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Creating a livable, walkable community and providing incentives to farmers were just two of the many ideas that came out of a public meeting on provincial land use. On April 22, hundreds of residents from across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area gathered at the Milton Banquet Hall to share ideas about the Provinc'nl, Growth Plan for the GreateLGolden‘i-lorseshoe, the Greenbelt Plan. the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Niagara Escarpment Plan. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Hous- ing and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry organized the meeting. It was the 12th of 16 public meetings on the issue. ”The plans we have in place are good. We should be proud of them. They protect our environment, agriculture and natural resourc- es. But there's always room for improvement,” said Larry Clay, assistant deputy minister and Ontario growth secretariat for the Ministry of Residents share ideas at meeting on provincial land use By Rachael Williams CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF Municipal Affairs and Housing. Discussion topics for those in attendance in- cluded protecting agriculture, land, water and natural areas, transit and infrastructure, climate change, building communities, at- tracting workers and creating jobs, improv- ing implementation and better aligning the plans. Members of the public sat at tables des- ignated to a certain topic and talked among themselves~before presenting their ideas to the entire room. undevelopable. ”My neighbour's property (not in the green- belt) could be worth 5100,000 per acre whereas mine is $10,000,” he said. Another table spoke about difficulties for farmers to build small installations on their land, as it could contravene provincial Iegis- ’4 Iation. The result could be massive developâ€" 3 ment charges or poorly-situated constructs. 8 For instance, a shelter is required by law to be a built 120 m away from wetlands, which could â€"- potentially mean it’ s placed in the middlemi F