Item - 2015.PG6.5

The Planning and Growth Management Committee recommends that:

1.  City Council direct that the proposed Official Plan amendment containing the draft proposed Greenbelt Plan Conformity amendments appended to the report (August 18, 2015) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, as Attachments 1 and 2 be endorsed as the basis for consultation.

2.  City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to conduct a Statutory Open House in the Scarborough Community Council district in the fall of 2015 and continue to meet with stakeholders to obtain comments and feedback regarding the draft Official Plan amendments in Attachments 1 and 2 to the report (August 18, 2015) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning.

3.  City Council direct that City Planning staff report back on the results of the public consultations and with a proposed Official Plan Amendment which will be considered at a statutory public meeting of Planning and Growth Management Committee in the first quarter of 2016.

The Greenbelt Act, 2005 requires municipalities to amend their Official Plans to conform with the Greenbelt Plan.  The City is undertaking its Greenbelt Plan conformity as part of the Five Year Review of the Official Plan.  This report proposes draft amendments to Chapter 2 of the Official Plan and Site and Area Specific Policy (SASP) 141 to incorporate and implement the requirements of the 2005 Greenbelt Plan. These proposed draft amendments are recommended for public consultation.

The proposed draft amendments to Chapter 2 of the Official Plan were originally included in the August 2014 report on the draft environmental policies as part of the Five Year Review of the Official Plan and were subject to public consultation in the fall of 2014.  For the purposes of completeness in reporting on the Greenbelt Plan conformity, this report consolidates all proposed amendments pertaining to the Greenbelt Plan.  Amendments are proposed to Chapter 2 that include policies that recognize the important ecological and hydrological function of river valleys that run through Toronto and connect the Greenbelt to Lake Ontario.  Map 2 is proposed to be amended to show the boundaries of the Greenbelt Protected Countryside and to identify the Don and Humber Rivers and Etobicoke Creek as river valleys that connect the Greenbelt to Lake Ontario.   

Existing SASP 141 applies to lands in the Rouge Valley from Steeles Avenue East to Twyn Rivers Drive.  The proposed amendments to SASP 141 include extending the boundaries of SASP 141 to include all of the Greenbelt Protected Countryside in the Rouge Valley from Steeles Avenue East south to Lake Ontario, and policy amendments to incorporate and implement the requirements of the Greenbelt Plan and recognize the Rouge National Urban Park.  

Attachments 1a and 1b to this report contain the proposed draft policies, text and mapping amendments proposed to be incorporated into Chapter 2 and SASP 141 of the Official Plan.  Attachments 2a and 2b show the proposed draft policies, text and mapping amendments on their own. 

This report recommends that, following public consultation on the draft policies, staff report back to the Planning and Growth Management Committee in the first quarter of 2016 on the results of the consultation and with recommended Official Plan amendments for Committee and Council's consideration.