Inside and Out: Sustaining Ontario’s Greenbelt

The long-term viability of the Greenbelt depends not only on protecting lands within the boundary but effectively managing growth in the surrounding areas. Lands outside but adjacent to the Greenbelt boundary are important to the overall health of the Greenbelt because the agricultural and ecological systems are connected and reliant.

The report finds that the area between the Greenbelt and urban growth boundaries, nicknamed the “whitebelt,” contains enough land to accommodate development for several generations. However, premature development of both the whitebelt and lands on the outer side of the Greenbelt’s border poses a threat to the integrity of its agricultural and ecological systems.

The whitebelt can continue to buffer the Greenbelt for many years, but only if growth is managed through intensification, higher-density development, and stronger protection for vulnerable lands beyond the boundary.

To minimize encroachment of development onto the Greenbelt, this report recommends that the province and municipalities support the development of compact, complete and transit-oriented communities with a diversity of housing types.

Ontario’s Greenbelt is shaped by what happens both inside and outside its boundary. Keeping that protection strong will require continued discipline on growth, better protection for farmland and water systems beyond the Greenbelt, and planning for complete communities across the region.