The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 35

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN "Suburbia" Page 5 Vuesday, November 11, Page 4 "Suburbia" i'HE OTTAWA CITIZEN 37 ,000 Acre "Greenbelt" Here Hailed As Model Live iri the 4 f' 3 ,0 Tuesday, November 11, 1953 ft- JZ It- r-: r-4' A Establisliment of a "Greenbelt" area of Ottawa. Important to city and sub-will keep for all time scenes such as this urban dwellers alike, within a few minutes driving distance Green Belt Continued The map shows the ideal, suburban location of LATEST MAP OF "GREEIVRELT" CIRCLES CAPITAL 1 ill! ill 4jrecn Belt. bee why the Ottawa public has so Green Belt. See why the Ottawa public has so i development, approximately 535 acres, about half of which is already built up. Department of National Defence vehicle proving grounds, about 435 acres.

A number of other small federal developments within the Greenbelt bring the total of current federal use up to 6,400 acres, to which will be added the new Experimental Farm extension. development will take up about 125 acres, leaving the balance for future expansion. The approximately 4,000 acres of Greenbelt lands being taken up by the Department of Agriculture for an extension to the Dominion Experimental Farm. 'D" Ottawa Airport, occupying about 3,600 acres. Blossom Park housing lettered areas indicate these and other areas as follows: Part of the Department of National Defence Connaught Ranges 1,550 acres.

Bells Corners hamlet, lying entirely within the Greenbelt, but not part of it. Of the "Island" hamlet's 940 acres, 125 acres is already developed; the new Lynwood housing. east to the dividing line between the Townships of Nepean and March on the west. Depth of the belt varies in different locations, but averages about two and a half miles. The semi-circular lines indicate two-mile Intervals from Parliament Hill.

Lot lines run north and south, and concession lines east and west. Over one quarter of the Greenbelt is either now in or committed to federal use, and Latest map of the 37,500 acres around Ottawa's urban fringes which the government has authorized the Federal District Commission to acquire to establish the Greenbelt as part of the Master Plan Tor the development of the National Capital. Shaded area indicates the location of the belt, which is continuous around the Capital's planned future urban limits from the Ottawa River on the Why not take the family out for a drive in the widely accepted their new "Green Belt Hamlet" with such enthusiasm. Residents will live in Parkland styled luxury with all the conveniences of city services. 3 internal Parks, a Shopping Centre, Churches, and all that makes life complete.

All homes in Lynwood are individual homes and not 'z doubles. And yet Lynwood homes sell from $13,735 to $17,900 with as low a full down payment as $1,380.. $700 will handle. Has Created Great Interest Among City Planners til I inn i I ill Government Treasury Board approval must be obtained. At its first meeting lecently, the land committee, which is composed of Major General Howard Kennedy, chairman; FDC Commissioner Col.

J. D. Fraser; and F. W. Berry, retired district manager of the Sun Life Assurance Company, dealt with options on the total of 2,200 acres, valued in excess of a million dollars.

Seven of these, being under $25,000, were immediately approved; the remainder, being individually over this amount, have been referred to Treasury Board. Additions were also made to the Commission's staff to handle the increased work of land administration. The Planning Division, under D. L. McDonald, was renamed the Planning and Property Division: and Frank Marshall, a member of the FDC planning staff since 1946, was appointed Chief of Properties.

Michael W. Millar, formerly with the Department of Public Works, joined the staff as Greenbelt Officer. A graduate of Ontario Agricultural College, Mr. Millar has had 21 years in the agricultural and farm administration field, including service with the On- tario Department of Health Industrial farms and the federal Veterans Land Act Administration. He managed a govern- ment stock farm at Acre, Palestine, for the British Colonial Office, and established and managed a seed farm at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

As real estate consultant on Greenbelt latid acquisitions the Commission has retained the services of L. M. "Pete" Write, who was Assessment Commissioner for the City of Ottawa until his retirement early this year. While the reasons for establishment of the' Greenbelt around the Capital have been explained, the Commission is often asked questions regarding the permissive uses of the lands within it. These uses will be somewhat different than they would have been if the Commission had succeeded, over the past 12 years, in its attempts to have the proposal carried out by zoning or official plan under the authority of the townships.

There is more Continued On Page 8 limit of the Greenbelt in order to ensure well planned and orderly future development, and, upon the request of the municipal councils, offered to make technical planning assistance available. Gloucester Township Council has since requested this assistance, and plans to guide the long range development of the township beyond the outer limit of the Greenbelt aro now being pared. As one of the most important functions of the Greenbelt is to confine Ottawa's future expansion to tha area which the city can economically provide with ordinary municipal services, chiefly water supply and sewage disposal, the problem arises of the provision of these essential services for housing developments the inner boundary of the belt. The Ontario Water Resources Commission is now working on this problem in the township of Nepean. As one of the primary purposes of establishing the Greenbelt is to protect the nearby farm industries from urban encroachment, the Commission hopes that most farmers will remain in occupancy of their land, after they have sold it to the Commission, on a system of long leases at fair rentals.

The terms of such leases will be negotiated between property owners and FDC when options to purchase are agreed upon. Financial settlements will follow as quickly, as possible after options are signed. Negotiations to date, in most cases, are being carried on directly between the Commission and the owner. It is pointed out that, should the owner desire to use the services of an agent, the agent must have credentials showing that he is actually the authorized agent of the owner. Naturally, in such cases the agent's fee must be paid by the owner.

