Greenbelt a Goner in North Courtice???

Durham Region will be making a submission to the Minister of Municipal Affairs to request changes to the Greenbelt Plan to delete certain lands near the Courtice Urban Area in north Courtice. The effect of such a change would allow for urban development in these environmentally sensitive areas - not a good thing for the area and not needed according to Official Plan Review reports.

The Provincial Greenbelt Plan was developed to provide clarity and certainty about urban structure, where and how future growth should be accommodated, and what must be protected for current and future generations. It identifies where urbanization should not occur in order to provide permanent protection to the agricultural land base and the ecological features and functions occurring on this landscape.

A Public Notice on page 2 of the May 10 Canadian Statesman says that Clarington will be considering its position on the proposal to adjust the Greenbelt boundaries through a report being prepared by the Planning Dept. This will be considered by the GP&A Committee on Tuesday, May 23 at 7:00 pm in Council Chambers (40 Temperance St., Bowmanville), and if you wish to speak to this matter at the meeting, you must register with the Clerk's dept. by Wednesday noon, May 17th (clerks@clarington.net). It will then be considered by Council on Monday, May 29 (same location) at 7:00 pm. You must register with the Clerk's dept by Wednesday noon, May 24 if you wish to speak at that meeting, and I sincerely hope people will do so.

Now, the funny thing about this (or NOT so funny) is, Regional Council has already voted on the matter, and no one from Clarington council (the Mayor or our Regional Councillors) asked that the matter be deferred until after Clarington had a chance to consider it and have public and planning dept. input on it.

On May 10, Regional Council voted 16 to 8 to exclude these lands from the Greenbelt area so that they can be developed, with John Mutton leaving the meeting prior to the vote, Jim Schell supporting it and Charlie Trim voting against. The motion passed, so it will be sent to the Minister and the Greenbelt Council, who hopefully will dismiss it for many reasons, which I'll go into later.

What good will come of the May 23 and May 29 meetings in Clarington, since the Region has already voted to send this to the Province? Why didn't the Mayor or our Regional Councillors (Jim Schell and Charlie Trim) ask that this vote be deferred until AFTER the Clarington meetings, since it was dealing with Clarington issues?

Someone commented that this is democracy in action - Clarington-style. Our Clarington Regional Councillors (Schell & Trim) voted on this matter at the region, without asking that it be deferred, BEFORE receiving the report from our planning staff (so how well informed are they?) and before the advertised public meetings on the issue for local residents (and local councillors).

I sincerely hope people will comment on this very important issue. And remember that it's an election year...