News/Hotspots Severe Leapfrog Development Pressure in Brant County

Brant County looks like a donut with Brantford in the middle. It has the Paris-Galt Moraine in the north end and prime farmland throughout that is seriously threatened by development and must be protected. Brant County abuts the Greenbelt on its western edge. Policy makers predicted severe leapfrog pressure in this area when the Greenbelt was being formed and Ontario Ministry of Transportation officials admit that the farming community is scheduled for extreme growth pressure.

Brantford is surrounded by a provincially legislated no-build zone. This zone, created in 1979 serves as Brantford’s very own form of “greenbelt”. Developers now want to pave over portions of this greenbelt, and the farmland between the no-build zone eastward to the Hamilton boundary.

The city of Brantford, interested developers, some pro-development politicians and a truckers’ lobby are also pushing for a provincial highway to connect Highways 401 and 403 (officially titled the Brantford to Cambridge Transportation Corridor). This highway would cause severe leapfrog development and convert Brant County farmland into Mississauga type sprawl. This highway is opposed by groups such as the STOP 424, the Smart Coalition and Sustainable Brant.

Sustainable Brant is a grassroots group that grew out of Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario, a member of the Greenbelt Alliance. Sustainable Brant monitors development pressures and works to protect farmland. They also review creative initiatives that people are taking to protect farmland, such as creating conservation easements, and setting up land trusts and co-op farms. The group is planning a conference in the future to address leapfrog development pressure in hotspots outside of the Greenbelt. For more information, contact ehaley@gmail.com or 519-647-0040.

The Brant-Hamilton-Halton chapter of the National Farmers Union of Ontario is petitioning to “greenbelt” all of Southern Ontario. Sustainable Brant’s petition challenges the new rules for growing the Greenbelt - rules that leave the request up to the local municipality, and asks the provincial government to consider the requests of citizen groups and conservation authorities to grow the Greenbelt.