By CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
COBDEN — Whitewater Region council is going to take its time in reviewing Official Plan Amendment #11. This is an amendment to the Renfrew County Official Plan which deals specifically with Whitewater Region.
While the Official Plan Amendment #11 (OPA 11) has been approved by previous councils and adopted by county council, it has never received approval from the province, which it requires.
For two hours last night, five Whitewater Region council members listened and discussed a draft decision from the province regarding OPA 11.
Township consultant Brian Whitehead from J2PG in Pembroke and county planner Charles Cheesman reviewed the decision from the province for council and provided how they felt council should respond regarding the decision.
Once the presentation was completed, Reeve Terry Millar said, “I think we really have to take our time on this. We need to give this a good study. We’re not planners. We don’t work with it every day.”
He wants the public to be interested in this official plan, since it affects them.
“We owe it to our residents to maybe even bring the public back in on this,” he said.
“I think we really have to study it and get some more advice from some people,” Reeve Millar said. “I’d like to get the public back involved and try to get some interest from the public and debate it and look at all options that are on the table.”
Giving some background on OPA 11, Mr. Cheesman noted, like Mr. Whitehead, he was present at the creation of the OPA 11.
“I was involved in the process when it came to the county and on movement to the province for approval, so I’ve got some background on that,” he said.
Mr. Cheeseman provided council with the most revised revision of OPA 11 from the province so the members are aware of what the most recent document looks like.
Knowing many of the council members have never dealt with an official plan, Mr. Cheesman provided an overview of what it is.
“Official plans contain policy that deal with the development of land, matters on how things are divided up, policies for development around water bodies and protection of water bodies, and protection policies for resources, such as mineral aggregate and agriculture,” he said. “Planning, itself, in a general term, is arranging things for the future. And planning as it applies to the future is arranging the land for the future.”
The province does play a role in land planning, he said. The province has become more involved in local land planning, and their interest in planning is set out in the Provincial Policy Statement.
“We are obligated under the Planning Act to be consistent with those policies,” he said.
Years ago, official plans had a lot of community policies and over time the province began providing policy, he added.
“That’s the reality we are up against,” Mr. Cheesman said. “I wanted to make you aware of that. That’s the hierarchy of planning in Ontario.”
Reeve Millar questioned why the province made it a statement instead of legislation, what the difference is and why, since it’s not legislated, the municipalities have to follow it.
“Under Section 3 of the Planning Act, there’s reference to the Provincial Policy Statement and in that section, or somewhere close it, it says all decisions must be consistent with the Provincial Policy Statement which is imbedded in the Planning Act,” Mr. Cheesman answered.
He noted that OPA 11 was created to allow the municipality greater control over decision making on planning issues at the local level; to promote growth in the Township of Whitewater Region in order to create employment and maintain a healthy economy; and to respond to comments, concerns and development restrictions on Muskrat Lake.
The township must sign off on this document and be comfortable with the policies for the municipality, he said.
Over the next 90 minutes, Mr. Cheesman and Mr. Whitehead reviewed the draft policy provided by the province and giving reasons why council should approve or not approve with the revisions provided.
At the end of the presentation, Mr. Cheesman said instead of passing a resolution agreeing to what had been discussed, the committee should ponder everything first to ensure they understand the document. He can come back another time for a final review. He also suggested that Paul Moreau, the county director of planning, attend a Whitewater council or committee to discuss the county’s official plan five year review process.
“The intent was to keep these two separate, but they are now coming together because of the time frame for both projects,” he said. “We will come out here and you can see what’s coming down, see the other shoe that’s dropping down on the county’s official plan.”
Mayor Hal Johnson said council would definitely be in favour of hearing about the county’s official plan.
“We are, after all, partners, in all that we do,” he
As for the next step, Mayor Johnson said council will review what was presented at this meeting so they are all sure they understand what was proposed. There would then be another meeting, possibly tied in with the county’s review, and the questions or comments would be what this council is most concerned with.
“We’re not fighting anything here,” he said. “We just need to address it in a fashion that is going to be appeasing our population and a lot of the questions that we have asked tonight have been questions that we want to answer, but I still think we need to discuss it.”
Two council members were absent and they may have questions and concerns, he added.
