Updated zoning bylaw amendment have drawn little comment from members of the public here.
In late December, Planner Sarah Wilhelm explained that the housekeeping amendment was to update, improve and make minor corrections to the township’s zoning bylaw.
Included were changes both township-wide and site specific.
Wilhelm said that within the township-wide changes were the measurements taken in determining a building height.
While currently measured from the finished grade – average elevation of ground,
Measurements would be taken from the centre of the front of the building.
Wilhelm said the intent was to avoid confusion where there are grade changes on a building lot.
Another change would be in regard to through lots – where a lot fronts and backs onto a street.
Current regulations allow either street to be deemed as the front lot line whereas the proposed change would deem the front lot line to be where the principal access to the property is located.
That change can about via discussions with chief building official Robert Kelly.
The current bylaws do not address the issue of barrier free parking.
Wilhelm noted the Ontario Building Code does have some standard provisions which require one space per 100 parking spaces be designated as barrier free.
She explained what is being proposed, is typical of many municipalities.
The new regulations would apply if a use required four or more spaces and would dictate the size of space, surface and identification in addition to the proximity and access to the entrance.
The number of spaces would be based on a sliding scale.
Wilhelm also noted the work done to deal with an inconsistency dealing with centre line and front yard setbacks.
Provisions were added to stated that in situations where both standards applied, the standard requiring the greater setback would apply.
Garden suite provisions have now increased the temporary timeframe from 10 to 20 years.
She noted a fairly new government bill which has been enacted to allow the suites to be in place for 20 years.
“And because of other emerging issues in the township, we wanted to clarify that only one garden suite is permitted on a lot with a single detached dwelling. We don’t want to have too many garden suites on a lot – which would create another problem for the township.”
Natural environment zone setback
Wilhelm said originally these zones were incorporated into Puslinch bylaw prior to generic regulations.
As such, the bylaw gives conservation authorities the ability to interpret and change the zone boundary, but not the 30m setback.
She explained there are cases where a 30m setback is not required and the old bylaws did not allow for any flexibility without a minor variance.
The change would allow for a reduction of this setback – if the conservation authority approved.
She added that all three conservation areas (covered within Puslinch) seemed agreeable to the change.
Wilhelm noted that the current minimum lot area in agricultural areas is 0.34 acres, the intent was to raise that to 1 acre – which is the norm across Wellington County
She added that one acre lots tend to be the standard rather than the third-acre lots.
Wilhelm said the smaller lots would still be allowed in the hamlets, but in looking at the rural character of the area, adopting the one-acre standard seemed to be the way to go.
Wilhelm said there are number of site specific changes including the Farnham cemetery expansion which had already gone through a public process.
She noted there are changes to Mini Lakes which includes the addition of regulations for accessory building setbacks, the inclusion of accessory buildings within the overall 35% lot coverage, and provisions added to that the terms ‘lot’ and ‘site’ are interchangeable.
She said Mini Lakes was approved at the Ontario Municipal Board a number of years ago, but explained there were agreements made with previous building officials on how to deal with accessory buildings and setbacks from the lake.
“It needs to be addressed property within the zoning.”
She noted there is recognition of what was done previously through the issuing of building permits, but makes clear provisions for the future.
Additional changes were made regarding the Fox Run II subdivision development regarding frontage exceptions and the site configuration of the development.
Astrid Clos, a planning consultant on behalf of Mini Lakes and Fox Run Phase II, favoured what was proposed.
She considered including the agreements made with previous chief building officials “a very positive move.”
The housekeeping bylaw was passed later that night.
