The Town of Caledon Council today received a presentation on input received to date from the Town’s Whitebelt Visioning Exercise. The Town recently engaged in community outreach to understand the future planning needs and opportunities for the Town as growth in the Whitebelt lands in Caledon are considered. The visionary exercise seeks to understand community needs and sentiments about growth, through resident and landowner input.
“Residents are engaged on this issue and they have questions about development,” said Mayor Allan Thompson. “They want to ensure that land is protected – for hospitals, post-secondary education sites, parklands and community hubs. We need to look at all of these aspects at the same time that we are looking at employment lands. We have so many good examples from around the world of ways to grow our community. This is a huge opportunity to work with all of our community partners in making informed and collective planning decisions for the future.”
The Whitebelt Visioning Exercise is intended to guide Council in making sound decisions for the required employment and residential growth areas in Caledon.
Considerations for planning the Whitebelt in Caledon
The following areas of interest have been identified by the community as required considerations when planning for the Whitebelt, and will be used moving forward:
• Natural and Cultural Heritage
• Agriculture
• Strategic Employment Areas
• Community Structure
• Transportation
• Preferred Sequencing
• Other Land Uses
The meetings and input to date complete Phase 1. The presentation can be read online at www.caledon.ca/whitebelt and residents can sign up to receive updates on the visioning as it moves forward.
Phase 2 – “Preparation of Land Use Alternatives” will develop the list of factors to be considered further, including infrastructure and transportation requirements, and will assess the need and locational requirements for all land uses. The public can look forward to an interactive, design-focused public workshop to further the discussion.
Citizens can complete an online survey to share their thoughts on growth in the Whitebelt.
http://fluidsurveys.com/s/whitebelt/
About the Whitebelt Visioning Exercise
The Whitebelt Visioning Exercise will look at all land uses, such as residential, commercial, institutional, agriculture and environmental protection, in addition to employment lands across the entire Whitebelt. The public will continue to have various opportunities to participate and contribute to a long term vision for the Whitebelt, and today, Council heard back on information received from the public during recent Open House sessions.
About the Whitebelt
The “Whitebelt” is the area outside the Greenbelt Plan and existing settlement areas in south Caledon. This area forms about 15% of the Town of Caledon and contains approximately 10,500 hectares of developable land. It is designated ‘Prime Agricultural Area’ and ‘Environmental Policy Area’ in the Town’s Official Plan. A 400-series highway has been planned to go across this area by the Province of Ontario, however the Environmental Assessment is currently suspended. Under the Provincial Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (2006), the “Whitebelt” is eligible for future growth.
