South Algonquin pass amended Official Plan

South Algonquin Township council heard a presentation from Forbes Symon, senior planner with Jp2g Consultants Inc. at their May 1 meeting about amendments to their Official Plan. After some questions and discussion on the latest changes, council passed Bylaw 2024-789 later in the meeting to approve this Official Plan amendment. Symon and Mayor Ethel LaValley comment on this presentation and pending adoption of the Official Plan amendment.

South Algonquin Township council last discussed their Official Plan at a public meeting as part of their regular meeting on Dec. 6. Symon, from Jp2g Consultants Inc., the professional planning firm the township hired to assist with the review and drafting of the update of the Official Plan was there in person at the May 1 meeting to discuss the latest policy amendments to the plan, including engagement with Indigenous communities, climate change, intensification and redevelopment, additional residential units, growth management, waterfront development/redevelopment, housing, emergency management, the replacement of existing land use schedules with new, more accurate schedules covering land use, constraints and natural heritage features. South Algonquin’s Official Plan is a legal document under the Planning Act. It’s a strategic planning document guiding the growth, development and land use changes in the township. As the Official Plan has to be consistent with the provincial requirements for land use planning in the Provincial Policy Statement, 2020, it now has to be updated. The PPS 2020, which took effect May 1, 2020, works with other changes to land use planning systems to support the government’s aims to; increase housing, support jobs and reduce red tape. The PPS 2020 has added several new policy requirements for local official plans including; Indigenous consultation, climate change, wildfires and natural heritage planning.

Informing the public what the province and municipality’s land use planning policies are, a municipality’s official plan also ensures that growth is coordinated and serves community needs, helps the community realize how their land may be used now and in the future, determines the location of roads, parks, trails and other services, allows the establishment of municipal zoning bylaws to set local regulations on things like lot size or development setbacks from water, while meeting local and provincial interests provides a way to evaluate and settle conflicting land uses and shows municipal councils commitment to their community’s sustainable future.

According to the Planning Act, once approved, an official plan has to be revised 10 years after it comes into effect as a new official plan, and every five years thereafter (unless it has been superseded by a new official plan). It is being done in consultation with the approval authority for official plan changes, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Symon told council at their May 1 meeting that they had two documents in front of them; a redline revision document, updated to reflect all corrections that council gave after the public meeting, changes spoken of and follow up conversations with staff, and a technical bylaw Official Plan amendment, which is what’s required to be submitted to the province, theoretically adopted by council and intended to reflect the red line document verbatim. “The changes reflected in this document were reflective of the results of direction from council, the public meeting comments we received, the government agency comments we received, and I think we captured all the intent and desires of council the way we were required. Following the adoption of this document, there is the requirement that the municipality provide a notice of adoption and identify who the approval authority is for the amendment. In this case, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing,” he says.

Symon told council there is no appeal of their adoption of the Official Plan after it goes to the MMAH. “We are hopeful that if the Minister wishes additional things through this document, we’ll have an open dialogue with their staff on that. As council is aware, the communication and flow of information back and forth has been challenging but we can be hopeful that we will have dialogue if there’s going to be any final changes. That being said, the Minister’s decision is final and we can only proceed with the best recommended policy options for you at this time. It will be a challenge from here on in but we will continue to make every effort to engage the approval authority on a positive, constructive basis,” he says.

Symon then asked if there were any questions on the content or the process, to which council posed several, mostly to do with verbiage contained within the text and why it was there or not there. For instance, Councillor Joan Kuiack asked why “Riparian zoning” had been taken out of the document, to which Symon replied that it was not a significant change and that it was more of a technical phrase, but he said he’d do more work on it and get a more accurate answer for them. There were also questions on why PPS and MPS were not clearly defined as to what they stood for, verbiage in the text on the redevelopment of waterfront properties, septic system setbacks, and avoiding land use conflicts.

Symon said the Official plan update had been vetted three times so far, and that when a major piece of work like this is done, as a planner he aspires to get it 90 per cent right, but that you find the other 10 per cent, or small errors in the 12 to 16 months following the update. “I quite often recommend to council they have a housekeeping amendment after 12 months to pick up any errors that passed the update now, like mapping errors, cutoff sentences, or an oversight. You should anticipate this. I would recommend that be your standard procedure. The more you use the document, the more you’re going to find little warts in it. If you’re not finding errors, that means it’s not being used, in my opinion,” he says.

LaValley asked Symon what the timeline would be for approval by the MMAH, to which he replied it was usually within 160 days, but that the province was updating the PPS, so while that was going on, approvals may be frozen, so it could take longer than that. “But I would hope and will push for an approval by the end of 2024. That would be a realistic expectation,” he says.

Symon asked that if council passed the Official Plan amendment that day, they do so subject to several changes, including; a definition of the PPS, updating the statement on the previous Official Plan, deleting a sentence on the forestry industry and one on the tourism industry having the potential to expand, and finally adding the Algonquins of Ontario to the section on housing. The full text of the Official Plan, amendment number two, can be found at www.southalgonquin.ca/official-plan-review/

LaValley thanked Symon for all his hard work and effort on their Official Plan update. He replied that he got a tremendous amount of pleasure working with this council. “You’ve been very responsive and engaging and I love the questions you throw at me, challenging what I’m putting in front of you for review. That tells me you’re serious about your role and that’s all I can ever ask for. It’s a pleasure,” he says.

LaValley said she was delighted with Symon’s presentation on May 1. “I feel that we had good input from the public, our councillors and staff, even though it was a long process, it was well worth it. [Forbes] Symon was very open to our comments and our ideas. On a personal note, I liked that he made the trip up to our municipality in person,” she says.

Symon told The Bancroft Times that he was very pleased with the level of engagement in the Official Plan process by council, staff and the public. “I think collectively all the comments resulted in a comprehensive update to the Official Plan that will move the township forward in a positive and constructive manner.”

Michael Riley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Bancroft Times