Misplaced “environmentalism”
There aren’t many things on which I agree with John Baird, but this is one of them . It seems that the NCC chairman wants to sell some of Ottawa’s Greenbelt because it may be the “environmentally right thing… so that not as many people would have to drive long distances to work or home.”
This is an entirely misguided approach to building a more sustainable city. I’m strongly behind the notion that we should encourage more dense building, particularly in central areas of the city, supported by a good public transit system. That said, a more built-up, dense city, isn’t liveable without sufficient park and recreation space. The Greenbelt, as Baird says, is some of the most substantial parkland for large areas of the city, and forms part of a fantastic system of recreational bike paths.
It would be a shame to see that valuable green space sold to developers through some misguided understanding of how you build a more dense city.