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Comic Piccini opera, Redux, Ontario auditor general Env Report, Globe & Mail, May 18, 2023 |
Venal or Venial? letter to Globe, May 16, 2023 |
"Cry me a river over a few bats", Redux, Globe & Mail, May 12,2023 |
Greenbelt "Scam": Barbarian Ford invasions, Globe & Mail, May 12, 2023 |
Barbarian Ford invasions case: City of Belleville Bell Creek dvlpt, Intelligencer, April 25, 2023 |
Road building projects in Wales, UK, cancelled as climate clangers, the Guardian, Feb 14, 2023 |
Unpublshed letter to Globe, 1996 opioids revisited, February 6, 2023 |
Cathal Kelly on climate charade, Globe & Mail, January 27, 2023 |
Ontario Bill 23, letter to the Premier, and Todd Smith MPP, Nov 24, 2022 |
Canola conundrum, letter to Globe & Mail, October 2022 |
3rd (Canadian) arm of U.S. Air Pollution Health Effects Study, the Guardian, Aug 12, 2022 |
Atomic awe and Boris blight, letter to Globe, July 11, 2022 |
Your !!*^%! car, Part II, Globe and Mail editorial, July 16, 2022 |
Your !!*^%! car, Part I, Globe and Mail, June 20, 2022 |
CAPE report on fossil fuels, Globe and Mail, June 9, 2022 |
Traffic Air Pollution Health Effects report, CAPE, April 2022 |
EU Bans Toxics, the Guardian, April 2022 |
Comic Piccini opera: Ontario Auditor General Environment Report, November 2021 |
......RIP Trillium...... November 16, 2021 |
Covid-19 Parlour Sessions 2020/2021, April 1, 2021 |
Mitch Podoluk, Obituary, Globe and Mail, September 2019 |
Notice to (Big Bay) Mariners, August 2019 |
Air Head, Globe and Mail, August 2019 |
Leon Redbone, RIP, June 2019 |
Ontario Endangered Species Act at risk, letter to Rod Phillips, April 2019 |
Slide to Extinction, Chris Humphrey, letter to Globe, October 31, 2018 |
Peter Galbraith, FRCP, obituary, October 2017 |
White Pines on Death Bed, Bruce Bell, Intelligencer, July 17,2018 |
Thucydides Trap, letter to Globe, May 2018 |
Great Lakes toxics down, SUNY Oswego/Clarkson U, April 2018 |
Machine subversion of democracy, letter to Globe, April 2018 |
Air Pollution overrides Ancestral Genes, Globe, March 2018 |
Olympian Cathal Kelly, letter to Globe, March 2018 |
Environmentalists seeking unemployment, letter to Globe, February 2018 |
Less is more on Bike Lanes, National Post, January 2018 |
Tramadol, 10 years on, Globe and Mail, November 2017 |
White Stripes: Belleville bicycle lanes, letters, November 2017 |
Occupational Cancers, CCO research results, Globe and Mail, October 2017 |
Big Pharmoney and Canadian Drug Use Guidelines, Globe and Mail, June 21, 2017, Kelly Grant |
Oxycontin, 20 years on, letter to Globe, May 2017 |
Lake Ontario wind turbines to remain on hold? Feb 2017 |
Obituary, Raold Serebrin, September 2016 |
Sartorial slip or signal? letter to Globe editor, October 2016 |
Weapons of mass distraction, letter to Globe editor, Oct 2016 |
Point O turbines 99% Down the Drain, CCSAGE, July 7, 2016 |
Point O turbines Dead and Damned, PECFN, July 6, 2016 |
Rabid diplomat, letter to Globe, May, 2016 |
More on bats: rabid rocker? letter to Globe, January 2016 |
Lighthouses of eastern Lake Ontario, new book by Marc Seguin, March 2016 |
Continuing corporate windpower malfeasance: Windstream and Trillium Corp, Feb 2016 |
Amherst Island: the next fine mess, Feb 2016 |
Valerie Langer: Thirty years of effort pays off on the B.C. coast, Feb 1,2016 |
Trillium log, 6th annual ELO expedtion, September 2015 |
Trillium Wind Corp intent on Spoliation of eastern Lake Ontario and Main Duck Isle, June 2015 |
Turtles rule? Ontario Court of Appeal Decision: Turtlegate, April 2015 |
Obituaries, Mary Terrance (Luke) Hill, January 2015; Valerie Ingrid (Hill) Kaldes, July 2015 |
Ontario Court of Appeal turtle hearing, December 2014 |
Trillium Log, 5th annual ELO expedition, September 2014 |
Planetary public health manifesto, The Lancet, March 2014 |
Ostrander Bioblitz, butterfly inventory walk, August 10, 2014 |
Victory at Cape Vincent: British Petroleum withdraws turbine proposal, February 2014 |
Stay of execution granted by Ontario Court of Appeal, March 2014 |
