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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPD-65-98- DN: PD-65-98 THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON REPORT ;O~~~L'--~-. Meeting: General Purpose and Administration Committee File #'~-j`f .Cc~P~ `l7.OI I Date: Monday, June 8, 1998 Res. f~PA - ?~~R ~~/8 Report #: PD-65-98 FILE #: COPA 97-011 (X-REF: PLN 32.11.7) By-law # Subject: AMENDMENT TO THE CLARINGTON OFFICIAL PLAN TO RESOLVE DEFERRAL NO. 14 REGARDING RIGHT-OF-WAY WIDTHS WITHIN HAMLETS AND CENTRAL AREAS FILE NO.: COPA 97-011 (X-REF: PLN 32.11.7) Recommendations: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: 1. THAT Report PD-65-98 be received ; 2. THAT the proposed official plan amendment initiated by the Municipality of Clarington be APPROVED as Amendment No. 7 to the Clarington Official Plan as shown in Attachment No. 1 to this Report; 3. THAT the necessary By-law to adopt Amendment No. 7 be passed, and that the Amendment be forwarded to the Regional Municipality of Durham for approval; and 4. THAT a copy of Report PD-65-98 be forwarded to the Regional Planning Department. 1. BACKGROUND 1.1 Regional Council deferred forty items for further consideration when the Clarington Official Plan was approved in October of 1996. Deferral No. 14 comprised the deferral of Section 19.5.4, a policy to recognise the historic role of King Street as the "main" street of the lakeshore urban centres. As such, arterial road standards would include urban design considerations in balance with transportation objectives. - 612 REPORT NO.: PD-65-98 PAGE2 1.2 At the time of the approval of the Clarington Official Plan, the Region was reviewing the transportation standards contained in the Durham Regional Official Plan. This led to the approval of Amendment No. 20 to the Durham Regional Official Plan which provided for reductions to arterial road standards in Central Areas and Hamlets. This provided an opportunity for the inclusion of a policy similar in intent to the deferred Section 19.5.4 of the Clarington Official Plan. 2. AMENDMENT NO. 20 TO THE DURHAM REGIONAL OFFICIAL PLAN 2.1 Through the regional review of the new Whitby Official Plan, the Regional Planning Department determined that specified right-of-way widths for arterial roadways were difficult to implement in certain areas such as Central Areas and Hamlets, due to historic building locations and urban design considerations. As such it was determined that exceptions to the right-of--way widths may be appropriate provided that the function of the roadway is maintained. 2.2 As a result, Regional Planning Staff initiated a proposed amendment to the Regional Official Plan in May of 1996 to allow for reductions to the right-of--way requirements of the Regional Official Plan. The proposed amendment required the exceptions to be initiated by the local municipality and incorporated into the area municipal official plan. 2.3 Council supported the proposed Regional Official Plan Amendment through the consideration and approval of Report PD-98-96. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing subsequently approved Amendment No. 20 to the Durham Regional Official Plan on November 13, 1996. 613 REPORT NO.: PD-65-98 PAGE 3 3. DEFERRAL NO. 14 TO THE CLARINGTON OFFICIAL PLAN 3.1 Section 19.5.4 of the Clarington Official Plan details the historic importance of King Street as the "main street" through the urban communities in Courtice, Bowmanville and Newcastle Village. With this role in mind, Section 19.5.4 provides relief from the transportation-oriented objectives of the Official Plan. It provides for reduced road standards, which reflect the urban design objectives of the Municipality including reductions to right-of--way widths and to design speeds. Although the deferred Section 19.5.4 permits these reductions, specific right-of way requirements were not incorporated into the text of the policy. 3.2 While the Region was generally supportive of this the intent of this policy, they were not supportive of a policy which would promote "unknown" reductions to the arterial road requirements. In order to address the concerns of the Regional Planning Department, staff prepared a draft amendment to the Clarington Official Plan specifying the reduced right-of--way width of the affected sections of various arterial roads. The draft amendment also dealt with additional issues as detailed in Section 6 of this report. 3.3 Staff forwarded a report in September of 1997 seeking authorization to advertise and hold the necessary Public Meeting in order to undertake the disposition of Deferral No. 14 by way of an amendment to the Clarington Official Plan. 4. PUBLIC MEETING 4.1 Following the authorization of Council, a Public Meeting was held on October 20, 1997. Notice of the Public Meeting was published in the following newspapers: • Canadian Statesman • Clarington This Week - 614 REPORT NO.: PD-65-98 PAGE4 • Orono Times • Courtice News • Clarington Independent The Meeting was not attended by any members of the public and Staff have not received any submissions with respect to the proposed amendment. 