Staff came to Planning Committee on March 26, seeking direction to table a draft in June, confirmation that there was no need for more employment and other non-residential land, to let them know that the LEAR update is delayed, and to table two important reports: an update of the Comparative Municipal Fiscal Impact Analysis by Hemson Consulting Limited (680 KB, 81 pp.), and an update of the Employment Lands Study, 2012 (1.6 MB, 86 pp.) by Danix Management Limited.

The item was No. 14 on the agenda. Eight delegations spoke.  Nine delegations left before the item came around.  Twelve parties, including the Alliance, sent in written comments.

A 1-page appendix to our comment dealt with the Hemson report. It concludes:

Even at the scope of analysis in this report, the conclusions are clear and underscore the “grow in, not out” development strategy that has been received wisdom for well over a decade, though in actual practice both urban and rural sprawl has continued. The report correctly highlights the conclusion that Development Charges should be raised to the maximum allowed by law.

The employment land matters were deferred to the next meeting, on April 9.  At that meeting seven delegations spoke, all but one consultants or lawyers.  The Employment lands report was received as “Draft” and staff was directed to consult further.  Staff was also directed to consider specific “lands in the vicinity of North Service Road as a possible candidate for a Mixed-Use Centre designation” and to consider this while preparing the draft OPA to be tabled in June.