At the end of October the FDC announced the details of special arrangements made to expedite Greenbelt land acquisitions and to handle their administration. A Land Committee has been appointed with power to approve the acquisition and financial settlement on all properties up to an individual cost of $25,000. On Greenbelt properties costing over this amount. From Page 4 The GreenbeU, creation of which has been urged for the past 10 years by the Federal District Commission as a vital part of the National Capital Plan, Is designed to: 1. Prevent further haphazard urban sprawl around the Capital, including ribbon building uevelopment along approach highways, and so protect adjacent- farming areas from being swallowed up by uncontrolled development.

2. Meet long-term National Capital planning needs by ensuring, when the central areas are built up, an adequate reserve of sites for fu- ture buildings for government and public institutional pur-. poses. 3. Place a practical and eco- nomic limit on the growth of the Capital by confining intensive building development to the area which can be provided with municipal services at reasonable cost.

About three fifths of the GreenbeU is in the township of Gloucester and the remainder, except for about 100 acres within the City of Ottawa, just west of Uplands Airport, is in the township of Nepean. The total of 37,500 acres is made up of: Farm and suburban use land 22,400 acres Wooded and waste lands i 6,800 acres Stream and bottom lands 900 acres Railway and Road use lands 1,000 acres Existing federal 6,400 acres While the FDC has prepared plans indicating the proposed Greenbelt boundaries, the cooperation of Gloucester and Nepean township Councils is being sought on practical modifications to minimize, so far as possible, dislocation to residents of the area in some locations. As the proportion of Greenbelt lands coming into Commission ownership increases, it is expected that discussions will be opened with Township councils on such problems as school rates and municipal taxes. Last summer the FDC recommended that the townships of Nepean and Gloucester take steps to zone the hamlets and rural areas beyond the outer owned will take upwards of two years. As one of the purposes of the Greenbelt is to protect the Capital's adjacent agricultural lands, many farmers will be encouraged to remain on their farms on long leases at rentals based on the earning power of the farm.

Continued On Page 5 I VILLAGE jj 7 HOMES services at reasonable cost. If the present rate of population growth continues, and current studies indicate it will, this figure will be reached by 1980. While in one sense the Greenbelt will have the effect of lim- "iting the Capital's future population to about 400,000 actually it Is not the number of inhabitants that is being limited, but rather the area within which the Capital, as a municipality, will provide the civic services chiefly water supply and sewage disposal which are essential to urban life. Outside the Greenbelt, satellite" communities, some existing (the commutor is already a familiar figure) and others anticipated will take care of whatever population growth that future need dictates. Greenbelts are not a complete new departure-in the city planning.

Some communities in the United States and Europe have developed them in a limited way, more in tht form of areas or wedges of adjacent open space. Actually the term itself is a little misleading for it implies parkland, but city planners have so far been unable to. invent a simple descriptive way of saying "controlled urban or "controlled transitional area between the urban center and the rural hear the FDC report on its progress and future plans in the development of the Capital, the Commission brief contained a recommendation that it be granted the funds estint-ated then at from 15 to 20 million dollars to acquire the lands necessary to establish the "belt" and so halt the increasingly serious sprawl of the urban area out into the surrounding farmlands. On June 18 last Prime Minister Diefenbaker announced that the commission would be empowered to take the lands into ownership, and on October 22 government authority was received to proceed with the Greenbelt acquisition program. Only the Ontario section of the National Capital Region Is involved in the present project as there is as yet no urgent problem of urban sprawl In the Quebec section surrounding the Hull area.

The approximately 600 property owners concerned are being offered current market prices for their properties. The necessary funds are being advanced to the Commission in the form of government loans, and five million dollars is available this fiscal year, which-ends March 31, 1959. Purchase of the approximately 30,000 awes privately What makes the Capital's greenbelt a project a such interest among city planners world over is the fact that it is continuous without gaps; and that all the lands comprising it will be in public ownership. Establishment of the Greenbelt was one of the most important recommendations made by Jacques Greber, the eminent French city planner who was retained by the Canadian government in 1945 to prepare the Master Plan for the development of the National Capital. In 1947 the proposal was adopted in principle by the Ottawa Planning Area Board, the local regional planning authority which operates under the Ontario Provincial Department of Planning, but power to implement the project by zoning or official plan rested with the two adjoining rural townships of Nepean and Glou- cester, within whose jurisdiction the Greenbelt lands lay.

The Federal District Commission, the government agency responsible for carrying out the Master Plan in co-operation with the local municipalities, came to realize, as the years patsed, that the proposal was unlikely to be implemented by municipal action. When, in 1946, a Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons was appointed to By Walter Bowker Director, Information Division Fnlal 11Hj let Commission The Greenbelt being established by the Federal District -Commission around Ottawa's urban fringes marks the first complete application in North America of this modern planning solution to what is often considered the most serious problem facing cities today that of "urban sprawl" the sporadic uncontrolled and uneconomic spread of fringe development into the surrounding countryside. The "belt" which averages two and a half miles in depth and covers an area of 57 square miles, runs in a continuous 28 mile are around the planned future urban limits of the Capital from the Ottawa River at Green Creek on the east to the river shore at the boundary between Nepean and March tows-ships on the west. Within the large semi-circle formed by the inner line of the Greenbelt and the Ontario shore of the Ottawa P.iver are the City of Ottawa, the residential Village of Rockcliffe Park, the Town of Eastview and suburban parts of the townships of Nepean and Gloucester. Their combined population today is 277,000, capable of expansion to about 400,000 within the 62 square mile area which can be supplied with municipal Ottawa's greenbeU ii at-! trading considerable attention both in Canada and in other countries.

The latest comment came from the United States in the widely read and influential Saturday Evening Post. In a lengthy editor- ial on urban recently published, the Post said: "The first North Am- eriean city tot meet the problem head on is probably Ottawa, the capital of Canada" I SALES OFFICE ON SITE OPEN 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. I I EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK TER0M COfSTflU CTIQM CO. ITD.

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