Stop Sprawl Durham campaign urging Province to say no to Durham development plan

A development plan approved by Durham Region Council last May to turn much of 9,000 acres of farmland to medium density homes is being called “reckless” by environmental group Stop Sprawl Durham, which has launched a letter writing campaign to ask provincial Housing Minister Paul Callandra to say no to sprawl.

“Your taxes are going up because Durham Regional councillors are being reckless with our vanishing local farmland and natural assets,” the group said in a news release. “We must stop the urbanization of 9,000 acres of new land that is not needed for affordable housing and to meet our growth targets.”

Stop Sprawl Durham is accusing regional councillors with listening to the development community instead of residents and common sense in meeting housing targets.

“Durham Region needs more homes and jobs – but we don’t need to pave over our farmland and natural heritage to make that happen,” the group said on its website. “And we don’t need to bankrupt our communities’ futures by building more and more costly infrastructure stretching across rural areas.”

“What we need is gentle density and ‘missing middle’ housing.”

The group, which says it is already more than halfway to its goal of 12,800 letters and emails sent to Callandra, said the solution to building more homes to meet the provincially mandated targets is in the creation of “complete communities,” with a range of housing types and a mix of schools, stores, workplaces and parks, within Durham’s existing urban boundaries.