Never say die: Will the Court of Appeal let the Ostrander Phoenix fly free again? March 2014 |
Divisional Court ruling in Ostrander: turtles belly up, Trojan horses win, February 2014 |
Lafarge 2020, pushing the air envelope again, Hazardous waste as cement kiln fuel proposal, Jan2014 |
Another fine mess in Port Hope: municipal waste incinerator proposal, January 2014 |
Ostrander: fiasco, or snafu? you decide, December 2013 |
Ostrander rises again, Noli illegitimi carborundum, December 2013 |
British Petroleum backing off Cape Vincent after a decade of aggression? December 2013 |
Turbines best Bald Eagles in U.S law, December 2013 |
SARStock 10 years after, letter to Globe, August 2003 |
Trillium log September 2013: Surfin' USA: Hanging Ten in a Hughes 29 |
ERT Post mortem: Garth Manning lets it all hang out, August 2013 |
ERT post mortem: Cheryl Anderson lets it all hang out, August 2013 |
ERT Post Mortem: Ian Dubin lets it all hang out, August 2013 |
Great Lakes United turns thirty, goes down, RIP GLU, July 29, 2013 |
ERT decision, Ostrander turns turtle, goes down, July 3, 2013 |
PECFN Thankyou, and Appeal for funds, July 6, 2013 |
Minister of Env on Lake Ontario Off shore wind turbine status, June 2013 |
Lake Ontario water level control plan, June 2013 |
Play by Play, Part II, APPEC Ostrander ERT Appeal, June 2013 |
Ostrander ERT June 2013, Appendix VI, an indirect cause of human morbidity and mortality ? |
ELOERG Presentation to Ostrander ERT, Part II, Human Health, May 2013 |
The Dirty E-Word, Terry Sprague, Picton Gazette, April 2013 |
Toxics in Great Lakes Plastic Pollution, April 2013 |
Bill Evans on Birds and Wind farms, April 2013 |
Mayday, Naval Marine Archive, April 2013 |
Experimental Lakes Area, Kenora, Closing by Federal Gov't, March 2013 |
Fishing Lease Phase out on Prince Edward Point, March 2013 |
Windstream makes $1/2 Billion NAFTA claim, March 2013 |
Play by Play, PECFN Ostrander ERT Appeal, March 2013 |
Offshore Wind turbine moratorium 2 years later, The Star, Feb 2013 |
ELOERG ERT submission on Ostrander: Appendix V: Pushing the Envelope of the MoE SEV, Feb 2013 |
Wente on Wind and Bald Eagle mugging, Globe and Mail, February 2, 2013 |
Sprague on Wind and Bald Eagle mugging, Picton Gazette, Jan 25, 2013 |
Cry Me a River over a Few Bats: Submission to Env Review Tribunal, ELOERG, January 2013 |
Lake Ontario's Troubled Waters: U of Michigan GLEAM, January 2013 |
Letter to Minister of Environment re: Ostrander, January 2013 |
No Balm in Gilead: Ostrander IWT's as Trojan Horses, January 2013 |
Ostrander Turbines: another Christmas gift by the MoE, Dec 2012 |
Occupational carcinogens: Ontario Blue Collar breast cancer study, November 2012 |
Fresh water fish Extinctions, Scientific American,November 2012 |
Great Lakes Toxics revisited, November 2012 |
Frack the What ? November 2012 |
$ 2 1/4 Billion Trillium Power lawsuit knockback Appeal, November 2012 |
Canada Centre for Inland Waters decimated, October 2012 |
Birds, Bats, Turbines, and the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, October 2012 |
Ecological public health, the 21st centurys big idea? British MedicalJournal Sept1,2012 |
Trillium log, Sept 2012 |
George Prevost, Saviour of the Canadas, 1812 - 1814. June 2012 |
The Victory at Picton: Bicentennial Conference on War of 1812-1814, Differing Perspectives, May 2012 |
Carleton Island and the 1812, letter to the Globe, October 2011 |
Queen's Fine Arts Department Succumbs, letter to Principal, December 2011 |
Mr. Kumar and the Super 30, November 2011 |
Letters, Articles and Projects from the Nineties |
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Ontario's order to expand urban boundary east ‘not subject to appeal’
Author of the article:
Derek Baldwin
Published Apr 25, 2023 • Last updated Apr 26, 2023 • 4 minute read
Join the conversation
Belleville city council learned Monday its new Official Plan approved by the province April 11 included an order from
the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to sprawl into farmlands east of Belleville's urban boundary to now include
rural lands straddling Bell Creek.
