Public involvement in Official Plan process gets OMB boost

AWARE Simcoe April 20 2013

After hearing about deficiencies in the public consultation process for Simcoe County’s Official Plan, the Ontario Municipal Board has extended the deadline to June 20 to allow members of the public to register as participants.

At a pre-hearing meeting on Friday, AWARE Simcoe policy committee chair Sandy Agnew informed OMB panel Chair Sylvia Sutherland and member Mary-Anne Sills of the County of Simcoe’s failure to hold any public meetings on its Draft Modified Official Plan. 

Simcoe County lawyer Roger Beaman pointed out that the OMB hearings are in themselves public meetings. The board then decided to extend a deadline for registering as a participant to June 20. Being a party allows a person to speak at the OMB hearings, but not call evidence or question witnesses. 

AWARE Simcoe urges all citizens who want to influence what Simcoe County, and their own community or neighbourhood, will look like in 2031 to attend the pre-hearings being held this summer and register.

The next pre-hearing dates are June 20 and 21 at the Nottawasaga Inn in Alliston and August 29 and 30.

OMB Chair Sylvia Sutherland Ontario Municipal Board,

Dear Chair Sutherland:

I am writing you directly based on my discussions with Ryan Co, OMB Planner, who advised that, as participants, we are not subject to the same process as appellants and parties, and that I should raise our concerns about the lack of public meetings with you directly, at the PHC today. Our AWARE Simcoe membership wanted to bring this issue to your attention early in the OMB hearing process and to outline our concerns about the failure and indeed, refusal of Simcoe County to hold even a single public meeting on this substantially amended Official Plan.

The Ontario Municipal Act, Section 15 (s) requires that in the course of preparation of an Official Plan at least one public meeting be held for the purpose of giving the public an opportunity to make representations in respect of the current proposed plan.

AWARE Simcoe wishes to bring to your attention the fact that no public meetings have been held on the Draft Modified Simcoe County Official Plan.

At its May 22, 2012 meeting, a majority of Simcoe County Council voted against an amendment by Penetanguishene Mayor Gerry Marshall to allow that “County of Simcoe Official Plan policies come back to County Council in October for final decision, rather than in August, in order to allow more time for local municipal review and comment.”

After the release of the Draft Modified Official Plan in June, 2012, I and other members of AWARE Simcoe, a non-profit citizens’ group dedicated to transparency in government and protection of water, the environment and health, became concerned about the inadequacy of public consultation to be carried out by the County of Simcoe.

This was a problem because we were aware, due to our interest in the Draft Modified Official Plan and our monitoring of County Council meetings, that during the first six months of 2012, Simcoe County planning staff met weekly with Infrastructure ministry officials in a bid to produce a document that would satisfy both parties. These meetings were not part of a public process involving the residents of Simcoe County.

As we consulted with our members and with partners, Environmental Defence and Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition, who collaborated with us in reviewing the Draft Modified Official Plan, our concern deepened and we prepared an electronic petition.

The first clause in the petition called on the County of Simcoe to “Organize a series of public meetings and find out what Simcoe County residents want before finalizing a blueprint that will guide changes to land use at a time of unprecedented development pressure. Barrie’s open public dialogue with residents regarding its annexed lands is a good model to follow.”

A total of 295 people signed the petition, which was submitted to the County of Simcoe on August 22 by AWARE Simcoe, Environmental Defence and Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition.

In early July, members of AWARE Simcoe learned of technical briefings on the Draft Modified Official Plan being carried out by the County of Simcoe for staff and politicians from the 16 lower-tier municipalities. The first session had already been held on June 28, but at the request of AWARE Simcoe, members of the public were allowed to attend the second session on July 10, if they pre-registered. However, we were informed at the start of the meeting that the public was not allowed to ask questions, make comments or record the proceedings for future reference.

AWARE Simcoe felt very strongly that public discussion should be an essential feature of the Draft Modified Official Plan process as it is only by engaging with neighbours and elected officials in a public forum that members of the public can gain a true understanding of what such a plan will mean to them – either directly in terms of impact on their neighbourhood or community, or indirectly through impact on their taxes.

As a result, AWARE Simcoe growth committee chair Sandy Agnew sent a letter to Simcoe County Council on September 3, 2012, urging that county council extend the comment period into late fall and organize information meetings across the county (the county is a vast area of 4,859 km2, encompassing 16 municipalities and a population of 446,000).

Once again arguing for the value of public input, Penetanguishene Mayor Gerry Marshall brought forward a motion at the September 25, 2012 County Council meeting that “staff be requested to organize two open houses before the end of October, 2012, both to be scheduled on the same day, with one being held in the afternoon, and the second in the evening, for the purposes of collecting further public input on the draft Modified County of Simcoe Official Plan.” To our dismay, this motion was defeated in a 16-11 vote.

The position taken by the County of Simcoe is that consultation undertaken five years ago will suffice. It is the view of members of AWARE Simcoe, as detailed in a motion passed by the board of directors on April 11, 2013, that the 2008 consultation dealt with a different document and a different population forecast.

The County of Simcoe’s own lawyer, Roger Beaman, acknowledged that fact in remarks made at the March 5 pre-hearing. The Draft Modified Official Plan is a “fair bit different“ to the Official Plan proposed in 2008, he said.

The Draft Modified Official Plan isn’t the only thing that has changed in the last five years. Simcoe County has changed. The population grew 5.6 per cent from 2006 to 2011 – an extra 23,859 residents, according to Statistics Canada. The residents who moved here after 2008 have the right to be consulted. The County of Simcoe, by maintaining that the 2008 proposed Official Plan is the same as the 2012 Draft Modified Official Plan, believes that it is complying with the letter of the law. That may or may not be – but there is no doubt that it falls short of meeting the spirit of the law.

The motion passed by AWARE Simcoe’s board of directors at their April 11, 2013 meeting “respectfully requests Ontario Municipal Board Chair Sylvia Sutherland to adjourn this hearing and order the County of Simcoe to undertake whatever public consultation the Chair deems necessary.”

I respectfully bring this issue to your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Agnew, AWARE Simcoe 

Attachments

– AWARE Simcoe comment August 20, 2012

– Text of petition August 26, 2012

– AWARE Simcoe letter to Simcoe County Council Sept. 3, 2013

– County Council minutes excerpt May 22, 2012

– AWARE Simcoe write up of Simcoe County Council vote on motion for public meetings October 17, 2012 – County Council minutes excerpt September 25, 2012

– Motion passed by AWARE Simcoe Board April 11, 2013