to congested roads and taxpayers just can’t afford it any more, said Caplan.
If urban sprawl-style housing were allowed to continue, development would eat up 1,000 square kilometres of agricultural land — twice the size of Toronto — over the next 30 years, according to the discussion paper.
For commuters, the time it takes to get to work could increase by 45 per cent, Caplan said.
This provincial plan, which still needs public consultation and a variety of legislation to turn it into reality, has a different future in mind.
On top of the 11 priority urban centres, including the Toronto waterfront, North York and Yonge-Eglinton centres, and the downtowns of Mississauga, Brampton and Oshawa, the plan identifies 15 emerging urban centres, such as Scarborough, Markham, Vaughan and Newmarket centres and the downtowns of Burlington, Milton and Pickering.
The plan aims to intensify those existing urban areas, making them compact communities where people can walk or cycle to work.
Those urban centres would be serviced by transit and a regional network would connect the centres to each other, the paper indicates. Roads would have high occupancy vehicle lanes to encourage car-pooling.
Directing growth to these existing urban areas, which can best handle and benefit from the growth, would protect farmland and smaller communities, Caplan said.
The province will hold information sessions around the Golden Horseshoe this month to tell the public about the plan and to get their feedback. After that, legislation could be passed in the fall, Caplan said.
But not everyone will approve.
Already members of the Greater Toronto Home Builders Association are warning that this plan may increase house prices.
“At the end of the day, not everyone wants to live in a 10- or 20-storey condo building. There are people who want a backyard to raise their family and want ground-related housing. That need will always be there,” said Jim Murphy, director of government relations for the association.
If rising prices are what it takes to stop sprawl, that’s what has to happen, said Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion.
“We just can’t go on, the gridlock in the Greater Toronto Area is increasing every hour of every day of every week,” McCallion said.
Despite the fact that the city she has led for 30 years wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for sprawl, McCallion has lately taken to the principles of smart growth with a vengeance. She was chair of the last provincial government’s anti-sprawl initiative called the Central Ontario Smart Growth Panel.
She has no time for municipal politicians who might still be thinking of filling their coffers by allowing moneymaking sprawl housing to be built.
“If you’re not going to buy into these (smart growth) principles then you should lose your powers,” she said.
The “Places to Grow” plan is available online at http://www.placestogrow.pir.gov.on.ca
