SUPPORTING COMMUNAL SERVICES…

SUPPORTING COMMUNAL SERVICES TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE RURAL HOUSING

For the past five years, Frontenac County has been working on promoting the use of communal services to allow for new development in rural areas. Primarily focused on residential development and the promotion of mixed housing choices and opportunities for affordable housing, communal services can also allow for more efficient and environmentally friendly development on main streets and creating business parks. Frontenac is working on a regional solution to allow for new development on communal services across the region in settlement areas, rural areas, and waterfront development. Frontenac has not one village that is serviced by municipal sewer and water, and the limited fiscal capacity of our four rural Townships (similar to many Townships in Eastern Ontario) precludes that option. Unless we use communal services development will continue on private septic and well systems and it is not sustainable.

Continued development in the County on private services has the potential to result in inefficient use of land, and threaten the long-term viability of the County’s villages and hamlets, especially their main streets. Without innovative approaches to servicing, the County and developers are limited in their ability to respond to community needs in the provision of diverse housing types along the housing spectrum to enable residents to age in place. Development on smaller lot sizes could assist in addressing increasing concerns related to rural housing affordability and accessibility. Private servicing also limits the revitalization of village and hamlet main streets and commercial cores to be vibrant, walkable, and compact, and able to accommodate new commercial and mixed-use development. Communal servicing can allow for new development on smaller lot sizes that area a better ‘fit’ into the existing fabric of a village or hamlet.

Frontenac is currently working on the creation of a regional utility that will be set up as a Municipal Service Corporation under the Municipal Act. The utility will be owned by all four Townships and the County. If successful, the utility will take over all communal systems as they are developed and operate and manage them, as well as set utility fees. This utility will allow communal development without the need for a Municipal Responsibility Agreement (MRA) which is a major stumbling block for developers and is one of the primary reasons there is so little communal development across Ontario.
Frontenac is currently working on three separate projects in our region that will result in mixed housing in existing villages, but only if communal services are used:

- Village of Sharbot Lake Public School site redevelopment: https://engagefrontenac.ca/sharbot-lake-school-site

- Village of Verona Master Plan Affordable Housing Study: https://engagefrontenac.ca/verona-affordable-housing-project

- Village of Marysville Secondary Plan: https://engagefrontenac.ca/marysville-secondary-plan

All three projects are moving forward on the basis that new mixed residential development will occur, but will only occur if communal services are employed.

Through the process of working on these three projects, we have dealt with significant stumbling blocks with respect to Source Water Protection approvals and MECP approvals. Although Frontenac has been working on the communal services project for almost five years it is only recently that the Source Water Protection approvals were brought to our attention. Without going into detail in this comment section it is the opinion of County and Township planning staff that MMAH needs to take the lead at the Provincial level in these approvals in order to facilitate the mix of housing options that can happen using communal services.

All of the extensive work done by Frontenac can be found on this web site: https://engagefrontenac.ca/communal-services

Frontenac believes that the use of communal services “checks all the boxes” in allowing for sustainable rural housing. We are being proactive in attempting to support the Provincial planning goals, and we respectfully request that MMAH work with us to support a viable regional solution.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of Frontenac County.