February 02, 2023 Dear Sir…

February 02, 2023
Dear Sir or Madam,
As you are currently in the review stage of the County of Simcoe’s Official Plan Amendment No. 7, I would like to make a comment / request which may be applicable at this time.
I have been working with the County of Simcoe and Township of Ramara, in aims of severing off a one acre building lot from an existing lot (located at 7790 County Road 169 Washago, ON). The existing lot is partially contained in the settlement area and partially not. I would like to request a minor adjustment of the settlement area boundary to contain the newly proposed one acre building lot.
Having reviewed your document : “A Place To Grow” I was wondering if my proposal might be accommodated under the section 2.2.9 (pages 27&28) which states:
2.2.9 Rural Areas
1. Municipalities are encouraged to plan for a variety of cultural and
economic opportunities within rural settlements to serve the needs of
rural residents and area businesses.
2. Public service facilities in rural settlements should be co-located and
integrated in community hubs, and priority should be given to
maintaining and adapting existing public service facilities in community
hubs to meet the needs of the community, where feasible.
3. Subject to the policies in Section 4, development outside of settlement
areas may be permitted on rural lands for:
a) the management or use of resources;
b) resource-based recreational uses; and
c) other rural land uses that are not appropriate in settlement areas
provided they:
A Place to Grow | 27
Where and How to Grow
i. are compatible with the rural landscape and surrounding
local land uses;
ii. will be sustained by rural service levels; and
iii. will not adversely affect the protection of agricultural uses
and other resource-based uses such as mineral aggregate
operations.
4. Where permitted on rural lands, resource-based recreational uses should
be limited to tourism-related and recreational uses that are compatible
with the scale, character, and capacity of the resource and the
surrounding rural landscape, and may include:
a) commercial uses to serve the needs of visitors; and
b) where appropriate, resource-based recreational dwellings for
seasonal accommodation.
5. Existing employment areas outside of settlement areas on rural lands that
were designated for employment uses in an official plan that was
approved and in effect as of June 16, 2006 may continue to be permitted.
Expansions to these existing employment areas may be permitted only if
necessary to support the immediate needs of existing businesses and if
compatible with the surrounding uses.
6. New multiple lots or units for residential development will be directed to
settlement areas, but may be allowed on rural lands in site-specific
locations with approved zoning or designation in an official plan that
permitted this type of development as of June 16, 2006.
7. Notwithstanding policy 2.2.8.2, minor adjustments may be made to the
boundaries of rural settlements outside of a municipal comprehensive
review, subject to the following:
a) the affected settlement area is not in the Greenbelt Area;
b) the change would constitute minor rounding out of existing
development, in keeping with the rural character of the area;
c) confirmation that water and wastewater servicing can be provided in
an appropriate manner that is suitable for the long-term with no
negative impacts on water; and
d) Sections 2 (Wise Use and Management of Resources) and 3 (Protecting
Public Health and Safety) of the PPS are applied.

A Place to Grow | 28

As I am far less versed in the technical aspects of attempting to accomplish this goal of creating a building lot for my family member, I will attach the recommendations and comments of both the County and Township for your reference:
County of Simcoe comments:
From: Morris, Keirsten <keirsten.morris@simcoe.ca>
Sent: January 24, 2023 2:18 PM
To: tim elford <timelford@hotmail.com>
Cc: Amadio, Dan <Dan.Amadio@simcoe.ca>
Subject: RE: 7790 County Road 169, Ramara

Hi Tim,

The portion of your lot that you are looking to sever is designated Greenlands by the County Official Plan. The Greenlands designation applies to the natural heritage system of the County and unfortunately residential lot creation is not permitted.

We had identified to the Township that there might be potential to consider a minor settlement area boundary expansion based on the proximity of the proposed severed lot to the settlement area boundary of Washago and the current provincial policies regulating the management of settlement area boundaries. Since that time, the Province has indicated they are proposing new policy changes to the planning system through Bill 23 with a primary focus on building more homes. It may be beneficial for you to wait until more information becomes available in regard to these changes as the policies may become more permissive of development outside of settlement area boundaries, or may make it easier to bring certain lands into settlement areas.

