NCC Greenbelt

[Dado]

Looking on Google Earth, a lot of the Greenbelt isn't farmland at all. The greatest extent of farmland in the Greenbelt is in Nepean between the Rideau River and Hwy 416. There are smaller concentrations north of Bells Corners and east of Kanata. In the east there's also some between Mer Bleue and Hwy 417 and a peculiar pocket on the Ottawa River between the Rockcliffe Parkway and Orleans.

I'm not quite willing to say we should turn all this farmland into development (and the largest section in Nepean certainly appears fertile enough) but the way it's being used leaves much to be desired. If this is good farmland, really it should be growing intensive high-value crops, perhaps even under greenhouses; instead it's mainly extensive crops (with a few notable exceptions in the form of berry and vegetable farms around Bells Corners - look in particular at the farm between Holly Acres, Richmond and Hwy 416 on Google Streetview for an example of what we should be seeing a lot more of). The farmland of the Greenbelt has the advantage of being close to a large labour market - incredibly, it would actually be possible for farm workers to arrive by municipal transit. Yet the NCC seems to manage it like some kind of satiated feudal landlord who's happy to receive a standard rent and not seek to improve returns or invest in the land.


As far as development of the Greenbelt generally is concerned, I'd start by looking for the bits and pieces of outright wasted land first, like opposite the Nortel lab on Moodie or the irregular parcels of land around the Queensway Carleton Hospital. This would be a far less controversial place to start. After that, I'd suggest examining the forested bits of the Greenbelt rather than the farmed portions. Provincially, we've got a lot more forest than farmland so we can much more easily afford to lose forest for development than farmland, although forest seems to give people more of a warm and fuzzy feeling than does farmland. In Nepean around the Sportsplex for example it would be possible to develop well over 100 ha of land in close proximity to the SW Transitway. Another spot is south of Blackburn Hamlet overlooking the creek valley, which will be served by the Cumberland Transitway, also encompassing well over 100 ha. All tolled, that's something like a combined 250 ha, which compares to the ~220 ha that were added in Kanata West in the last Official Plan update. These are the kind of opportunities we should looking at first rather than going straight for the jugular of building over farmland.