We have embarked on an ambitious initiative to update our Official Plan (OP). Many citizens have already provided feed back and have requested to be kept abreast of the project. At Council on 3/17 we approved the Terms of Reference for the request for proposals (RFP) for a consultant to support this effort.

It is truly ambitious as we are seeking to update plans which are long overdue for updating (the current parent OP dates back to 1970) and we are seeking to lay the groundwork for updating our secondary plans (i.e. the ones which govern our villages etc.) by providing unified policies to them. In the process of doing this we will also be bringing our Plans into conformity with various Provincial Plans such as Greenbelt Plan (2005) and Lake Simcoe Protection Plan (2009). We will also seek to be consistent with the 2014 Provincial Policy Statement (PPS). The latter is only becoming effective 04/30/14; given what I have read & understand about its amendments I am very pleased that we are going to be addressing it so quickly. Finally, we are targeting to establish our intensification strategy; the lack of the latter has been problematic as we are already dealing with applications & developments which are clearly manifestations of intensification.

As mentioned above I am glad to see us addressing the 2014 PPS because of amendments within it. What makes me excited? Per Tom Hilditch of Savanta, an environmental consulting firm, “The PPS has always had language like ‘conserve,’enhance,’ and ‘restore,’ but the language is stronger now around restoration and enhancement.” Per Julie Abouchar, an environmental lawyer “the new language is requiring planning authorites to support energy conservation and efficiency, reduce [greenhouse] emissions and climate change adaptation …..Whether they’re looking at transportation, or development and different uses of land,they’ll have to think about the impacts on climate change.”

Here is the Staff Report which was tabled at Council; its provides good summary of the initiative and describes the work plan of the Consultant to get us to our end point.

If you are interested in this initiative and want to keep informed about it as it progresses contact sallin@king.ca and ask to included in the email list for any updates, notifications of meetings.