Evidence of meeting #47 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was going.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
I'm glad, then, we're talking to you today and that part of it is through this urban conservation study.
Can you tell me the response of parents and communities to your natural playground products?
4:50 p.m.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds
On the whole idea of these renatured spaces, I have a quick story. One parent said, “I hate you.”
4:50 p.m.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds
I said, “Oh, God, here we go.” She said that she hated me because she used to have her day planned. They would go down to the local park and they would get out, because 20 minutes later they would be bored. They would get back in and go.... “Now, when we go to your place”, she said, “it's an hour later, and one of them is an airplane and another one's a horse or something.” She said, “I don't know what game they're playing, but they just go on and on.” She's not able to control it.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
4:50 p.m.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds
There's something about the interpretative quality of nature in an urban setting that jogs our memories. We're hard-wired on an evolutionary scale for this. We are a hunter-gatherer species. You re-engage with this stuff and you allow people to imagine, and they change. That's ultimately....
I just need to say to Monsieur Pilon—to answer both questions, because they are tied—that in terms of the value of these spaces, we track the property value surrounding these parks. The property values surrounding these parks consistently go up by 20% for places within immediate access. If you want to talk about what that means in terms of taxes available, taxes for our municipalities, these things actually increase the value consistently over the neighbourhood values by about 20%. We do much better when they are in much worse neighbourhoods.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Mark Warawa
Your time has expired.
I hope there will be some comments for protected green areas, fishery setbacks and whatnot, so that we can take advantage of using those and have access to them, yet still protect those sensitive areas.
Ms. Sgro, you have seven minutes. Welcome to the committee.
October 22nd, 2012 / 4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Thank you very much. I am filling in for my colleague, who had to leave.
Mr. Bienenstock, I've seen several of your creations in Toronto. They really do make a massive difference in a community.
I'm interested in knowing if, when we talk about the partnerships outside of government itself, you're finding the development industry open to working with you when they are proposing various developments, to ensure that you have the funds required.
4:50 p.m.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds
There's a certain amount of that going on, but that's with an enlightened developer. Without any legislation or any bylaws in place to promote this in some of their work, they're going to do what's easy. They're going to default to what's easy. They have to provide some money for a playground. It has to be done, but what we do is not easy. This is not picking a thing out of a catalogue. This is a thoughtful process. We have to think about what is indigenous to the area, and then we have to use that stuff effectively to fulfill the needs of the community. We don't get to do that out of a catalogue. We don't have a catalogue; there's no point.
4:50 p.m.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds
It makes it very difficult, in fact, from a developer's standpoint for them to justify it. One place where we have been successful is Collingwood, because they have an urban design standard that has been set up by urban planning as part of.... The planner is a member of the institute or of the association, and he has done a remarkable job in pushing and making it law that you have to be thoughtful about this stuff. As a result, we're having more success there.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Can you suggest one city in Canada that is really using the healthy cities model going forward and is very open to ensuring that you get opportunities there?
4:55 p.m.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds
Honestly, for me right now the city that I'm most excited about is Collingwood. The urban planner there is a guy by the name of Robert Voigt. They have produced a remarkable document that is very outcomes-based and is focused on connecting that community and on saving that community's main asset, which is its natural beauty. They've done a good job of focusing on that.
What they've done hasn't been prescriptive, but it has been outcomes-based, so someone like me, or any one of the designers of these spaces, can go in and interpret that but still fall into that category of renaturing and engaging, using some of the flora and fauna from the local area as the palette.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Mr. Butler and Ms. Powley, with regard to the work you're doing in the Halifax area, can you point to some of the specific benefits as a result of your work and your clear commitment to the environment and urban conservation?
4:55 p.m.
Policy Director, Ecology Action Centre
What we've done is put an alliance together of very different groups—business groups, environmental groups, health groups—that for various reasons all support greenbelting and all support good planning. We now have, as part of this work, three large protected areas within 15 to 20 minutes of downtown Halifax. That's an incredible opportunity and quality of life for the residents of Halifax, and I think overall it makes Halifax a really attractive destination.
I hope I'm not getting repetitive here, but controlling and directing growth delivers financial, economic, environmental, and health benefits.
Excuse me; Jen and I are just conferring here.
Jen wants to make the point that good planning opens up opportunities and maintains the quality of life of urban, suburban, and rural residents. A lot of rural residents are supportive of the work we're doing, because they don't want to see their quality of life and their recreational opportunities taken away.
Does that answer your question?
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Yes, but when you talk about good planning, it's often in the eye of the beholder or the municipality that you're dealing with. What kind of a grade would you give the Halifax area when it comes to their planning?
4:55 p.m.
Coordinator, Our HRM Alliance, Ecology Action Centre
Great planning, but follow through.
4:55 p.m.
Policy Director, Ecology Action Centre
If the plan is good, then stick to it, because it was created for a reason. As I think we all believe, if you're going to have a plan, stick to it and follow it.
We just had our municipal election on Saturday. One of the big themes right across the board, I think, was that we need to stick to the plan. Otherwise, over time you can actually bankrupt a municipality if you grow in such a way that it's too costly to provide the services. I mean, to some extent we've let development drive our plan versus asking what's the best for all citizens of our municipality.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
I know him well. He's very committed to the environment and so on. I'm quite confident that if the plan is there, and they have people like you and Ms. Powley monitoring it, you'll stay on top of it to ensure that the environment is protected and that conservation has to be top of the list. Congratulations to you both.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Good. We'll all be watching to see just how it goes. Hopefully it goes well.
To Ms. Gabor, you've done a lot of design work in cities like Toronto. When it comes to the density that we're dealing with in our large urban centres, there's less and less space to be able to do the kind of wonderful projects that Mr. Bienenstock was talking about. How closely are you working with city planners in Toronto?
5 p.m.
President, Canadian Institute of Planners
Very closely; I mean, we have a lot of work, and it's on either the public sector side or the development side. It's both sides of the fence.