A protected area meant to preserve southern Ontario farmland and agriculture could soon expand into some of the most densely populated urban areas in the country.
According to the provincial government in a release Friday, Toronto’s city council “unanimously” declared it will seek to apply for expansion of the Greenbelt within Toronto beyond Rouge River Park to include the Don and Humber river valleys.
“Ontario’s Greenbelt Plan recognizes the importance of the Don and Humber River Valleys as key watersheds that connect the Greenbelt to the Great Lakes,” the province said in its release.
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“Adding these river valleys to the Greenbelt would ensure their permanent protection.”
Criteria were developed in 2008 for municipalities such as the city to add lands to the Greenbelt.
“I can think of no more fitting way to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Ontario’s Greenbelt than to have the Don and Humber rivers become part of it,” Toronto Mayor David Miller said in the province’s release.
The Don and Humber account for about 90 km of waterways within the Greater Toronto Area.
The Greenbelt is the province’s designated zone of permanent protection for about 1.8 million acres of farmland and other “environmentally sensitive” land around southern Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe.
The current zone takes in the Niagara Escarpment, the Oak Ridges Moraine, Rouge River Park, several hundred rural towns and villages, and about 7,100 farms.
“Ontario will continue to support efforts to curb urban sprawl by protecting our valuable farm land, countryside, water resources and wetlands,” provincial Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Bradley said in the release.
“On the fifth anniversary of Ontario’s incredible Greenbelt, Toronto’s decision to pursue Greenbelt expansion is a great step in the right direction. “
