The Review of proposed…

The Review of proposed policies adapted from A Place to Grow and Provincial Policy Statement through ERO 019-6813 suggests that municipalities will be required to plan for infrastructure needed to support development, such as stormwater management, water and wastewater infrastructure. The City of Cambridge will continue to plan for all infrastructure required to support development of the community, as we have for many years; however, the recent legislative changes to the Development Charges Act through Bill 23 will create significant challenges to ensure the City has adequate funding to build the required infrastructure in a timely manner.

The proposed policies of the PPS will fundamentally change the way land use planning is conducted in Ontario. The draft PPS eliminates many provincial planning objectives that have been in place since 2006 (inception of the Growth Plan). This will impact staff recommendations on development planning applications and policy projects such as the Official Plan review. Some of the main changes include:

- Elimination of provincial population and employment forecasts – lower tier municipalities (Cambridge) will be required to prepare their own population and employment forecasts to accommodate growth. Currently this is completed by the Region through a municipal comprehensive review process which includes the allocation of population and employment growth to individual area municipalities.

- Settlement boundary expansions – draft PPS permits urban expansions at any time, including at the request of a private landowner. The City may be under pressure to expand municipal infrastructure to service areas not intended for development.

- Elimination of Intensification and Density targets – draft PPS no longer contains provincial intensification and greenfield density targets – municipalities will be required to determine their own requirements.

- Agricultural severances – draft PPS proposes to permit up to three severances of an existing agricultural lot. Current Official Plan policies prohibit this.