By Irwin Dreeson and John McDonnell, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, February 8, 2020
(...)Here’s what the Greenbelt is for
(...)The Greenbelt was never intended to contain growth. Instead, Jacques Gréber’s vision was that satellite cities would develop outside the Greenbelt. But successive city planners allowed development outside the Greenbelt to function largely as car-dependent bedroom communities.
Only now (five decades later) is the current crop of planners coming around to the insight that the suburbs east, south and west of the centre should become “complete communities.” Indeed, in a desperate attempt to wean Ottawa off car dependency, they are advocating so-called “15-minute neighbourhoods” everywhere, in the suburbs as well as in the core.
Better late than never. Meanwhile, the Greenbelt – the lungs of our urban area – should be left alone.
(...)Don’t sacrifice the Greenbelt
(...)The Greenbelt provides countless ecological goods and services, including various natural solutions to climate change; the capture and storage of carbon; temperature regulation; flood and drought mitigation and local, sustainably produced food. If anything, the Greenbelt should be preserved, protected and showcased as a model for other urban areas.
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/letters/todays-letters-fix-canadas-assisted-dying-law-now