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I was injecting opiates beforemy 17th birthday. I was homeless. Panhandling. I was arrested for shoplifting and prescription fraud. I tested positive for Hepatitis C. I burned so many bridges. At 25, I went to OATC. The doctors and CARE team helpedme somuch. I'm 7½ years drug free. I'm now in Toronto. My family gave me another chance. Doors are open for me. I have hope. Reach out for help. They will be there for you. They were there forme. Call OATC at 1-877-588-2043 today. | oatc.ca You can get the help you need right now. Call us today or visit our website to learn more about our addiction treatment programs. You can also walk into any OATC centre across Ontario to get started right away. We are open 365 days a year, and our CARE team is ready to help you. Putting Patients and Communities First. Scan here for more information "It's not hopeless. Getting off opioids isn't as hard as you think, you just have to reach out. There's no shame in asking." Alexander, 32 years old, Ottawa/Toronto Take Back Control Of Your Life. Choose Recovery. It seems that hardly a day goes by without news of another development pro- posal being met with oppo- sition from the residents in the neighbourhood around it. Belmont Village, Victo- ria at Park, and Lancaster at Bridgeport all spring im- mediately to mind. There are many others - too many to list - but each of these in- volves the construction of a large, multi-unit tower (or towers) that nearby resi- dents say will change the character and complexion of their neighbourhoods. When you think about it, that's kind of the point. We are no longer sleepy little Waterloo County, the community that at one time opposed (politically) mass transit options between here and Toronto, for fear we'd become a bedroom community of the GTA. Rather, we're one of the fas- test growing regions in the country, with many disaf- fected GTA residents now moving here for greater af- fordability and a better quality of life. How we manage this growth will be a critical de- terminant of our future sus- tainability. As much as it's under- standable that neighbour- ing residents will have diffi- culty with the changes around them, we must help them understand how im- portant these changes are. With an estimated 300,000 new residents expected to call Waterloo Region home in the next 30 years, we need to increase our current housing inventory. While by no means the only solution to a complex problem, the thousands of units that can be created in one, large development are an important piece of the puzzle. At its simplest, we must build up, not out. Intensifying our already built-up areas and reducing sprawl are key elements of the cities of the future. We have jobs in these cities, and we need housing for the people who will fill - or who have already filled - those jobs. Further, providing housing near to those jobs or near to efficient transit that can take people to those jobs, will finally begin to unravel our decades of dependence on automo- biles. In Waterloo Region, our protected countryside line offers even greater motiva- tion to intensify our cities. A vision that dates back nearly 50 years, our coun- tryside line was officially enshrined in municipal leg- islation in 2009. It has sur- vived a challenge at the On- tario Municipal Board (now the Ontario Land Tribunal) and it is a means of protect- ing farmland and other sen- sitive natural areas from new development. Of late, this boundary between where we can and cannot develop faces a new threat. A proposed gravel pit near the community of Shingletown in Wilmot Township will, according to residents, pose a risk to our groundwater. About 80 per cent of our region's water is supplied by groundwater aquifers, making them a precious natural asset. Not only could the new pit operate within a source water and regional well head protec- tion area, but it would also exist among a handful of other gravel pits that have extracted only 10 per cent of their available aggregate to date. Is another pit necessary? The issue comes before Wilmot council early next year. Incredibly important planning decisions lie be- fore us. We need more homes for people to live in, and we need to protect the resources around them for those homes to be sustain- able. The future of our chang- ing community depends on it. Columnist Mike Far- well is a broadcaster, MC and advocate. Follow him on Twitter at @far- well_WR, or connect with him via Mike.Far- well@rci.rogers.com. 'INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT PLANNING DECISIONS LIE BEFORE US' The land where a pair of historic homes on Lancaster Street West in Kitchener will become part of a large development. David Bebee photo OPINION WE NEED MORE HOMES FOR PEOPLE TO LIVE IN, AND WE NEED TO PROTECT THE RESOURCES AROUND THEM FOR THOSE HOMES TO BE SUSTAINABLE, WRITES MIKE FARWELL MIKE FARWELL Column