Feature Article August 7,2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeMoney, the Environment and Official PlansNorth Frontenac was the latest township to bring forth their Official Plan. The 100-page document certainly makes for dry reading, but some of the provisions in the plan reveal much about the current thinking in the township about an issue that is becoming increasingly important.
Certain key elements in the Official Plan reveal the attitudes of the plans drafters towards the tug of war between environment and economics. In the case of North Frontenac, economics seems to have a heads up in the battle.
The 0.4 hectare (0.98 acre) minimum lot size for newly created lots is significantly smaller than the size proposed by Glenn Tunnock, the planner who was hired to put together the Official Plan. It contrasts with a 1 hectare (2.48 acre) minimum lot size for waterfront lots in the Official Plans of South Frontenac and Central Frontenac.
The Official Plan is merely a policy document. The actual wording in the Official Plan on lot size is lot sizes for rural residential development or waterfront residential development shall be no less than 0.4 ha (0.98 acres) but may be increased in size where deemed necessary for environmental or other land use planning reason. (4.3.2 A. page 51)
The lot size that is proposed by North Frontenacs Official Plan does not constitute the final decision on the matter. When North Frontenac brings in its comprehensive zoning bylaw, the minimum lot size for waterfront properties will have legal teeth.
Lot size is not the only relevant mater for lake ecology. Another major issue is the setback of development from shoreline. On the matter of setback, the North Frontenac is in line with other townships. The proposed setback is 30 m, or 100 feet from the high water mark.
However, the vegetative buffer around the lake that is proposed is looser than the one that has been put in place elsewhere. The plan states: The extent of shoreline activity areas will be based on achieving the following targets, wherever possible.
A) 25% of the shoreline frontage or up to 23 metres (76 feet) whichever is the lesser. 4.10.2 (vii) a page 71
This contrasts with a 9 metre access corridor within which a dock or a boathouse may be built in Central Frontenac.
Again, until the accompanying comprehensive zoning bylaw is brought forward, the actual regulations in North Frontenac will not be known, but the Official Plan does indicate that North Frontenac will be friendlier to development than their neighbours to the South.
It is hard to hold out standards from one township to another. The amount of Crown land in North Frontenac dwarfs that in Central or South Frontenac, and that places limits on development which the other townships dont face.
There are also clauses within the Official Plan about Lake Stewardship and Lake planning, and some severe restrictions on development on lakes with sensitive fish habitats.
Has North Frontenac struck the right balance between development and environment? Environmentalists will certainly have some concerns over some of the policy directions of the Official Plan. We wait with interest to see how the plan is implemented into the comprehensive zoning bylaw for the township.
