Town of Aylmer provides the…

Town of Aylmer provides the following comments:

The proposed site plan control reforms could have significant implications for Aylmer. The elimination of site plan control would result in reduction in municipal control over site level design and development details, such as building location, landscaping and grading. Provincially prescribed submission requirements and limits on the scope of review would restrict the Town staff’s ability to address site-specific issues and local priorities. This would also require an update to the Town’s Site Plan Control By-law and application processes to align with provincial regulations.

The requirement for standardized Official Plan structures and land use designations would require a future update to the Town of Aylmer Official Plan. This would result in additional staff resources and time to implement required changes once the final framework is released. This would also hinder the Town’s ability to create an Official Plan that is tailored exclusively to the site-specific or detailed policy direction that has historically been used to guide development.

Permitting privately owned publicly accessible spaces and other non-traditional forms of parkland dedication may require more complex legal agreements and increased staff resources to review and administer these arrangements. The changes could also result in an increase in the total amount of parkland secured, depending on how frequently developers utilize these options. The ability to dedicate a broader range of lands may reduce cash-in-lieu contributions, potentially affecting how the Town funds and plans for parkland development over time.

The proposed regulation for a proposed minimum lot size would limit the Town’s ability to establish minimum lot sizes or related zoning provisions that exceed the provincial minimum. As a result, any zoning provisions that conflict with the minimum lot area of 175 square metres would become unenforceable, requiring an update to the Town’s Zoning By-law. The ability to create smaller lots will facilitate more compacts forms of development such as infill and intensification; however, it may also result in increased development pressure in areas that have not historically accommodated this scale of density. For example, in the Residential Type 3 Zone (R3), the minimum lot area for a single detached dwelling is 370 square metres. This is currently the smallest lot area that can created for a single detached dwelling in Aylmer. Higher densities associated with smaller lot sizes may place additional demand on infrastructure such as roads, stormwater systems and water and waste water services.