Schedule 10 of Bill 66 needs…

Schedule 10 of Bill 66 needs to be amended by adding the following to the list in the new proposed
subsection 34.1(6) of the Planning Act:

“Section 13 of the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act”

The NEPDA was basically the precursor to the Oak Ridges Moraine Act so if the ORMA is included in this section, clearly the NEPDA should be included too. A similar argument can be made about he similarity of the inclusion of the Greenbelt Act.

The NEPDA has put unnecessary restrictions on businesses that fall within in its orbit. For instance, wineries in the NEPDA are restricted from having ancillary services, like restaurants. The Commissioners use the act to direct a winery owner who would like to add on premises food services, to how many seats they may have and what they may have on their menus. This was never intended when the NEPDA was brought into existence.

The NEPDA causes lengthy delays to development in any area it touches; some have to wait 10 years to amend the NEPDA plan, this too should be amended. There is no logic to telling an investor who wants to create jobs, for example, by building a ski hill complex, which is in keeping with some that are already within the NEP area, that in order to ask the Commission to change the designation of his/her property from 'escarpment rural' to 'escarpment recreational', that they have to wait for one point in time, every 10 years, when the Plan is opened up for possible amendment.