Springwater mayor reports on meeting with municipal affairs minister

Report to Council and Senior Staff – prepared by Bill French – March 23 2015

This is a summary of the meeting between Mayor French and Deputy Mayor Allen with the Honourable Ted McMeekin, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and senior staff on Thursday March 19, 2015.

The Minister made it clear at the commencement of the meeting that he would not respond directly to any questions or provide comments to us at the meeting. He stated clearly that he was there to listen intently to our information.

The information we provided in our discussions was based on the 5 points we included in our letter of January 13^th to Ministers McMeekin and Duguid.

Using a number of planning documents and policies, including Springwater’s Official Plan, Springwater’s Growth Management Study, Midhurst Secondary Plan, Intergovernmental Action Plan (IGAP), Simcoe Area Growth Plan, Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), and Places to Grow (PTG) Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, we questioned the approval of the large developments around Midhurst.

We questioned the wisdom and basis of the approval for the 300 hectares of development around Midhurst, which far exceeds the population allocations in PTG Schedule 7.

We questioned why such a concentration of development in one area would be allowed when Elmvale, Hillsdale and Midhurst were identified as settlement areas that could grow.

We questioned the wisdom of taking 300 hectares of prime agricultural land out of production, with the potential of taking another 456 hectares in the next phase of approvals.

We queried why growth in Springwater would not be of a smaller scale and of a more rural character which would be commensurate with our existing hamlets and villages.

We asked the Minister to consider allowing Springwater to undertake a comprehensive review, growth management study and a Midhurst Core Master Plan study, resulting in a new Official Plan, before proceeding with the high density urban style development now being proposed.

This is a summary of the active discussions which occurred. The Minister concluded that he thought that the meeting was useful. We await a response from the Minister in due course.