At the January 30 council planning meeting there is report on a Township initiated zoning bylaw of relevance to lands in the Oak Ridges Moraine.  It is being recommended by Staff as a means to maintain ability to protect the ORM despite Bill 23.  With Bill 23 the municipality is unable to apply Site Plan Control to residential units which are 10 units or less.  Applying site plan control ensures conformity with the ecological policies of the ORMCP, including the policies for landform conservation areas, minimum vegetation protection.  As the beautiful rolling landscape of King is a magnet for persons wanting to build a country estate this gap in ability to enforce compliance to the ORMCP is very disturbing.  The goal is not to stop new residential units, either a country estate or a 220 sq m home, being built but rather to ensure that such developments do not harm the ecological integrity of the ORM.  I don’t know enough to say that the proposed solution is the right one; but I know enough to agree that there is great urgency to coming up with something.  I also know that one of the options provided by the Ministry is not the right one:  implement an Interim Control Bylaw (ICBL).  The latter would stop all new residential units being built for a period of time.

No decisions are made at this meeting; this is the opportunity for public to ask questions, state concerns, show support or disagreement.  Contact clerks@king.ca to register for making a deputation and/or send in your comments by email to clerks@king.ca by noon on Monday,1/30 and they will be circulated to Council.  And I welcome you to contact me directly or make a comment on my blog.