Booming growth fuels need for hundreds of hectares of land

Waterloo Region will need to designate more land for development to meet population, employment needs, planning forecast shows

— “I am just a farmer,” Linda Laepple told the regional planning meeting Thursday.

But the Wilmot resident came to the public meeting about long-term plans to accommodate growth because she fears the region’s rapid growth could erase a precious resource, the rich farmland that supplies local food.

In the 10 years between 2006 and 2016, farmland in Waterloo Region shrank from 91,450 hectares to 87,000, she said. “So in seven generations there will be not one farm, not one acre left if we keep growing like this,” she warned.

Waterloo Region has a wealth of high-quality agricultural land, which is scarce in Ontario, and any plans must direct new developments to land that can’t be used for farming, she told council.

She gave councillors “a very important perspective,” that council doesn’t often hear from, said committee chair Coun. Tom Galloway. “We always hear from developers,” and occasionally from the Federation of Agriculture, but seldom directly from farmers.

The meeting laid out a picture of continued booming growth, as well as projections the need for at least another 500 hectares of land to be paved over for development over the next three decades to accommodate that growth.

“Waterloo Region is one of the fastest growing regions in Canada,” said Michelle Sergi, the region’s director of community planning.

Provincial forecasts project the region’s population will grow by 54 per cent over the next 30 years, from about 600,000 residents today to 923,000, and that employment will jump by 61 per cent to a total of 470,000 jobs by 2051.

Depending on how intensively development happens, the region will have a shortage of developable land, of anywhere from about 530 hectares under the most aggressive intensification targets, to 1,510 hectares if development continues about as intensely as it does today.

But consultants who appeared on behalf of major developers argued those estimates fail to consider the market demand for housing.

Too much emphasis on dense housing such as highrise apartments will lead to a lack of supply of other housing types, and that will fuel higher prices, warned consultant Paul Britton, representing Activa Homes. “The question really comes down to how many people over time want to live in apartments,” Britton said.

Housing prices in the region are already “through the roof,” he said. But if there isn’t enough land for housing such as singlefamily homes, supply will continue to outpace demand and housing prices could continue to soar, warned Robyn Brown, a planner representing Schlegel Homes.

Others urged council to ensure growth plans consider longterm goals to reduce greenhouse gases, and the need for affordable housing.

Even before the region has approved any changes to the Official Plan, developers and landowners are already pressing to have properties redesignated as urban lands that can be developed. Regional planners have received 55 requests to change 1,666 hectares from rural to urban, many of them from developers.

The region will evaluate the different growth scenarios, based on how well they align with regional goals for the environment, the cost of infrastructure, and how they impact farmland, drinking water sources and the liveability of the region, and come back to council with a preferred growth scenario later this year.