Now that the Liberals are back in the drivers' seat, we can look forward to business as usual. What does this mean for the development of urban form in the province? David Caplan at Public Infrastructure Renewal will be continuing with the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario that his department has launched into, before moving on to the other key areas of the province not covered by Places To Grow. In addition, PIR will continue to hammer out the details of their strategy for curbing sprawl and encouraging transit use for ...

Jack Layton stood on the make-shift stage at the Fox and Fiddle pub on the Danforth, gesticulating energetically, his arms stretched out commandingly towards the enthusiastic crowd of NDP supporters. "This is not just a by-election," he declared, "this is the real thing!" Thus he declared Peter Tabuns' victory, ceremoniously placing a floral 'lei' around his colleague's neck. Tabuns took approximately 45% of the vote in the riding, the Liberal candidate Joyce Rowlands taking another 30%, leaving the PCs and the Greens with approximately 11.5% each. While not a landslide victory, that's still a ...

In their 2003 campaign, the Ontario Liberals promised that they would create standards ensuring denser, more compact, mixed-use neighbourhoods. During their term, they made many historic steps in this direction including a Provincial Policy Statement under the Planning Act endorsing these objectives, the institution of a Greenbelt around the Greater Golden Horseshoe, and changes to the Planning Act and the Municipalities Act to allow for more municipal power in planning issues. The cornerstone of this suite of initiatives was what is called the ...

In David O. Russell's fabulous movie, I Heart Huckabees, the following description of Suburban Sprawl is offered: "Industry, houses, jobs, restaurants, medicine, clothes, videos, toys, cheeseburgers, cars . . . a functioning economy!" The joke is, I believe, that the character has confused affluence with the status quo patterns of suburban development -- he thinks they are the same thing. Now a fact often ignored is that what we call sprawl does appear to be the necessary manifestation of contemporary development in an affluent economy. This is the argument forwarded by ...

A news story in St. Thomas once again raises some concerns for me about the role that the Ontario Municipal Board plays in the province, again eliciting doubts about the sufficiency of the Liberals' reforms. But while the situation raises the blood pressure, again it's difficult to untangle exactly how the situation could be better. Alma's College, a historic girl's school in St. Thomas is slated to be torn down, despite considerable acknowledgment of its historic and cultural importance. The municipality initially refused the demolition permit applied for by the ...

"They're un-accountable, un-elected, un-democratic, and they usurp power from the elected municipal councils," says New Democrat Paul Ferreira. Any guesses as to who he's talking about? That's right, the Ontario Municipal Board. In the last election the Liberals promised to clean up the OMB. The other parties vying for leadership are now asking, understandably, what happened to that promise. The reforms, effective last January, appear not to have cleared up many of the problems that plague the much-maligned government agency. "They are cosmetic reforms, they do not address the problems at the root of the OMB," ...

Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with David Caplan, Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal. I went in armed with difficult, pointed questions to skewer him with, but in the end came out a far more understanding and compassionate person. Caplan is a true believer in his party's smart growth initiatives, including the Places To Grow Act, and was eager to talk about them. Smart Growth in Ontario When Caplan first took the helm of PIR, he was given a shopping list of items to accomplish. Amongst other things, this included establishing the Greenbelt and legislating "smart growth." To be fair to the incumbent government, their action on both of these hot items has been both quick and effective. But, as has been often pointed out, it has also been fraught with compromise and half-measures. Does the protective legislature go far enough? Does it include enough natural features? Are the intensification targets high enough? Are the urban growth boundaries tight enough? On every point, the government seems to have settled somewhere in a safe zone. When discussing urban growth boundaries for instance, Caplan remarks, "there are some people that say, 'go right up there and have a firm boundary around where things are right now.' There are others too that say that if you do that you are only going to cause leap-frogging and the development will just take place in places where you don't have the transportation or the social network." Steering the safe course, Caplan says the Liberals "tried to strike the right balance, and leave that question for the municipalities predominantly to say what areas they will protect in the future." A Horse Designed by Consensus The government has taken a very consultation-heavy, collaborative approach, attempting to bring as many different players to the table as possible in determining the best way to grow the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH). As much as possible, they have tried to incorporate into their conversations government, business, and environmental leaders. If you have those three, often antagonistic, parties on board, the process is much more likely to work, says Caplan. "You've got to get these three major players in alignment because we have to convince community residents." "We had to decide early on that we were going to be very genuine in our conversations, which meant that we would have to be flexible, that we would have to alter what we came out with," says Caplan. "And we did, from the draft, to the proposed plan, to the final plan, we would see changes along the way, because of what citizens told us, or stakeholders told us, or other ministries told us needed to be modified in order to accommodate other policies, or practical reasons, or local aspirations." Some might characterize this as a weak approach, but it might also just be referred to as pragmatic. Caplan sums up his attitude succinctly: "As long as you have good will, you are able to come to a solution." It is a nice notion. Then again I'm reminded of the old joke that asks what a horse designed by a committee looks like. The answer: a camel. The idea is that when too many people in on a decision, the result can be, well, kind of lumpy and awkward. Through all of these extensive conversations, townhalls, and meetings, the Places To Grow Plan was forged. And although it is easy to criticize, it has also received much praise as well, including most notably the Daniel Burnham Award from the American Planning Association. And with good reason, I think. The Places to Grow Plan, while not perfect, constitutes a solid step in the right direction. As Caplan says, "if we kept going the way that we are, we would consume another 1,000 square kilometers over the course of the next quarter century." Unlike many regions, the GGH has had to work hard to recognize its natural heritage features. Unlike mountains, rivers and the like, they are not immediate impediments to capitalist-driven growth. Caplan says, "I think we have a much greater understanding of our critical natural features now than we ever had in the past." Robert Freedman, director of urban design at the City of Toronto, agrees that the province should be commended on its initial steps. "I think you have to give credit for just taking a stand," he says. After all, "you have to crawl before you can run." Which, of course, is the big question -- if the Liberals are re-elected, will they run with it, and if so, how?

In the 2003 Ontario election, the Liberals promised to finally reform the perennially controversial Ontario Municipal Board. The OMB is the provincially nominated agency that adjudicates matters involving municipalities -- matters largely to do with zoning exemptions, amendments and other questions of land use. The 29-person Board hears an immense number of appeals, all over the province. They ...

Property tax is not being spoken of much in this election, although it's difficult to see why. Property tax should be important to Ontarians. It effects everyday life for all property owners, and should be a major concern. It is widely agreed that our current property tax system is not fair to people with lower incomes, tied as it is directly to the real estate market. It is a fact that land value in Toronto is relatively undervalued on an international level and so property taxes are only going to continue to rise. The problem ...

If anyone is interested in seeing how the province's Places To Grow growth plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe looks on the ground, the city of Guelph is holding an open house tonight in order to air their municipal growth plan. According to the Places to Grow Act, which was enacted in 2006, municipalities have to develop these local growth plans periodically, which fit like puzzle pieces into the province-wide strategy. Examining these individual growth plans is a good place to start when critiquing the general strategy. Many people feel that the Liberals just haven't gone far enough in ...