Commenting on Amendment #1

By Miriam King Bradford Times January 20 2011
Of all Simcoe County municipalities, the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury may have the fewest complaints about the proposed Amendment #1 to the Province’s Growth Plan for the Simcoe County Region.
As Mayor Doug White noted, “We are the least affected, in terms of our vision… It’s the densities where we’re running into a problem.”

While other municipalities are struggling with cuts to their growth – Innisfil saw its numbers cut from 65,000, to 54,500 – BWG ‘s projected 2026 population increased from 47,800 in the Town’s Official Plan, to 50,500 in the Growth Plan, while its planned employment figure of 18,000 jobs was preserved.
Where the Town has significant concerns, said Director of Planning Geoff McKnight, is with proposed densities. If the province doesn’t exempt the new Strategic Industrial Employment Area along Highway 400 from the “greenfield” density requirements of 50 people or jobs per hectare, the Town could be in trouble.
Based on the nature of the area and the type of industry it is likely to attract, a consultant has suggested that a more reasonable density expectation for the 400 corridor is 19 people/jobs per ha. In that case, to achieve the Province’s density targets, the Town would have to increase population densities in other settlement areas to an incredible 81 people/jobs per ha.
“It’s un-implementable,” said McKnight.
“One of the unfortunate off-sheets of these policies is that planning becomes an equation,” he added – a one size-fits-all approach that creates unexpected consequences. “We can only hope that they will accept our concerns.”
The Town, while expressing support for the Growth Plan in principle, is asking the province to either exempt the employment lands from the density requirements, or establish a specific greenfield density target of 19 people/jobs per hectare for the area.
The municipality is also asking either for a reduction in the greenfield density target from 50 people/jobs per ha. to 40 people/jobs per ha., or a reduction in the intensification target for the built-up areas from 40% to 30%.
“What’s our next step if they don’t? Can we appeal?” asked Councillor James Leduc.
“All planning decisions must conform… with provincial policies and growth plans. There is no appeal of the Growth Plan,” McKnight replied. And bottom line, there is a more fundamental problem: “The provincial government doesn’t have sufficient faith in the municipalities of Simcoe County” to manage their own growth.
Mayor Doug White suggested that the process shows an “incredible lack of respect for the County,” since the County’s Growth Management Strategy was ignored by the Province, and no other area of the Greater Golden Horseshoe is being constrained or managed to the same degree. He called the situation “patently unfair,” and the fact that some municipalities are being set growth limits that are less than their current population, “absurd.”
He proposed a solution that could ease the anger of other County municipalities: add another 40,000 people to the County’s projected growth over the next 25 years – not a large figure, in planning terms.