Belleville city council learned Monday its new Official Plan approved by the province April 11 included an order from
the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to sprawl into farmlands east of Belleville's urban boundary to now include
rural lands straddling Bell Creek.
Article content
Ontario Premier Ford’s government has ordered the City of Belleville to sprawl its urban service boundary easterly
into rural lands straddling several tributaries of the environmentally sensitive wetlands of Bell Creek.
Canada unveils new crown with snowflake and maple leaves instead of religious symbols
Canada unveils new crown with snowflake and maple leaves instead of religious symbols
And, according to a notice by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the new provincially ordered changes effective
April 11 as part of the city’s new Official Plan approval by Queen’s Park are not negotiable.
In what’s called a ‘Notice of Decision,’ the ministry informed that under the Planning Act,
“the decision of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing regarding an Official Plan adopted in accordance
with section 26 of the Planning Act is final and not subject to appeal.”
Sections of Bell Creek – a provincially significant wetland (PSW) — and its wildlife corridor links
to Belleville Marsh southerly on the Bay of Quinte have been a battle ground for developers and neighbours who, since the
1990s, have fought attempts to extend the city limits and new housing developments east of Haig Road subdivisions along the
arterial road.
According to the city’s draft Official Plan approved in October 2021 by city council while awaiting final OP
approval by the province, city planners had maintained the rural status of the lands in question for possible future urban
use — until a surprise decision earlier this month by the province to deem them urban.
The decision by the ministry was made following a second public comment period on Belleville’s new Official
Plan opened up over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season from Dec. 5 to Jan. 4.
The ministry said in its April 11 notice that it approved the new Official Plan with 24 modifications after six comments
including one from a landowner welcoming residential development on his open fields.
Word of the Official Plan order to open up rural lands to the east did not sit well with some city leaders on Belleville
city council Monday.
Coun. Paul Carr, chair of the city’s Planning Advisory Committee, said he was surprised by the Ontario decision
overriding local city planners’ wishes to maintain the rural nature of lands for some years to come.
He questioned the wisdom of the decision when the province has been harping on municipalities to cut red tape and to create
more housing density within city limits to meet a growing housing crisis.
Carr said this decision “is adding to urban sprawl and I understand the province’s desire to have
more housing, I don’t disagree with it, but perhaps maybe how it’s done, I might have a little bit of
a disagreement.”
He said city council and staff were “blindsided by the fact that our urban serviced area has changed based on
the ministry’s views of this community … it seemed to have caught everybody off guard and certainly has
some implications in terms of how we grow our community.”
“It’s quite shocking to see that the ministry would just go ahead and make these changes on [public]
comment and not seek out comment from city staff in terms of the servicing implications. Very interesting times in terms of
planning in Ontario.”
Coun. Chris Malette was equally incensed at news the province was seemingly overriding the city’s self-determination
as to where and when the municipality chooses to expand its urban serviced boundary.
Suggesting this was “the cart pushing the horse,” Malette said he was concerned by one comment made
during the latest public comment period by a rural landowner who suggested up to 1,500 homes could be built under the new
urban designation.
“We’re not only blindsided, we’re pretty much gobsmacked by the fact that here’s
somebody basically pushing along this plan and the province going along with it, approving an area in our Official Plan in
an area that we knew nothing about,” Malette said in chambers.
“I want to point out that this area as well is not exactly just any plot of rural land. This is the Bell Creek
Secondary Plan Area, if you will, the area that is east of the current Bell Creek and it’s all the way down to Highway
2,” he said. “These lands are very concerning, they’re very sensitive lands.”
He called the city to push back on the ministry decision.
Stephen Ashton, city director of engineering and development services, said as part of the original Official Plan update
going back years, there was a “municipal comprehensive review to determine if we had enough land supply for each
of the categories of development.”
“Staff has been clear in discussions that if there was an expansion of the urban boundary, that it would be
done at a future date when a future municipal comprehensive review indicated we would need more urban lands added,”
he said.
In a second public posting comment period of the Official Plan, Ashton confirmed a property owner made a submission from
consultants who worked on the property and the staff was first aware of this expansion of the boundary when we were notified
the plan was approved at that point in time,” he said.
Ashton didn’t explain why city council was, by all accounts, not informed of the minister’s decision
at the same time that city staff were apprised of the Official Plan changes to the city’s eastern urban serviced
boundary.
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Enter supporting content here
Eastern Lake Ontario Environmental Research Group
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