Province Brings In Changes To How Land Use Planning Is Done In Ontario
by Bob Montgomery
Huron County's Planning Manager brought county council up to date at this week's council meeting on the new Provincial Planning Statement that was recently introduced by the Province of Ontario.
Denise Van Amersfoort explained the new Provincial Planning statement consolidates the Provincial Policy Statement and A Place to Grow, which is a Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, into a new Provincial Planning Statement. Van Amersfoort says many of the changes are geared more towards faster growing communities and will have little impact on Huron County but there are some that will impact Huron County.
Key Changes by Section, Relevant to Huron County:
Planning for People and Homes Policy 2.1.1 provides that planning authorities shall base population and employment growth forecasts on Ontario Population Projections published by the Ministry of Finance and may modify these projections as appropriate.
Policy 2.1.3 provides that, at the time of creating a new official plan and each official plan update, sufficient land shall be made available to accommodate an appropriate range and mix of land uses to meet projected needs for a time horizon of at least 20 years but not more than 30 years, informed by provincial guidance.
The policy also provides that planning for infrastructure, public service facilities, strategic growth areas and employment areas may extend beyond this time horizon.
Van Amersfoort says the policy will focus on how the county plans for settlement areas, making sure the county is providing opportunities for all different types of housing, and the opportunity for people to have residential units in agricultural settings. “I will note that a lot of these things are already in place in Huron County, and Huron County Policy Documents already reflect the new provincial direction, and therefore we don't have as many changes to make in Huron, which is a good thing and a sign of some very proactive planning being done.”
Van Amersfoort says when they're planning for growth in Huron County, one thing they want to make sure of is that the land base that's available and is designated for new growth aligns with where infrastructure investments have been made, so infrastructure planning has to be part of the regular planning process.
She adds, what's new for Huron County is that in the past they've had quite a bit of land designated for development, but because of the number of approvals in the last few years, some of the larger towns don't have enough land available for that development. As a result, they are looking for opportunities for intensification and expansion. But, they want to be very clear that if farmland is going to be used for urban settlement, they want to have minimum density requirements, and they want to make sure they make the best use of it.
