The event took place at the Port Whitby Marina and featured plenty of queries and comments from local politicians.

Bruce Krushelnicki, chief of planning for the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Renewal, did a presentation on the growth plan, telling the audience that the Greater Golden Horseshoe area is a low-density housing area in terms of worldwide standards. He said there is too great a reliance on cars, which means more smog days and bad health effects, among other things.

Increasing density is needed within areas of the town that are already built up, not beyond in the green space, Mr. Krushelnicki said.

Councillors Joe Drumm and Don Mitchell, school board trustee John Dolstra and Regional Chairman Roger Anderson all addressed the speaker.

Mr. Anderson said Durham is already green as mandated in the growth plan. Anyone can get off the 401 and within eight minutes be in undeveloped areas, he said, adding that the region is 80 per cent green.

"This is the best planned community in the 905," he said.

The parts of Durham that have been built up on the periphery, like Brooklin, are the result of local decisions being overturned by the Ontario Municipal Board, Mr. Anderson said.

"If you live in Brooklin, you are lucky you are here because we didn't approve you," he said.

Mayor Pat Perkins said the meeting was a bit different from past town halls, where more residents usually speak. She said this one was an anomaly because clarity was needed about the growth plan.

"They usually tend to be much more community-driven, but I don't think it was necessarily a bad thing," she said. "A lot of information came out that needed to be spoken to."