Reeve Millar agreed it’s important to learn about the county plan. However, this is a very important issue and should not be rushed, he added.
He said, “I’m not happy with some things in the past to do with the committees we had in place and how they were disbanded. Some things were not discussed that they would have liked to have discussed.”
Prior to the municipal election in 2014, the application for OPA 11 went through quick and there were some very unhappy people, the reeve said.
“I want to slow it down,” Reeve Millar stated. “I want this council to meet and debate all of this.”
There is “lots of good in the official plan,” but the question that needs to be answered is whether it’s right for Whitewater Region, he said.
Reeve Millar added, “We did not go into the option of what if we do nothing and I think that needs to be discussed.
“I don’t want to lose what you just showed us, but we have to look at that and consider it.”
He noted there are townships that operate under their own official plans and he wants to know what their reasons are if they are applicable to Whitewater.
“I think it should be a little slower process,” Reeve Millar said. “We need training. We don’t do this every day, Charles.”
Mr. Cheesman agreed and suggested that he and Mr. Whitehead prepare a draft response back to the province that the municipality could use in their own discussion.
Mayor Hal Johnson said, “That would be absolutely phenomenal.
“If we decide to go back to the public, that’s our decision, and it would be to get more questions for you guys to answer,” he said. “If we do that, that’s our responsibility, our decision, and we would do that as part of our getting these questions prepared for you and that will come as a result of our debate for all these items.”
Chief Administrative Officer Christine FitzSimons said she will schedule a planning meeting, which will include the OPA 11, for March 2.
Mr. Cheesman also suggested involving provincial ministry staff to be invited, which Mayor Johnson answered in the affirmative.
After the meeting, Mr. Whitehead said there was no decision made by this council tonight because many of the council members are new, and two of them were absent.
“This is a big decision and they want to make the right decision,” he said.
If this council decides to get its own official plan, he said it could incorporate elements of what’s been done. However, Mr. Whitehead added, regardless of whose official plan it is, the province still has final approval.
“I think if they made that decision, it would send some messages to the province about the work that has been done on Muskrat Lake,” he said.
Currently, there’s an offer from the province to allow development on Muskrat Lake and if council turns it down, that would send a message, he added.
Explaining, Mr. Whitehead said for lots that were already established on Muskrat Lake, the setback was only 30 metres for a home and a septic system. For new lots, the setback remained 30 metres for a home but 300 metres for a septic system.
“I think there’s a lot of confusion out there,” he said. “For whatever reason, perhaps they don’t like or have an issue with some element of the policy framework, they see it as a weakness and an example of government imposing restrictions that are ridiculous.”
He agreed, noting there is no science behind the 300 metre setback.
“That’s a ridiculous requirement,” Mr. Whitehead said.” It’s a sore spot. It’s an easy thing to pick out and latch onto.”
Under the proposed framework, the province is going back to the 30 metre setback for house and septic, he added.
Mr. Whitehead was hired as a consultant by the township in 2006 to help the council go through the process to create an official plan for Whitewater Region. During the process, the director of development and property came to an official plan committee meeting and encouraged the members to go under the county’s official plan.
“We took a year to make that decision,” he said. “We delayed the process a year just to make that decision.
“At the time, the committee felt it was a better deal if they amended the official plan.
“My recommendation probably would have been to do their own official plan.”
However, Mr. Whitehead believes the current council has the best of both worlds, because OPA 11 is creating opportunities for growth and development within Whitewater Region, while the county deals with the province on various other issues.
“If the township wants to start over, they would have to do that with the province on their own and with all those same issues,” he said.
Once the council sees the presentation from the county and sees the scope of issues that the province is going to present to them, and they still want to do an official plan, “then they do it with their eyes open,” he said.
Mr. Whitehead noted Whitewater Region is the only municipality in Renfrew County that has waterfront designation, has the only lake trout lake in Ontario that would be allowed development to happen, is one of the few municipalities allowed to have cluster development on private roads and is one of the few municipalities that has not been challenged by the province on private roads.
He suggested that if this council wants it own official plan, it can agree to OPA 11 and then start working on its own official plan.
“There are lots of options for them,” Mr. Whitehead said. “They can do whatever they think is the right thing to do. They are in charge. I’m just an advisor.”
