Growth plan needs more justification

The vote to adopt the Everett Secondary Plan into the township’s Official Plan will be put on hold possibly until June while the township seeks more information to justify its growth proposal.

Adjala-Tosorontio director of planning Jacquie Tschekalin said the municipality will be hiring an outside consultant to affirm the township’s position in moving ahead with its long-term vision for the rural community.

Up until now, Tschekalin said she’s been working on “general terms” when it comes to some of the growth numbers outlined in the proposal. She said the information the township is seeking should clear up any lingering questions the County of Simcoe and New Tecumseth has about the plan, particularly in how it meets the county and provincial growth visions over the next 20 years.

“There are still some concerns from New Tecumseth and the county, but we believe we are correct in our growth numbers,” she said.Last year the township announced plans to redevelop Everett over the coming decades. The plan, which sees the community gradually grow to 10,000 people beyond the next 30 years, calls for significant changes, including hundreds of new homes, new infrastructure, including the creation of a new sewage system, and the development of a downtown area.

The proposal would effectively double the township’s population, which currently stands around 11,000 people.

In recent weeks New Tecumseth staff has made it clear it doesn’t think the plan is sound.

New Tecumseth planning manager Eric Chandler believes the plan’s growth numbers will exceed the province’s 20-year population target for the municipality in the Places to Grow Act, which is 13,000 people over the next two decades.

Chandler said the town also remains unsatisfied with other parts of the plan.

“We still have concerns with the demonstration to the potential impact to Alliston as the primary settlement area,” he said. “Not only the commercial implications, but the general size related to the places to grow plan.”

Simcoe County director of planning, development and tourism David Parks said up until now the county has been acting in an advisory role to provide the township with a “shopping list” of policy information it will want to see once the plan is submitted for the final stage of approval.

“We are saying ‘Do you have the population growth? Do you have the intensification growth? How are you meeting those policies?’” he said. “Those are the kinds of answers we are looking for. We’re saying ‘Here are the questions, provide us with the answers.’”

Once the township submits its application to the county, it could take up to six months to review everything. But for now Parks said it’s too early to offer comment on the growth plan.

Residents have questioned the need for the growth, the thousands of dollars homeowners will be pay for sewer hook up costs, and the potential environmental impacts of the new sewage plant.

The municipality has made an effort to alleviate these concerns through information provided at several open houses and during private meetings with residents.