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Originally Posted by Kitchissippi
If the farm land in the Greenbelt were sold tomorrow, it would just result in suburban sprawl closer to the city, guaranteed. Even if you forced an "urban" form on it, you will not get people who prefer the suburbs to live in it, nor the people who buy condos in intensified older neighbourhoods (case in point LeBreton and Place des Gouverneurs not selling well). The mechanism for creating new traditional main streets and walkable communities from scratch is dead, and you can't blame that on the Greenbelt because it is happening in every North American city. Until this city wraps itself around a truly visionary transit plan it is not going to happen.
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The mechanism is easy.
You want to build there?
You build urban.
You don't want to build urban?
Fine. Don't build there.
Should be the same rule for any new greenfield or brownfield development, but the municipality doesn't have all the powers it needs to impose that, nor the will to use those few it does have.
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The best thing the city can do is extend electric LRT beyond the Greenbelt and into each of the suburban "town centres". The induce redevelopment and intensification of the big box complexes and the sea of parking lots around them.
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Where are these mythical "town centres"? Never seen one. And that kind of a transit plan is only a different way of subsidizing sprawl, just as effective as giving the suburbs lots of 6-lane roads and ample parking.
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