DEVELOPMENT SERVICES COMMITTEE
	TO:	Mayor and Members of Council
	FROM:	Valerie Shuttleworth, Director of Planning and Urban Design Jim Baird, Commissioner of Development Services
	PREPARED BY:	Elisabeth Silva Stewart, Senior Planner
	DATE OF MEETING:	2003-Mar-04
	SUBJECT:	New Technical Official Plan Amendment

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT a Public Meeting be called to consider a Technical Amendment to facilitate a new consolidation of the Official Plan (Revised 1987), as amended.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to obtain approval to call a Public Meeting to consider a Technical Amendment to the Official Plan to facilitate a new consolidation of the Official Plan (Revised 1987), as amended, currently nearing completion.

BACKGROUND:

The current Official Plan (Revised 1987) was adopted on November 10, 1987, and approved by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs in 1993. A consolidation of the Official Plan produced in 1999, consolidated an additional 55 amendments. Official Plan Amendment No.58, a technical amendment was necessary to support the 1999 consolidation; Council adopted that technical amendment prior to the consolidation in 1999.

Since the consolidation in 1999 the Official Plan (Revised 1987) has been amended an additional 38 times (2 of these amendments are currently before the Ontario Municipal Board). A new consolidation is required to comprehensively update the Official Plan document to incorporate all approved policies and to make the document more effective for use by Council, staff and the public. We are also able to incorporate more precise base linework to the Official Plan Schedules, which will depict the various land use designations with greater clarity and precision.

OPTIONS/DISCUSSION:

Technical Amendment to the Official Plan is required

Staff have prepared a draft consolidation of the Official Plan (Revised 1987) as amended incorporating all the amendments and other approvals since the last consolidation. During the consolidation process it became clear that there was also a need to introduce a range of technical amendments to:

- Facilitate the consolidation of the Official Plan (Revised 1987), as amended, to incorporate approved amendments and the modifications arising from resolved deferrals and referrals

- Revise numbering or section referencing and the arrangement of provisions

- Amend punctuation or language to achieve clarification or a uniform mode of expression

- Correct clerical, grammatical or typographical errors

- Revise titles of, and references to, Legislative Acts, Provincial or Federal government departments or agencies as appropriate

- Delete obsolete references and provisions

- Replace existing Figures and Schedules with up to date digital mapping

Technical amendments do not alter the intent of the Official Plan; they serve to clarify, correct and update the Plan to ensure currency.

These amendments can be incorporated into a single document to be adopted by Council.

Approval by the Region is the appropriate route

The Region has the ability to “defer” approval of a portion of an Official Plan Amendment, and to “modify” an Official Plan Amendment. These two functions are beneficial when dealing with a Technical Official Plan Amendment that facilitates a new Official Plan Consolidation. Approval authority for this technical amendment should therefore remain with the Region (i.e. there should be no request to delegate OPA approval to Town).

There are several Official Plan Amendments in progress during the preparation of this new Consolidation of the Official Plan. The upcoming new Official Plan Consolidation will again attempt to incorporate the policies of those Official Plan Amendments that have received adoption by Council, and are in the process of acquiring final approval (either because they are in the notice period, require Regional approval, or are before the Ontario Municipal Board) by having them incorporated into this Technical Amendment with “deferral” notations and requesting “deferral” of these sections of the Technical Amendment. Once final approval of these amendments occurs, the Region will simply delete these deferred sections.

This process facilitates the incorporation of relevant adopted Council policies up to the date of the publication of the new Consolidated Official Plan.

Public Meeting should be held

Although Section 7.13 of the Official Plan (Revised 1987), as amended, provides for reduced notice requirements for Technical Amendments to the Official Plan, a Statutory Public Meeting is required to consider the proposed technical amendment to the Official Plan, prior to Council adoption and approval.

Therefore, it is recommended that the Development Services Committee approve the scheduling of a Public Meeting by staff to consider the technical amendment to the Official Plan.

Council may forgo Public Meetings for Technical Amendments in the future

An amendment to the Town’s current policy to allow Council to forgo public notification and public meetings in connection with technical housekeeping Official Plan Amendments would save the Town time and money associated with the process. The Town would benefit from such a procedural change since technical amendments do not alter the intent of the Official Plan. Technical amendments would still require Council adoption. It is therefore, proposed to incorporate such a provision as part of the planned Official Plan Amendment.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

The ability to forgo the public notification process for Technical Official Plan Amendments will produce a savings to the Town in time and money.

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

All departments will benefit from a new Consolidated Official Plan.

ATTACHMENTS:

None

Valerie Shuttleworth, M.C.I.P., R.P.P. Director of Planning and Urban Design

Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P. Commissioner of Development Services

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