The Prairie is Phenomenal'- The Impact of Canadian Natural Heritage Designations on Land Values and Urban Sprawl: Windsor v Paciorka Leaseholds

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, various Canadian provincial governments have engaged in both controlling urban sprawl and at the same time trying to preserve valuable natural features for future generations. One result of this process has been to diminish the value of lands caught up in the preservation effort. When the prospect of development is diminished, if not eliminated, the value of natural lands is severely reduced. There is also a quantifiable effect on the urban area itself as future growth is restricted to the existing metropolitan area. The resulting intensification of city growth leads to its own problems of denser rates of population and transportation gridlock. In Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal’s 2012 decision in Windsor v Paciorka Leasholds addressed some of these problems, but left larger questions unresolved.