Guelph-Eramosa council gave the go-ahead for the township to send comments and concerns to the province about proposed changes to the Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan.
In spring of 2015 the province began reviewing the four provincial land use plans that manage growth, protect the natural environment and support economic development in the Greater Golden Horseshoe including: the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the Niagara Escarpment Plan, the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Green Belt.
“Only the growth plan applies to Guelph-Eramosa and that provides population targets, employment targets and density targets which are distributed amongst the county,” Guelph-Eramosa planning associate Kelsey Lang said at the July 11 council meeting.
In May 2015 the township submitted comments voicing concern about maintaining flexibility to allow lower tier municipalities to address unique challenges regardless of changes to provincial plans, requesting funding opportunities to help implement any provincial plan changes and requesting that all affected local municipalities be consulted before any changes.
Recently the province produced updated changes for the proposed growth plan including:
– increasing the minimum intensification target (amount of residential development that needs to occur within the built boundary) from 40 to 60 per cent. Currently Wellington County has an intensification target of 20%;
– increasing the minimum density target (number of people and jobs that must be accommodated during development of undeveloped lands) from 50 people and jobs per hectare to 80;
– increasing the number of criteria to expand a settlement area;
– a proposed separation of prime employment areas. In Lang’s report it states that all of the township’s current employment lands are outside settlement areas and would not see further growth under the new proposed plan;
– new regulations to protect the water resource system and natural heritage system as well as a requirement to undertake watershed planning;
– identification of ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conform to the Ontario Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan;
– an additional criterion was added for new mineral aggregate operations in prime agricultural areas; and
– a requirement to identify lands that make up the “agricultural support network” with the financial and physical impact to the agricultural system taken into consideration.
Township comments
At a strategic planning meeting Lang said council discussed some draft comments which she summarized in seven points to councillors at the July 11 meeting.
She said the township does not support the proposed density target or the intensification target, “as these do not consider the land-use context or resource constraints of small rural townships.”
Lang also said the township supports the ability of upper-tier municipalities to apply for alternative density and intensification targets.
“However the township is concerned that we will be forced to accept higher density and intensification targets when the current targets remain controversial and difficult to implement within a rural context,” she said.
She said that the proposed changes to the growth plan could limit the ability of small rural townships like Guelph-Eramosa to grow industrial and commercial businesses outside of settlement areas, especially since the global recessions.
“The township does not support the requirement that any new boundary considerations must wait for the upper tier municipality to initiate an official plan amendment or review as this may prevent important projects that are time sensitive such as expanding to accommodate a school and removes the ability of the township to initiate its own settlement boundary expansions,” Lang said.
The township also stated lower tier municipalities should have the flexibility to address unique challenges and funding opportunities should be made available to implement growth plan changes.
Mayor Chris White thanked Lang for putting the comments together.
“Exactly what we needed to say,” he said. “I think you’ve captured what we tried to indicate very succinctly.”
