“Everything’s changing.”
With those words, Centre Wellington Township planner Brett Salmon summed up a great deal about the strategic planning for his department.
Of all the departments in municipal government, few have seen changes like the planning department, nor the challenges that change presents.
Centre Wellington council is undertaking a strategic planning exercise that will help determine the goals and focus of each of its departments for the next ten years, with a five year review to ensure everyone stays on track. The Wellington Advertiser is doing a series of interviews with its department heads to indicate to citizens exactly where those department heads see what the municipality is focusing on.
It was not too long ago that the provincial government stayed away from provincial planning. Salmon said that premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves basically left planning to the local municipalities. But, since the Liberal government was elected in 2003, there has been a large amount of provincial policies that deal with planning, and municipalities must follow those instructions.
That includes:
– Places to Grow;
– the Provincial Policy Statement on growth, a guideline that municipalities will have to follow;
– source water protection; and
– an expansion of the Greenbelt around the Greater Toronto Area.
Salmon noted that the Greenbelt originally did not include any part of Centre Wellington, but now there is talk of enlarging it. “There is a perception there are lands in Centre Wellington that should be included,” he said, and, he added, “It’s hard to keep up.”
Making life even more difficult for local municipalities, Wellington County has to follow the provincial rules, and townships like Centre Wellington have to ensure their official plans and policies follow those of the county.
Salmon noted the county did on update on the guidelines from the Provincial Policy Statement last year, and last month it completed and approved its growth strategy.
Salmon said in the next few years, Centre Wellington will be doing the same on those files. “Long term, we need to catch up with the provincial stuff.”
As well, Centre Wellington needs to bring its zoning bylaw up to date. Make that bylaws. The township has never consolidated the zoning bylaws from the six municipalities that formed Centre Wellington in 1999. Salmon called it “a huge, time consuming undertaking,” and noted that when those six zoning bylaws are blended together to form one, they are “out of date,” and the township will have to start all over again.
He said he is hoping the township can present the merged bylaw to the public by this fall, and have it approved by council by the end of the year.
One reason it took so long is the township’s official plan was not approved until 2003. Centre Wellington could have adopted the county official plan, but decided that it could keep better control by writing its own, more specific rules, even as it was forced to accept all of the county’s general rules in that official plan. Unfortunately, the township’s official plan went through an appeal process, and it was not adopted until 2005, thus delaying the start on the zoning bylaw.
In the meantime, Salmon noted council is forging ahead. Last month, it awarded a contract to a firm that will help write the urban design rules for Centre Wellington. In 2009, Centre Wellington will start work on bringing its official plan up to date. That is the guide that indicates what will happen, and where it can happen in the township. Salmon said “certain things” have to be done next year, and, in 2010, the entire plan must undergo its five year review.
Salmon said as the county completes its planning work, “We’re trying to follow just behind.”
He added that there are things from the county from the Provincial Policy Statement that the township will simply roll into its own planning documents.
Sewer, water, pipes
Fergus and Elora are going to grow according to the provincial demands and the county growth forecasts. With growth in the urban part of the township will come a demand for sewer and water services.
The township has been adding new wells over the past few years, and the Fergus sewage treatment plant received an upgrade, and Elora’s plant is scheduled for an upgrade in the next year.
“The bigger challenge? It’s not so much the [sewage] plants … the real dilemma is the pipes in the ground,” said Salmon. “They’re not designed to accommodate that many units. “We’re going to have challenging times.”
He said it will take huge amounts of cash to complete those underground upgrades, because it means rebuilding entire streets.
He noted, too, that on the fringes of the old Fergus and Elora, the township and developers are already struggling with that. The Elora Meadows subdivision was first proposed in 2000, and it took until 2007 just to work out the service financing agreements.
And, speaking of fringe, West Garafraxa, Nichol, and Pilkington townships did plenty of building on the urban boundaries of Elora and Fergus, which is now recognized as horrible planning. Those subdivisions offered next to nothing in the way of municipal services.
Residents there use private septic systems and their own wells, but if there are problems and the province steps in, the township will have to accommodate those homes on its municipal services. The cost is so high that no township official wants to even estimate it, but it is likely in the multimillions. The planning department has identified 12 such fringe developments.
Salmon said rural effluent is yet another dilemma for sewage treatment plants. The province wants all rural septage treated at sewage treatment plants. Wellington County has been studying the issue for several years, but it is tough to find a solution. First, there are only four plants to be considered with the county, including one in Guelph, Mount Forest, and two in Centre Wellington in Fergus and Elora.
