Concept behind "Smart Growth".

Housing market dictated by consumer choice

The population of Ontario is set to increase by 2.5 million by 2015, according to Statistics Canada. In order to house the increased population, our cities and towns will continue to grow. Determining how they will grow is the challenge. In the spring Premier Mike Harris announced that the government of Ontario will review the issue over the course of the summer and will unveil their vision for "Smart Growth" later this year in order to "encourage growth and protect the quality of life for Ontario families".

Smart Growth, the successor to what was formerly referred to as urban sprawl, has a basis in 10 fundamental principles:

* Strengthen and direct development toward existing communities

* Take advantage of compact building design

* Create housing opportunities and choices

* Create "walkable" communities

* Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost-effective

* Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place

* Provide a variety of transportation choices

* Mix land uses

* Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas

* Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions.

All are admirable goals to be striving for, and if you look around at new developments, you will find many of these concepts are being incorporated.

The growth of Ontario communities however, has been synonomous with all the negative connotations of urban sprawl. Urban sprawl can be defined as extensive low-density housing on previously undeveloped land. It is typically characterized by large residential neighbourhoods of single-detached homes, whose residents depend almost entirely on the automobile for transportation to and from areas of work, shopping and recreation. The result is gridlock on the highway systems throughout the province, which has gotten so bad that typical commutes have doubled in time over the past five to 10 years.

So this is a major problem that requires widespread changes to the regulatory framework surrounding the housing industry, as well as massive changes to the transportation network within Ontario, right? Well, not exactly. There are areas that can be improved upon, but first of all, there are a number of myths that need to be addressed to fully appreciate the issue we are facing.

Critics of urban sprawl need to first understand that the housing market is ultimately dictated by customer preference and demand. It is easy to blame builders for the type of houses that make up new communities, but who lives in those new houses, who buys them? Houses do not make communities, people do. Builders can build the most interesting, unique home, with the most innovative features of new urbanism, but ultimately, the new home purchaser determines what type of home he or she will purchase and where the or she will want that home located. The housing industry promotes choice in housing for consumers; choice in housing type and choice in location, and any vision for Smart Growth must retain that level of choice for everybody.

Condominiums are growing in popularity throughout Ontario and provide an excellent alternative to the land requirements of detached housing. Sales of condos are on the rise, and builders are erecting condo towers faster and faster in many urban centres to accommodate that demand. The condo market has grown to approximately 20 per cent of the total number of starts within the province, showing that the prevailing choice for new home purchasers continues to be the single-family detached home.

A key component of Smart Growth is the preservation of natural areas. The difficulty with this term is its vagueness. A simplistic definition would be that any area that is not built upon or farmed could be considered as "natural". It is unrealistic to expect that all such areas should be preserved; the province cannot meet the needs of a growing population with such protection policies.

There needs to be a balance between which lands need to be protected and which lands can be designated for future development. These policies must be tested against financial and cost implications. Preventing the development of any greenfield land will result in the price of properties within the existing urban areas increasing dramatically. The cumulative effect would have a severe impact on the affordability of home ownership.

Al Frisina, president of the Hamilton-Halton Home Builders' Association summed it up best when he was quoted as saying "Smart Growth isn't 'no growth' or 'restricted growth.' It is the ability to plan and develop communities to manage increasing populations, to make optimum use of infrastructure and urban land base, create housing opportunities and choices, and to provide a balance between environmental, transportation and housing issues."