Ontario's Greenbelt lands could grow by 9,000 hectares

Ontario is proposing to expand the Greenbelt, currently about 800,000 hectares of protected land that borders the Greater Golden Horseshoe area that surrounds Lake Ontario.

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The proposed changes would add approximately 9,000 hectares and follow a review by former Toronto mayor David Crombie a decade after the Greenbelt was established.

If the proposal is enacted, four parcels of land identified by Hamilton and Niagara Region would be given "protected countryside" designation and 21 major river valleys and seven associated coastal wetlands would be given "urban river valley" designation.

The province says it is also looking at the "possible expansion of the Greenbelt outside of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, where important water resources are under pressure from urban growth."

The new plan also proposes to increase communities' density targets and requiring zoning along transit corridors to have enough density to support that transit.

Ontario also proposes to establish Greenbelt-level protections for wetlands, woodlands and rivers beyond the Greenbelt.