Niagara Escarpment Plan awarded Ontario Professional Planners Institute's Len Gertler Award of Distinction
GEORGETOWN, ON, Oct. 14, 2011 /CNW/ - Ontario's visionary Niagara Escarpment Plan has been honoured with the Len Gertler Award of Distinction by the Ontario Institute of Planners (OPPI). The award was presented in Ottawa on October 13th at the OPPI's annual conference.
This special award has been named for the late Len Gertler, FCIP, founding director of the school of planning at the University of Waterloo, and a leading planner in Ontario for many years, whose work and recommendations to the government on the protection of the Niagara Escarpment led to the development of the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act, 1973 and the Niagara Escarpment Plan in 1985.
The Niagara Escarpment Plan is regarded as Canada's first large-scale environmental land use plan. It is intended to balance protection, conservation and sustainable development to ensure that the Niagara Escarpment will remain substantially a continuous natural landscape for future generations.
The Niagara Escarpment is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a designation that recognizes the area's unique natural features and ecological importance. Traversing 725 km through Canada's most populated region, the Niagara Escarpment provides vital habitat for hundreds of species, and is the headwaters source for much of Ontario's drinking water.
An agency of Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources, the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) was established by the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act, 1973. The NEC works on behalf of the people of Ontario to preserve the UNESCO-designated Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve, administering the Niagara Escarpment Plan to ensure that only such development occurs as is compatible with the Plan's guidelines.
The Ontario Professional Planners Institute is the recognized voice of the Province's planning profession. More than 3,500 members work in government, private practice, universities, and non-profit agencies in the fields of urban and rural development, urban design, environmental planning, transportation, health and social services, heritage conservation, housing, and economic development.
For further information:
| Karen Carruthers, Communications Officer Niagara Escarpment Commission 232 Guelph St. Georgetown, ON L7G 4B1 Tel: 905-877-6172 Fax: 905-873-7452 E-mail: nec@escarpment.org www.escarpment.org @Escarpment_NEC on Twitter | Loretta Ryan, Director, Public Affairs Ontario Professional Planners Institute 234 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 201 Toronto, ON M4P 1K5 Tel: 416-483-1873 x226 or 1-800-668-1448 Fax: 416-483-7830 E-mail: policy@ontarioplanners.on.ca www.ontarioplanners.on.ca |