Arvin Prasad, Commissioner of Development Services, advised that this item provides an overview of the draft Regional Official Plan (ROP), which was released for public consultation on November 25, 2021. Staff are currently reviewing the draft ROP and will report back to the Development Services Committee with their comments in late March 2022.
Darryl Lyons, Senior Manager, Policy and Research, advised that York Region held a virtual statutory open house on January 25, 2022 to obtain input on the draft ROP. The Region will continue to obtain input on the draft ROP from its website, and a statutory public meeting to be held in May 2022. York Region is required to bring its Official Plan into conformity with the Provincial Growth Plan by July 1, 2022. To support York Region in reaching its deadline, municipalities have been requested to submit their comments to the Region by March 31, 2022.
Mr. Lyons advised that the City has undertaken extensive consultation on key policy areas that inform the draft ROP, including major transit station areas, employment conversion requests, and land need assessment. Following the City’s consultation there has been a significant amount of analysis undertaken, and extensive discussion at Sub-Committee, Development Services Committee, and Council Meetings. This input was considered as part of the Region’s ROP review process. Staff’s next report on this matter will focus on various areas, such as phasing to guide development, planning for infrastructure, employment area policy and mapping, and housing policies.
Paul Bottomley, Manager, Policy Research and Forecasting, Long Range Planning, York Region, provided a presentation on the draft ROP.
Teresa Cline, Manager, Policy and Environment, Long Range Planning, York Region was in attendance to help respond to questions from the Committee.
Committee discussed the following relative to the draft ROP:
- The need to increase local employment at a quicker pace to stimulate economic growth and to protect the environment;
- How York Region will help attract jobs to the Region;
- The employment opportunities that exist along transit lines;
- That the intensification targets in the draft ROP are minimum targets;
- The need to ensure there is affordable housing in York Region, as income has not kept up with the cost of housing;
- That York Region should set annual targets for affordable housing, and have a broader region-wide policy;
- The need to think about how the City will incorporate affordable housing into its plans;
- York Region has put in place incentives to encourage affordable housing, such as development charge deferrals;
- That York Region will be hiring a consultant to identify housing gaps, and to make recommendations on how to address these gaps;
- How the City can phase in growth and align it with appropriate infrastructure in new community areas;
- That the growth being proposed in the transit oriented communities has not been included in the draft ROP at this time, as the impact of this density on roads, water, and other infrastructure needs to be studied;
- That York Region staff are working with the Province to increase the amount of employment uses in the proposed Bridge Station Transit Oriented Community to ensure it becomes a destination;
- That Canada consider adopting the Singapore Housing Model, where the government owns a portion of the property, as a strategy to make housing more affordable to first time buyers.
City Staff, Mr. Bottomley and Ms. Cline responded to inquiries from the Committee.