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Written by Liz Benneian
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 Precedent-setting OMB decision
Victory! After eight years of rallying citizens, holding protests, fighting at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) and pleading before Town Council, the founders of Oakvillegreen can know with certainty that their determination to see north Oakville’s greenspace preserved for future generations has been realized. Not only that, but because of their hard work, citizens and planners across Ontario now have a precedent-setting OMB decision that will help them win their battles to protect their communities against development pressure.
In mid-January, the OMB upheld the Town of Oakville’s plans for the
7,600 acres of land north of Dundas that was founded on the
preservation of a Natural Heritage System (NHS) comprised of the most
important environmentally-sensitive areas, with buffers around them and
linkages between them. About 25% of the land is part of the NHS.
Oakville’s citizens owe a debt of gratitude to Oakvillegreen’s founders
Linda and Allan Elgar (now Ward 4 Councillor), Renee Sandelowsky, Iris
McGee, Mike Lansdown and to Don Chambers, Hank Rodenberg, Diane Burton, Hana Kalas
and all the other people who supported Oakvillegreen in its early
years. It was Oakvillegreen who pushed the council at the time to do a
proper scientific survey of the land.
It was Oakvillegreen who alerted Council to the presence of the
Trafalgar Morraine and the importance of protecting the sources of our
community’s rivers. It was Oakvillegreen who insisted that the Town
make the establishment of a Natural Heritage System a first priority.
Congratulations should also go to Rob Burton who as leader of Clear the
Air Coalition, many years before he became mayor, joined with
Oakvillegreen in getting the Town, through an OMB settlement, to
establish an environmental fund, develop an Environmental Strategic
Plan and bring together the scientists, through the Inter-Agency
Review, to conduct a proper survey of theflora, fuana, geological and
hydrological features of the land.
That survey, and the wording in the planning documents that stated “to
establish as a first priority of the Town a natural heritage/open space
system to protect, preserve and where appropriate enhance the natural
environment” were the key factors for the OMB officer’s decision to
uphold the Town’s plan.
The decision read in part: “not only is a systems approach an
appropriate approach to determining the boundaries of a NHS in
developing an urban area, it is the best approach. No longer can
society afford to look at the “natural environment” as isolated pockets
of green which have been fortunate enough to have survived in an urban
landscape. The Board is convinced by the evidence adduced in this
hearing that for the natural environment to have a chance of
sustainability in developing urban areas, a systems approach must be
taken to delineating boundaries.”
The decision is also important in that it confirmed Oakvillegreen’s
contention that land for the NHS could be preserved through zoning
rather than buying the land.
The precedent setting decision has already prompted many requests for
more information from citizen’s groups fighting development from around
the province.
Oakvillegreen’s founders should be proud and our supporters should be proud.
We won, and now many other communities will win, too.
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