As the process for a wastewater environmental assessment (EA) wraps up, the Town of Erin and the Wellington County planning department are looking to “start a conversation” about growth.
County planner Sarah Wilhelm presented a report to council on June 5 to provide information about planning policies, planning approvals and action items to implement the town’s EA.
“We’re interested in starting a conversation about planning for growth in the town,” said Wilhelm.
“We wanted to give you a bird’s eye view of what would be needed to implement the infrastructure related to the wastewater servicing EA and then take the big step into how to manage the town’s future growth.”
Both Hillsburgh and Erin villages are expected to grow to a combined population range of 6,500 to 7,390 by 2036 and 7,000 to 10,040 by 2041.
“Council will need to put its mind to how much growth will go to both villages combined and then how much will go to each village individually,” said Wilhelm.
For zoning, Wilhelm said no zoning approvals are needed for the proposed sewage treatment station sites or the discharge outfall sites, but an official plan and zoning bylaw amendment would be required for the wastewater treatment plant.
Wilhelm said the town would also need to decide whether to fully update and retain its official plan, to scope the official plan to include only the urban areas or to repeal it and add special policies to the Wellington County official plan.
“Five of the seven municipalities use the county official plan as their local official plan. Centre Wellington uses their own official plan for their two urban areas, and Erin uses a local plan for both the urban and rural areas,” she said.
Wilhelm listed five action items:
– establishing the wastewater treatment site with official plan and zoning amendments;
– determining the official plan option the town wants to proceed with;
– developing a growth management strategy;
– allocating growth to both Hillsburgh and Erin; and
– preparing urban design guidelines and revising the comprehensive zoning bylaw.
“This really is a complex process; certainly all the technical work that’s been done on the environmental assessment has demonstrated that we don’t have all the answers,” said Wilhelm.
She said some of the “unknowns” are the public attitude toward growth, the ability of the town and residents to pay for wastewater treatment and the timing/ phasing of the wastewater servicing.
“It’s also important to note that none of these things are urgent; they don’t need to be done tomorrow or next month or even before the election,” she said.
Councillor Jeff Duncan said the EA, which is a technical document, was the easy part.
“Now we’re into the opinion of where and when and there’s a lot more subjectivity to the planning part of it that’s still to come for the rest of our term and the new council,” he said.
This report was a “40,000-foot look down” on planning for growth, said councillor Rob Smith.
“I think a lot of these things will domino into each other,” he said.
Councillor Matt Sammut said there needs to be more strategic planning.
“One of my frustrations sitting here for the last number of years is I’m a believer that if you have vision of what you want to accomplish and a strong plan to get there, you can do it. At this point, there’s no vision in my mind other than we’re going to grow,” he said.
“The next council is going to spend a fair amount of time, working with the public determining what they want Erin to look like in 10, 20, 30 years.”
Wilhelm agreed.
“That’s the important work you have ahead,” she said.
“Yes, other communities do all of the secondary plan exercises; they do very detailed work around developing guidance documents and plans in advance of the development happening so that it’s going to be following the vision that you and the community have developed together.”
Council received the report for information.
