Wellington County officials will seek a meeting with the minister of municipal affairs to discuss council’s concerns with proposed changes to provincial policy documents.
At the June 30 meeting, county council agreed to apply for a delegation to meet with minister Bill Mauro at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) convention set for Aug. 16 to 19 in Niagara Falls, even though the deadline to do so was the previous day.
The decision was made during discussion of the county planning committee report on proposed changes to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and the Greenbelt Plan.
The province has initiated a coordinated land use planning review of those plans, as well as the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Niagara Escarpment Plan. However only the first two impact Wellington County.
“The province is intruding too far into municipal planning, leaving little room for citizens to have meaningful input into the future of their own communities,” states a report from Mark Paoli, the county’s manager of policy planning.
The report also states the province’s review is an opportunity for the plans to reduce overlap with the provincial policy statement (PPS) and focus more on growth management.
“Instead, the scope of the plans has broadened to include a number of topics that are already adequately addressed in the PPS, so should be added to the PPS,” including agriculture, natural heritage, cultural heritage and climate change, the report continues.
The report indicates the county continues to take the position the Greenbelt Plan “is doing its intended job reasonably well, and we see no rationale for expanding beyond its current boundary in Wellington County.” The county also maintains municipal support should be a requirement.
On the growth plan, the report states the county is concerned about the upward pressure on targets and notes “major density increases are not accepted by the public in small-town Ontario.”
“One of our biggest concerns is our rate of growth,” said Centre Wellington Mayor Kelly Linton. “I hear from all kinds of residents of Centre Wellington that we have to maintain that small-town feel. Well, how can you maintain that small town feel when you’re forced to meet these targets … our hands our getting more tied every day.”
Councillor Andy Lennox, chair of the county’s planning committee, said, “It seems like they’re trying to wrestle more of the control away from us at the local level.”
Lennox said there are also concerns about creating “another layer of bureaucracy for our residents and the development community to deal with.”
In addition to supporting the county’s position, Lennox urged councillors to encourage their local municipalities to also provide comments.
“I think this is a very important issue,” said Lennox. “It’s about how open for business we can be in Wellington County.”
Councillor Chris White said he is concerned the policy changes could limit commercial and industrial expansion in local communities.
“This stuff is incredible and we’ve really got to look at where it’s going to put us down the road,” said White. “They just don’t understand that in order for us to be sustainable we need to have some growth.”
White said with the residential density levels the province is expecting in its growth policy, “you’re talking five and six storeys in Rockwood. It’s not compatible.”
Councillor Shawn Watters said municipalities need to “get ahead of the curve” and put in place growth strategies and environmental safeguards so the province doesn’t impose such measures locally.
“My concern is that if we don’t have a handle on that and do a really clear mapping exercise on that, the province is going to come in and implement their own vision,” Watters said.
“That’s one of the reasons we’ve put this out when we did so local municipalities can deal with it” before the deadline for commenting ends, explained planning director Gary Cousins.
“As far as being ahead of the curve, at the moment the province is throwing fastballs.”
Councillor Doug Breen said the provincial policies are based on good ideas that have been poorly implemented by the province.
“I really don’t object to green belting as a concept,” said Breen. “What I do have problems with is the green belt legislation.”
Breen noted he sometimes finds himself opposing legislation on concepts that most local residents, including himself, actually agree with, due to poorly-crafted legislation.
“How can you be against green energy? But the Green Energy Act has been an absolute disaster. The problem is in the legislation – the devil is in the details,” Breen continued.
He said he agreed with Watters the county needs to be proactive on planning matters in order to avoid giving the province an excuse to interfere.
“If we’re not ready for it we’re going to have something come out of Queen’s Park and have it shoved down our throats … what we need to do is be so far ahead on this that people in Queens Park say, ‘You know we don’t need to look at Wellington County. They know what they’re doing. They get it.”
Lennox suggested, “Locally I think we’ve been trying to be very good custodians of our land and maybe we’re not being recognized for it.”
White said, “We can’t silo this thing. We’ve got to continue to think about economic development, because this is hand in hand.
“This is absolutely about protecting the landscape and all that, but it’s also about maintaining our communities … there have to be jobs.”
Warden George Bridge said the province has to recognize rural areas can’t keep bearing the brunt of the impact of the social and economic costs of implementing provincial policy.
“We constantly get it in the rural area. We pay the bills. We pay the bill for the fresh water that everybody enjoys in the city. We pay the bill for the fresh food costs …
“We can’t do it alone. We can’t pay the bills on our small budgets.”
Bridge agreed with councillor Lynda White’s suggestion that the county request a delegation with the minster at the AMO convention.
Clerk Donna Bryce pointed out the deadline was the previous day, but council agreed the request should be made regardless.
