New updated content: 2024-10-21 11:07:37
An omnibus Official Plan Amendment (OPA) was to be considered at Planning and Housing Committee on August 28. The GA made a submission regarding the specific issue of Country Lot Subdivisions, which led to a meeting with the lead planner to further elaborate on the issue. We later learned that the Omnibus OPA will be brought to Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee on October 3 and Planning and Housing Committee on October 9.
New updated content: 2024-11-25 12:23:30
This omnibus amendment was passed on October 16 2024. We had made representation to the City regarding Country Lot Subdivisions and the confirmation that all wetlands, evaluated and unevaluated, were subject to the no net loss policy set in the OP. Both were included in the final approved version of the OPA.
New updated content: 2025-07-14 10:32:11
The Planning and Housing Committee and ARAC will consider a staff report at a joint meeting on June 18 regarding changes that must be made to the Official Plan to comply with the provisions of the new Provincial Planning Statement 2024. The only policy issue that is of immediate concern to the GA is the introduction of one-off applications for urban expansions, outside of the normal 5-year comprehensive review cycle. The staff report is consistent with the broad guidelines the City published in an October 2023 memo on how to deal with private applications for urban expansion, which the GA supported.
However, the Ontario Land Tribunal ruled on May 8, 2025 that the City’s fees were unlawful and the information requirements unreasonable. Therefore, City staff will undertake the necessary studies itself (see next item).
New Population and housing growth projections
At the same meeting, City staff outlined how it will proceed with providing an updated baseline for population and residential growth for the purpose of assessing such private applications for urban expansion. The methodology is sound and consistent with recent City practice, which the GA helped establish and supports. The only difference is that the Ministry of Finance population projections must now be used as a starting point. The GA will want to closely follow and analyze how the City intends to validate these projections.
It was also noted that the most recent Development Report states that in the period of 2021-2023 densification accounted for 69% of all new dwellings, while the target for that point in time was 45%. This validates POP’s argument that densification targets could be met without urban expansion.
