The Eastern Ontario Wardens’…

The Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC) representing 103 rural and small urban municipalities across Eastern Ontario, is pleased to respond to the Consideration of transition of land use planning matters to facilitate the introduction of a new policy statement issued under the Planning Act (ERO 019-9065).

The EOWC thanks the Ontario Government for getting the new Provincial Policy Planning Statement (PPS 2024) completed, including the amendment as part of the Greenbelt Plan. Executing the PPS provides municipal governments with stability to move forward on housing, infrastructure and community planning initiatives. Many of the policy tools that address housing concerns have been implemented through recent amendments to the Planning Act, which the PPS 2024 reinforces by creating a policy regime conducive to intensification and redevelopment for the purpose of providing needed residential development.

Reducing red-tape to speed up processes

The EOWC supports the Ontario Government’s goal of reducing red-tape as it relates to the PPS and planning. The EOWC’s member municipalities continue to experience barriers internal to provincial ministries, including response and processing time delays, particularly for local Official Plan and development applications. The EOWC requests that the Ontario Government continue to review and revise their internal ministry planning processes, and in partnership with municipalities, as reductions in the implementation processes could still be improved upon. The PPS alone will not get municipalities and the Province to the finish line, and the implementation of elements of the policies to speed up the process must be reviewed fulsomely.

As one example across the region, the County of Peterborough is being asked by the Ontario Government to repeal their Official Plan but allowing other upper-tier jurisdictions to simply make an amendment to their Official Plan. Therefore, if the County was allowed to make an amendment versus repeal the entire plan, this would help to speed up the process and would be equitable treatment to municipalities across the Province.

Housing-enabling infrastructure

The EOWC’s number one priority outlined in our 2024-2027 Strategic Plan is infrastructure. We agree that the updates made in the PPS 2024 around tying infrastructure to planning and Municipal Asset Management Plans, coming due in July of 2025, support an overall ‘whole of community’ approach. The EOWC is of the same view that infrastructure should be housing-enabling, that it should remain a key focus for all orders of government and must be supported and funded appropriately in rural and small urban communities.

Affordable Housing

The new PPS requires that minimum affordable housing (social, rent-geared to income, supportive, etc.) targets be established. This differs from past policy encouraging affordable and mixed housing without consistent definitions. This requirement is supported by the EOWC as we strongly encourage governments to sustainably and pragmatically invest in the various types of affordable housing that municipalities are legislated to own and operate within Ontario.

Agriculture lands

The EOWC is supportive of the requirement for an agricultural system to be protected. Agriculture is a leading economic driver across EOWC’s communities, and therefore legislation that assists in protecting and preserving prime agricultural lands is commended.

Municipal services

The EOWC supports the servicing policies outlined in section 3.6.1 of the PPS 2024. These policies enable municipalities to have more control over allocated municipal servicing planning and allocation.

The Growth Plan

The removal of the Growth Plan legislation in three of the EOWC’s member municipalities (City of Kawartha Lakes, Peterborough County and Northumberland County) will create a less restrictive policy environment by eliminating a policy layer to streamline planning approvals and review, which supports increasing the processing speed around applications.

The PPS 2024 directs planning authorities to base population and employment growth forecasts on Ontario Population Projections published by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The Growth Plan projections were established with the principles of intensification and maximizing infrastructure efficiency. Forecasted growth was then directed to established settlement and growth areas. MoF forecasts should continue to be formulated and aligned with other growth principles, objectives and policies of the PPS 2024. The removal of the 30-meter vegetative protection zone (VPZ) around all wetlands reduces costly studies for residents wishing to proceed with development applications in proximity to these areas. Focusing on the protection of Provincially Significant Wetlands (PSWs) is where the focus should be, and the new PPS reflects that focus.

Municipal staff resources

Municipalities' authority and planning jurisdiction are governed by the Ontario Government through the Planning Act. Any amendments made by the Ontario Government to the Planning Act or PPS necessitate implementation by the municipalities, creating a cascading effect. Many of these proposals signify a reversal of previous legislative amendments introduced by Bill 109 and Bill 23. The implementation of these earlier bills required significant time and effort from county and local municipal staff. While many of these reversals are welcomed, the time spent on these changes are resources that could otherwise have been allocated to development and housing approvals.

Overall, the EOWC is pleased to have the opportunity to respond to changes around the new PPS 2024 under the Planning Act and welcome continued collaboration and opportunities to have dialogue on behalf of the EOWC and our member municipalities.