RE: The Provincial Planning…

RE: The Provincial Planning Statement 2023 and Residential Lot Creation in Prime Agricultural Areas

We are hardworking Ontario public servants who presently live in Oxford County with our two young children. We are employed as a public educator and as legal counsel for the Ministry of the Attorney General.

We are middle-class Ontarians who have been affected by the current housing crisis in Ontario. Our annual incomes combined do not go far enough for us to purchase an existing home nor afford a plot of land to build a house for our young children to grow up in. Our children are growing, our house is not large enough, and we cannot afford to move to a property better suited for our family.

We were born and raised in farming families and grew up on tobacco/ginseng farms in Norfolk County. Our parents are in their mid- to late-sixties and own about 80 acres of farmland in a prime agricultural area in Norfolk County. At present, Norfolk County’s Official Plan and Zoning By-law does not permit lot severances on prime agricultural land, except for residential surplus dwelling severances. While we see neighbouring counties like Oxford and Brant County enabling farmers to sever lots from their farms, Norfolk County has one of the strictest policies regarding severances.

When our parents heard about Bill-97 and your proposed Provincial Planning Statement 2023, they were very happy and willing to provide us with a parcel of their farmland to build a home. They know we need a larger home, and they want to see their grandchildren grow up near them on the farm. Their intent is to engage in succession planning—not to profit by selling lots of farmland to persons outside the family.

While farmers clearly expressed their distaste on s. 4.3.3 of the proposed Provincial Planning Statement 2023 which would permit the creation of three new residential lots on existing prime agricultural land, this provision should be amended rather than eliminated. Perhaps permitting three severances for new residential homes on an existing farm was too much.

This issue was canvassed by Bobbi Ann Brady, the Member for Haldimand Norfolk, during Question Period on May 30, 2023. With respect to Bill 97 and the Provincial Planning Statement, Brady stated: “how do we go from zero (0) severances to three (3) severances per farm? . . . Farmers see the value in one succession planning lot but three?”

In our respectful opinion, s. 4.3.3 should be amended to allow for “one new residential lot” to be created after January 1, 2023, from an existing parcel of prime agricultural land. The rest of the provision should remain in the language as currently proposed.

Allowing a single severance would bolster your commitment to addressing the housing crisis in Ontario, while also conferring parents the ability to engage in succession planning by providing us with a parcel of farmland to build a home and raise our family. The purpose of a single severance is certainly to keep us and our children on, and around, the farmland we grew up on.

Permitting one severance will clearly lead to the loss of some farmland. However, there needs to be a balance between farmers’ property rights and the protection of prime agricultural land. The goal should not, and never be, to allow free reign for developers to overdevelop farmland. While farmers should not simply be able to sever parcels of their farmland to profit, what farmers do need is the capacity to sever a parcel of land from their farm for their own families.