For reference, below is a screenshot of the current County OP designations on the property (Green = Greenlands, Grey = Settlements)

If you do plan to proceed based on current planning policies, then certain matters will need to be considered with regard to a minor settlement area boundary expansion. A County Official Plan Amendment (OPA) would be required that addresses 2.2.9.7 of the Province’s Growth Plan as well as all other applicable planning policies (Provincial Policy Statement, County OP, Township OP & Zoning By-law etc.). You would need to engage a Planning Consultant to provide a Planning Justification Report in support of an application and a natural heritage consultant to complete an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) to ensure the lot creation and residential development does not negatively effect the natural heritage features on site. Current County OPA fee is $7,500. If the amendment is adopted by the County, the adopted OPA is then forwarded to the Province for final approval which would currently cost $14,065 based off of the information on their website (https://www.ontario.ca/page/applying-changes-land-use#section-3). If approved by the Province, you could then submit any required applications at the Township level (i.e. consent application).
To conclude, under the current policies, there is potential for a minor settlement boundary expansion to be facilitated through a County OPA but based on the significant amount of time and money that this process would involve we wanted to make you aware of potential changes to provincial policy that might simplify the process. We’re providing you this information in case you want to consider waiting until more details become from the province relating to growth policies to increase housing, because it’s possible these changes might improve the prospects of lot creation in a circumstance like this. We expect that more information should be available on possible growth policy changes by Spring 2023.

You can monitor any updates relating to these policy changes by subscribing to updates on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) here https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-6177

Please feel free to contact me with any questions. I would also be happy to set up a time to discuss.

Have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

Keirsten Morris
Planner II
County of Simcoe, Planning Department
1110 Highway 26, Midhurst, Ontario L9X 1N6
Phone: 705-726-9300 ext. 1973 Fax: 705-727-4276
Email: keirsten.morris@simcoe.ca
www.simcoe.ca

Township of Ramara comments:
Wed 2022-12-21 8:06 AM

Hi Tim,

I got in touch with the County of Simcoe about this one. They advised that there was a severance application in 2019 (which I’m sure you’re aware of) that brought this to light and that it is not an error in the mapping but this piece is in fact not part of the settlement area. The County has suggested the following options:

A potential way forward would be to consider a minor settlement area boundary expansion subject to 2.2.9.7 of the Growth Plan which states:

Notwithstanding policy 2.2.8.2, minor adjustments may be made to the boundaries of rural settlements outside of a municipal comprehensive review, subject to the following:
a) the affected settlement area is not in the Greenbelt Area;
b) the change would constitute minor rounding out of existing development, in keeping with the rural character of the area;
c) confirmation that water and wastewater servicing can be provided in an appropriate manner that is suitable for the long-term with no negative impacts on water; and
d) Sections 2 (Wise Use and Management of Resources) and 3 (Protecting Public Health and Safety) of the PPS are applied.

At this time, a County Official Plan Amendment would be required to bring the proposed severed lot into the settlement area. The application would need to speak to the above Growth Plan policy. We are of the opinion that this parcel does have potential to be considered as part of a minor rounding out of Washago.

In order to do this, you would need to apply for a County OPA and Township Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw Amendment. The County OPA would go to the province for approval.

With Bill 23 on the table, the County stands to lose its planning authority. If you waited until this process was finalized and the County ends up losing it’s planning authority, you would just need to apply for a Township Zoning Bylaw Amendment and Official Plan Amendment. We have no idea on the timeline for this however, or how everything will be rolled out.

Saying that, Bill 23 is also going to review the Growth Plan and PPS. We don’t know what these changes will look like either, or if the option to refine the boundaries/round them out would still be an option or if an amendment will even be required.

So Option 1: apply to the County of Simcoe for an Official Plan Amendment under Section 2.2.9.7 of the Growth Plan to round out the settlement area.
- Then apply for a Township OPA and ZBA to update the Township Policies
- You can wait until we update ours after you do the County OPA but I’m really not sure any timeline we would have for our update)

Option 2: wait and see what happens with Bill 23 to potentially just apply to the Township

I would just note that a pre-consultation would be required for a County OPA. Some information on this can be found on their website https://www.simcoe.ca/Planning/Pages/Development-Applications-and-Fees…
The Township would require a preconsultation for the amendments to our plans as well.

Happy to meet to go over all of this with you in person if that is easier too! Just let me know!

Jennifer Stong, BA, CPT
Planning Technician
Assistant Secretary-Treasurer, Committee of Adjustment
2297 Highway 12 PO Box 130 Brechin, Ontario L0K 1B0
P: 705-484-5374 ext. 251 | F: 705-484-0441
E: jstong@ramara.ca| W: www.ramara.ca

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Tim Elford
Washago, ON
705-644-3683