South Frontenac Official Plan Public Meeting

Jeff Green | Aug 12, 2015

Township hopes to submit plan by mid-September

South Frontenac Council interrupted their summer meeting break to hold a special meeting on Tuesday, August 11. The only item on the agenda was a statutory public meeting to gather input from council and members of the public regarding the township's draft Official Plan, which needs to be reviewed every five years.

The draft plan has already been submitted to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs for comment, and was the subject of an open house in July that drew 50 people. Along with the draft plan, planner Lindsay Mills presented Council with a summary of all the oral comments from the meeting along with a number of written comments he has received, some as late as this week.

He pointed out a number of points of contention between what Council has said they would like to see in the plan and what the ministry is indicating they will accept.

In 2001, with the adoption of the first South Frontenac Official Plan, a limit of three new lots could be subdivided out of an existing lot, and Council has said it wants to increase that to five lots.

“The ministry has indicated they will not accept that but Council wants it to remain so it is still in the plan,” said Mills.

The ministry is also asking for a new provision, that both Mills and Council consider will be a detriment to township residents hoping to develop their properties without providing any improvement to the environment.

That provision is that all development within 120 metres of any body of water will be prohibited unless a full-blown environmental assessment is done.

“I think this is a problem for us. Our current practice is to seek comment from the relevant conservation authority about waterfront development and they essentially do what I would call a scoped study. If they indicate a full-blown study is necessary we require one. If this goes through it will add costs to private landowners that are not necessary and will change the pattern of development in the township,” said Mills.

As well, the ministry is requiring that “all private lanes be 'condominiumised'” said Mills, which he described as a “solution to a problem that does not exist.” Private lanes in South Frontenac are improved every time there is a new lot created on them as part of the approval process, and the township has been providing funding on an annual basis for the improvement of lane ways.

“Emergency vehicles are able to access properties on those lanes, which is what the ministry is concerned with,” Mills added.

Most members of Council had comments and suggestions to add to those from the public regarding the plan.

Councilor Ross Sutherland thought a provision prohibiting privately run common septic and water systems should be softened.

Councilor Ron Sleeth said the township should stand firm on the five lots, saying, “That has been a good model for development in South Frontenac, and is easier and fairer for property owners than a plan of condominium or subdivision.”

When asked by Councilor John McDougall if he will be waiting for Frontenac County to complete their Official Plan before submitting the South Frontenac plan, planner Lindsay Mills said that as far as he is concerned “It is full speed ahead; this has been delayed for too long. If the County OP comes in while this is in process, we will deal with that at the time.”

Members of Council and the public talked about the idea of introducing something in the plan about a “community fit” in addition to the technical requirements for a plan of subdivision.

Mike Keene, a township resident and planner with Fotenn, which is in the midst of developing two subdivisions in the township, said that the township might consider fine tuning the areas designated as hamlets in the township to fit the geography and patterns of development.

At the end of the meeting, CAO Wayne Orr said that a final draft plan will be ready for Council to consider at a Committee of the Whole meeting that is scheduled for September 8. “If that plan is acceptable, we can look at township approval on September 15, or we can put it off until later if Council wishes to do so.”

Once the plan is approved by the township it will go to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. But the process will not be complete, particularly if, as is likely, the ministry will want further changes.

A complicating factor is that once the Frontenac County Official Plan has been approved by the ministry, the County will replace the ministry as the approving body for township plans