In September 2006, City Council approved a zoning change to allow residential development in phase 2 of Findlay Creek Village that would destroy a significant portion of the wetland in an area that the City itself has rated an important natural area by including it in its Urban Natural Areas Environmental Evaluation Study (UNAEES). This area, # 106 in the UNAEES, has not been properly ecologically evaluated because the developers who own the land have blocked attempts to study it. As part of the City’s Greenspace Master Plan, there were Official Plan amendments to ensure that UNAEES areas were evaluated before any development, but the City has ignored their own policies in this case.
In June 2006, the Greenspace Alliance had made a presentation before the Planning and Environmental Committee (PEC) to oppose the Plan of Subdivision for this area. Here is a copy of the staff report to Council and the Greenspace Alliance’s submission.
In September, the Greenspace Alliance sent letters to all Councillors to oppose the rezoning.
Because City Council has approved rezoning of this important natural area without even evaluating its worth, contrary to the Greenspace Master Plan, the Greenspace Alliance and the Sierra Club of Canada have appealed the rezoning and the earlier Plan of Subdivision to the Ontario Municipal Board. Here is our letter of appeal.