County Official Plan a draw in Sydenham

Aug 30, 2012

Photo: Joe Gallivan at pubic meeting for the County’s Official Plan in Sydenham.

As part of their efforts to update county residents on the basic document of the county’s Official Plan, Frontenac County staff made a presentation to about 25 people at the Sydenham Public library on August 23.

The meeting, which was the third of five public meetings whose aim is getting public input to the county’s first Official Plan, was better attended than a similar meeting held in Sharbot Lake and Ompah a week earlier. The plan is a legal document that provides land use policies regarding growth and development, and also takes into consideration the social, economic and environmental issues of the County.

While the four lower-tier municipalities each have their own plans, which focus on specific issues in their municipalities, the County OP hopes to take a more regional, watershed-based approach. Its function is to deal with planning issues that cross regional boundaries as well as the City of Kingston and neighboring townships where county plans do not exist.

The county's Manager of Sustainability Planning Joe Gallivan said that though the meetings have been somewhat quiet so far, a lot of good ideas have sprung from them.

“I plan to talk to as many people as possible in advance of finalizing the document because this is a big issue and collaboration is key here. We want people to talk to us about what they feel will be important over the next 20 years in order to help us grow as a county,” Gallivan said.

He will present the plan to county council later this year or in early January 2013 for adoption.

Gallivan stressed that the main difference that adopting the OP will make for county residents is that once it's approved, the County of Frontenac Council will become the approval authority for all of the four townships’ plans.

“That is a big step forward because then the eight county councilors will be able to make the important decisions regarding the municipal OPs rather than the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Currently the ministry has strong positions on settlement and I have already had some conversations with them and have told them that we are not like other counties that have larger communities with full services. We are made up of a number of small communities that do not have the standard full services [i.e. water and sewer] that are available in other larger communities. People live here because they want to live in the countryside. The reality here right now is that a lot of the growth is going to be incremental and small and a lot of that growth will be on the lakes, not in the communities like Sydenham and Verona,” he said.

At the Sydenham meeting various issues were raised. The first was how the plan would handle the Endangered Species Act. Gallivan answered that the act and its rules will have to be recognized but that a lot of the guidelines are not as hard and fast as they seem.

One audience member wanted to see more regulations regarding creating lawns on lakeshores. “We need to protect our lakes and lakeshores by protecting the trees and other growth along them.”

Gallivan responded that he felt that the lake associations are going a long way in educating the public about the ribbon of life and also mentioned tree planting programs being sponsored by them.

Councilor McPhail asked about the growth studies that have been done for the plan.

Gallivan answered that the population projections show that the youngest populations will be in the south and that input from previous public meetings have shown that there is a need for more diverse housing across the county.

For those who missed the meetings but would like to voice their input, there is a survey regarding the OP that can be filled out online at the county’s website at www.frontenaccounty.ca

Two more meetings will take place, on Wolfe and Howe Islands on September 5 & 6.