• In a 4-3 Council vote, Stouffville will ask the Province to permit up to two Additional Residential Units (ARUs) on all rural properties within the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM) and Greenbelt.
  • The Town will also push for broader local planning authority and flexibility for minor amendments to the Provincial conservation plans.
  • A formal process for settlement area expansion into the ORM Countryside areas is also being requested.
  • The recommendations were put forward in a report from Town Staff covered in an article last week.
  • While some residents support ARUs as a multi-generational housing and affordability solution, critics fear “green sprawl” and increased speculation.
  • The Greenbelt Foundation and York Region Federation of Agriculture warned the broader planning changes could erode conservation efforts
  • Save the Oak Ridges Moraine Coalition emphasized the importance of not rushing such decisions, saying they should be left to a formal 10-year review anticipated in 2027.

 

Following a narrow 4-3 Council vote on June 4, Stouffville will formally ask the Ontario government to permit up to two Additional Residential Units (ARUs) on rural properties within the Oak Ridges Moraine and Greenbelt, including areas where they are currently prohibited.

The recommendations aim to bring conservation plans in line with Ontario’s 2024 Provincial Planning Statement, which permits up to two ARUs on agricultural lands outside the ORM and Greenbelt areas. The Town is also seeking broader decision-making authority over land-use matters within the protected zones.

Councillors Sue Sherban, Keith Acton, and Rick Upton voted against submitting the recommendations to the Province, while Mayor Iain Lovatt and Councillors Hugo Kroon, Richard Bartley, and Maurice Smith supported it.

The Push for Rural ARUs

Town Staff argue that expanded ARU permissions would support multi-generational living, create secondary income opportunities, boost housing supply, and improve affordability. They have also asked the Province to issue guidance that ensures any resulting development maintains rural character and environmental protections.

Mayor Lovatt referenced the Town’s efforts to expand ARU permissions throughout the municipality’s serviced settlement areas during the meeting, but he noted many rural residents have been denied ARU approvals due to conservation policies. “We’re trying to address real-life issues that our residents bring to us,” he said.

Those frustrations were echoed in several presentations to Council from rural property owners. “Our family purchased land in this area in 1997, prior to the implementation of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP),” said deputant Michelle Johnson. “The restrictions imposed…have significantly limited our ability to utilize our property in a way that would allow us to live affordably.”

Johnson said ARUs could also help families like hers support adult children struggling with housing costs while offering aging parents the ability to remain on their land and connected to their communities.

“An ARU could generate income through rental opportunities, which would be beneficial in our retirement years,” she said. “ARUs are not a form of major development and do not have a significant impact on the environment or community…They offer a practical solution for families like ours to utilize their properties in ways that are both sustainable and responsible.”

Councillor Sherban expressed empathy but warned of long-term consequences. She argued that further small-scale permissions could open the door to broader land fragmentation and speculative development. “It seems so minuscule what you’re asking,” she said. “But if this keeps on—one more ARU, one more ARU—it’s opening that door. And where do we stop?”

Sherban added that she did not want to be remembered as someone who helped launch unchecked rural development rather than someone who tried to prevent it. “ Sometimes somebody has to say no,” she said.

Expanding Local Planning Powers

In addition to the ARU request, Staff recommended Council ask the Province to grant municipalities more authority over local planning within the conservation areas, including a process for minor amendments to ORMCP and Greenbelt Plan policies. They also suggested procedures for redesignating prime agricultural land as rural, broader permissions for small-scale commercial, industrial, and institutional uses, and the ability to build public service facilities such as parks, fire stations, and community centres within protected areas.

Staff further requested guidance for expanding settlement areas into the Oak Ridges Moraine Countryside Area. “The Provincial plans are overly restrictive and do not provide sufficient flexibility to address local circumstances as well as the Town’s planning objectives,” said Randall Roth, a Senior Policy Planner with the Town.

The York Region Federation of Agriculture (YRFA), a nonprofit representing more than 600 farm operations, supported the ARU recommendations but opposed the broader planning changes. In their view, such changes would have a “detrimental effect” on agriculture within the municipality.

“The Oak Ridges Moraine and Greenbelt are significant agricultural and environmental resources. They must remain intact and protected in their entirety for future generations,” said YRFA Secretary and Treasurer Kim Empringham. “Allowing local municipal amendments, redesignation of prime agricultural areas, small scale commercial, industrial, and institutional uses, public service facilities, and parks will result in the death of the ORM by a thousand cuts.”

