Bill Teron’s Plan to Destroy The Greenbelt
According to the Ottawa Citizen, “Kanata’s founder”, developer Bill Teron, thinks that there are not enough people using the Greenbelt so we should develop it and build another Ottawa inside it. He states “It's a gorgeous place, but very seldom do you see people within it. Here, a million people would connect."
In case you think you did not read this correctly Bill Teron wants to build a city of one million people inside our Greenbelt.
According to the Citizen: “Within the developed land, Mr. Teron envisioned small "villages" of 5,000 to 10,000 people each, which would be developed around roads such as Woodroffe and Merivale”. After all, what good are environmental lands with trails in them when you can have villages instead. And what good is greenspace without roads running through it, as Teron states: “"We would be the only city in the world in which our ring roads were through a green paradise."
As a regular user of the greenbelt I know people use it. They may not crammed together on the trails or lined up to get on them like at a ride at Canada’s Wonderland but they are using the trails, and enjoying them because they are not congested. One can only imagine what putting a city of a million people inside it would do to the Greenbelt. Not being a fan of horror movies I would rather not imagine that
And yes, Teron has some novel ideas about adding to the greenbelt, but that would not make up for destroying what is there now. We all know what would happen if this plan was taken seriously - the negative parts of the plan would be implemented and then it would be discovered that the positive aspects are “impractical and unworkable”.
It is time for us all to stand up for the greenbelt.
5 comments:
that is ridiculous and thats all i have to say. This stupid idea doesn't even deserve my criticism
I have already commented on Mr Teron's outrageous proposal in a letter to the Ottawa Citizen. I commend you on leaping to the defence of our precious Greenbelt. As an avid xcntry skier I make frequent use of trails in the belt. If there is to be any development in the Greenbelt, let it be in the form of a majestic forest with nature and recreational trails. Even a limited amount of organic farming would be preferable to Mr Teron's plan. Those islands would spread like a cancer and swallow up the Greenbelt.
Would it be better to destroy the empty farmlands and wilderness outside the greenbelt? The city will grow whether you like it or not. It is much better to develop some of it and designate the rest as parkland. It is selfish to expect to live in an urban area, have easy access to acres of ski trails, and drive your car tens of km everyday to work. The Greenbelt is the reason for the traffic problems and sprawl you see today.
As a Graduate Student of Architecture who is working on a proposal for the use of the greenbelt I find most of the comments uneducated, albeit warrented as citizens of Ottawa who have likely grown up with expanse of land we are so lucky to have within our city. Yes the Greenbelt is an Ottawa landamark and a part of a small class of other international cities that have greenbelts. The fact remains the greenbelt isn't working anymore. Wouldn't it be amazing to more than double the population of Ottawa without having to take away any more farmland and green space around the outlying areas and further the creation of satellite towns such as Kanata, Orleans and Ottawa South? Whats more, it could be done with only using a third of the land of the Green Belt currently occupies leaving more than enough designated and protected green. A habitable belt within the Greenbelt.
Four years have passed since this article appeared - and greenbelt already disappeared from Kanata...look what happened in Bridlewood - a forest was cut down, same thing in Kanata Lakes in front of Highschool...who is behid it?
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