The problem engineer Dale Murray, of Triton Engineering, reported to the county is the rural septage is four times the concentration of urban sewage, and the local plants cannot treat it as they do urban sewage.
“That’s going to relate to planning,” Salmon said.
Green infrastructure
There are other issues that he foresees dealing with environmental issues.
“Municipalities will have to look at green infrastructure. First, they will have to determine what it looks like. It could include things like infiltration into sewage treatment plants from improperly connected drain spouts.
But it could also mean the township will have to consider such things as porous asphalt and concrete to reduce runoff. In both cases, water would be able to go through asphalt and concrete and re-enter the ground, rather than simply running off or evaporating.
Add to that the consideration of alternate energy sources. The county recently approved its policies for wind turbines to generate hydro.
That could include people in urban areas who want to generate their own hydro, too. Salmon said, though, while the county has policies for wind turbines, he suspects people in urban areas might need to turn to solar sources. But, he said, if someone wants a 60-foot high turbine in the urban areas, that will fall under zoning bylaws, and planning.
“Sooner or later, we’re going to get a demand for urban properties to put in their own energy sources,” he predicted, noting, “Solar is more likely.”
Salmon also noted that the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs is beginning to push farmers to get involved in biogas for energy. That means converting gases from such things as manure for hydro. He noted that wind and biogas hydro pays the same at 11 cents per kilowatt hour.
Salmon also noted sewage sludge might also become useful in producing biogas power, and added, “It seems the appetite for sludge spreading [on farmers’ fields] is disappearing.”
But biogas, too, provides its own problems. Farms using their own gas to convert to hydro for their own uses are one thing. But, Salmon wondered, what if someone is doing enough of that conversion to start selling it to a grid. Or, what if the farmer begins accepting outside food waste or sewage materials for that conversions?
That, too, will involve the planning department, zoning, and official plans likely, because that is “a whole other level of analysis.”
And, he noted, “There’s always going to be objections.”
He said Centre Wellington has not yet had any formal applications for wind turbines, but there have been some tests conducted.
As for solar, while biogas and wind energy provide 11 cents per kilowatt hour, solar can be worth 42 cents, so it will likely be more desired by urban people.
Salmon said solar panels can be located on a roof or in a back yard, and there is no noise issues with them, or any threat of them falling over onto other properties.
Protecting water
Salmon said that even without the growth, there will be planning issues. The province is insisting on source water protection, and, the Grand River and its tributaries will need water from rain.
“Even without the growth, it’s still complicated.”
Council will need to create a new zoning bylaw and incorporate a lot of those new rules and regulations. Source water protection will be a planning issue, although Salmon noted that the last two wells the township dug are at the fringe areas.
But, the township can no longer allow certain land uses in certain areas – in order to ensure drinking water is protected.
“New applications will have new regulations,” Salmon said. “Municipal wells are getting farther afield to eliminate sources [of contamination] that are already there.”
But that means locating them in agricultural areas, and it was agricultural contamination that caused the Walkerton water crises in 2000, so council and staff will have to be careful.
“It depends on the activities being performed,” Salmon noted.
Still, that issue will be tricky. Salmon said the township will not only have to consider the activities on, say industrial development, but also their secondary nature. For example, are chemicals being stored on the property?
“If they use chemicals, we may have to do a risk analysis,” he said.
He cited, for an example, a dry cleaning business, which sounds harmless enough. But, he noted, if it is located near a well head, the chemicals the business uses could cause problems in the water.
He added there are government grants available for businesses that want to reduce their risk of contamination of soil and water.
When considering all those issues, Salmon noted that the GIS mapping is “very useful.”
Lots of rules
There once was a time that someone wanting to do something on a parcel of land could simply calling the planning office and ask if it was legal according to the zoning bylaw.
Salmon said those days are done, for the simple reason there is so much complexity in the rules and regulations that a quick answer over the phone is impossible.
“We can’t do that now. There’s so much to be taken into consideration. We have to do a thorough analysis.”
Which leads to some more long term work for the planning department.
“We have to overhaul our site plan process,” he said.
That is setting the regulations for people who have gone through such things as official plans and zoning bylaw procedures. The rules keep getting more complex.
Next week: Intense growth in Fergus and Elora