“Settlement area expansions will speed up this demise,” she added. “YRFA would support ARUs on the ORM and the Greenbelt, but not the list of requests found in Part 3 of the motion.”

Greenbelt Foundation CEO Edward McDonnell submitted a letter opposing all recommendations. The Foundation cited the 2022 Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force report, which stated Ontario has ample developable land and does not require ORM or Greenbelt lands to meet housing targets. A recent Foundation report also highlights rural housing case studies from Durham, Niagara, and Huron as examples of how complete rural communities can be built without compromising protected conservation areas.

Council ultimately deferred the request for expanded commercial and institutional permissions but approved the remainder for submission to the Province.

Town Looks to Expedite Implementation

While facing a barrage of criticism for a contentious and contested social media campaign opposing the report and its recommendations, Save the Oak Ridges Moraine (STORM) Coalition Chair Robert Brown also addressed Council. He later told Bullet Point News that he was “deeply disappointed” by the decision.

Brown expressed concern over the potential consequences of fast-tracking the proposed changes through the upcoming Bill 17 legislative process, a path the Town has recommended to the Province. He believes the move would risk bypassing critical data collection and public consultation and suggested Stouffville should wait for the mandated 10-year review expected in 2027.

“That 10-year review process is the point where we collect new data, find out what has changed within the conservation areas over the last decade, and learn what impacts development patterns have had on the plan areas’ ecology and hydrology,” Brown told us. He emphasized the importance of input from scientific and engineering communities, calling it “reckless” for politicians to make such decisions in the absence of that data.

“That process also provides opportunity for public consultation, including with stakeholders like STORM, to be able to voice their opinions and have their say over the directions of the plan, identify pain points, and work them out mutually,” he added.

Councillor Acton expressed a similar position during Council deliberations, saying he believes Stouffville is already doing its “fair share” in delivering needed housing. In his view, there is no justification to rush implementation of the recommendations.

“In the next 18 months or less, the Province will do their review. At that point, all parties, the public, the municipality, whoever, will have an opportunity to make comments,” Acton said. “ I think it would be wise…to let the Province do their work and review on their timetable, and they will own that decision.”

Brown also mentioned the importance of maintaining a top-down structure for Ontario’s conservation plans, arguing that the approach is essential to achieving “harmonized, ecological, and hydrological protections” across southern Ontario. “That is how we protect vital agricultural and freshwater resources, mitigate climate change impacts, and maintain flood protections for communities like Stouffville,” he said.

Councillor Kroon offered a contrasting perspective during the Council meeting, expressing a preference for local decision making over Provincial control. “We know our municipality, and we know what is needed and what works much better than having the Province making… one-size-fits-all decisions,” he said.

“Stouffville is a unique town. We have unique solutions to our requirements, and we should be allowed to make those decisions,” Kroon added.

The Threat of “Green Sprawl”

Brown characterized the ARU proposal as part of a growing wave of “green sprawl,” where development creeps into environmentally sensitive areas under the guise of gentle density. While acknowledging a real need for more housing options, he pointed to the increasing number of “palatial homes” across the Moraine and warned that the proposed changes would largely benefit wealthy landowners.

“They are the ones who have the money and resources to build ARUs. Furthermore, as we saw in the delegations, people are already talking about building ARUs as rental properties,” he said. “We will have a whole new speculative rental market that will be highly desirable given its location on the ORM and Greenbelt. And when market speculation gets involved, we know there will be no affordable housing.”

Brown acknowledged that STORM’s social media messaging could have deployed a bit more nuance, but said he hopes the conversation will remain focused on the underlying policy implications.

“It is the narrow-sighted, ‘no for the sake of no’ responses to residents’ actual, lived needs that is so frustrating,” Lovatt later told Bullet Point News. “The ORMCP needs responsible reform, and the councillors who supported Staff’s recommendations recognize that.”

“I can’t look a resident in the eyes and tell them we’re not going to review the policy because I’m worried about what might happen in another town,” he added. Lovatt also argued it’s unreasonable to deny an ARU for aging parents when more damaging uses, such as large-scale aggregate extraction operations, are permitted under existing rules.

“I will never shy away from difficult files with the Province out of fear or ‘what ifs,’” he said. “I will advocate for fairness and generational equity, and let the Province make the final decision.”