5. AGENCY COMMENTS 5.1 The Planning and Development Department circulated the proposed modification to the following departments for comment: • Durham Regional Planning Department • Durham Regional Works Department • Clarington Public Works Department • Clarington Fire Department 5.2 The Durham Regional Planning and Works Departments jointly reviewed the draft amendment and submitted comments which indicated two concerns: • both Taunton Road and Highway No. 2 function as intermunicipal transportation corridors and as such, the Regional Planning and Works Departments were of the opinion that the right-of--way should not be reduced within the Hamlets of Mitchell's Corners and Maple Grove. The Durham Regional Official Plan currently has aright-of-way width of 36-50 metres for Mitchell's Corners and 30-36 metres for Maple Grove. • the Regional Planning and Works Department also expressed a concern regarding the right-of-way requirement contained in the draft amendment for the Hamlets of Enfield, Brownsville and Newtonville. The draft amendment provided a range of 30-36 metres in Enfield, 26-30 metres in Brownsville and 615 REPORT NO.: PD-65-98 PAGE5 20-26 metres in Newtonville. The Regional Planning and Works Departments advised that they were only willing to accept the higher end of the ranges proposed by the draft amendment. 5.3 The Fire Department did not indicate an objection to the proposal but did recommend that should the right-of-way widths be reduced, on-street parking should be monitored in order to eliminate obstructions to Fire Department vehicles during emergency situations. 5.4 The Municipality of Clarington Public Works Department offered no objections to the proposal. 6. STAFF COMMENTS 6.1 Following the receipt of the comments from the Regional Planning and Works Departments, the proposed amendment was revised to incorporate the revisions suggested by the Region. The revised amendment, as detailed in Attachment No. 1 to this report, would have the following effect on the Clarington Official Plan: • it would recognize that arterial road right-of-way widths specified in the Official Plan may be impractical, not easily implemented or not desirable in selected Hamlets and Central Areas and therefore exceptions would be specified at a reduced standard as reflected in the proposed amendment. The right-of--way width reductions range from 4 metres to 20 metres; • it would recognize that desired operating speeds for arterial roads in some Hamlets and Central Areas should be less than typically indicated in the Official Plan; and 616 REPORT NO.: PD-65-98 PAGE 6 • it would exempt historic downtown areas and hamlets from the access (entranceway) spacing requirements. 6.2 Allowing reduced right-of-way requirements and reduced operating speeds are key issues in ensuring that Central Areas are developed as high quality urban environments. This is also consistent with other aspects of the Regional Official Plan and the Clarington Official Plan, both of which encourage safe pedestrian environments, a grid system of roads and street front oriented buildings within Central Areas. 7. CONCLUSION 7.1 Staff recommend approval of Amendment No. 7 to the Clarington Official Plan as indicated in Attachment No. 1 to this report. Respectfully submitted, ~„ fo_i t_, Franklin Wu, M.C.I.P., R.P.P. Director of Planning & Development WM*FW*cc 22 March 1998 Reviewed by, W.HW.H. Stockwel Chief Administrative Officer. Attachment No. 1 -Amendment No. 7 to the Clarington Official Plan ~j~ DN: AMEND-7 AMENDMENT NO. 7 TO THE CLARINGTON OFFICIAL PLAN PURPOSE: Section 19.5.4 of the Clarington Official Plan established policies related to urban design objectives along King Street within the urban communities of Courtice, Bowmanville and Newcastle Village. The Section permits reductions to design speeds, right-of-way width, intersection spacing, private access spacing, building setbacks and on- street parking in order to achieve the desired urban form. Section 19.5.4 was deferred by the Regional Municipality of Durham for further consideration. The Regional Municipality of Durham subsequently initiated an amendment to the Regional Official Plan which, among other matters, allowed for exceptions to the right-of-way width requirements for arterial roads within Central Areas and Hamlets. The amendment was eventually adopted as Amendment No. 20 to the Durham Regional Official Plan. The purpose of this modification is to incorporate policies into the Clarington Official Plan which allow for the effective implementation of Amendment No. 20. BASIS: This modification is based upon Amendment No. 20 to the Durham Regional Official Plan. ACTUAL AMENDMENT: The Clarington Official Plan is hereby modified as follows: i) Section 19.5.4 is hereby deleted in its entirety and replaced with the following: "19.5.4 King Street is the primary commercial street of the urban communities of Courtice, Bowmanville and Newcastle Village. Main Street is the primary commercial street of Orono. Notwithstanding all applicable provisions of Section 19, the design standards of arterial roads within Main and Sub-Central Areas and the Orono Local Central Area shall reflect the urban design objectives of this Plan and provide a high quality urban environment for pedestrians. In this regard, the desired operating speed shall generally be 50 km per hour. The exceptions to the right-of-way width requirements are identified on Table 19-2. In addition, the access requirements of Table 19-1 do not apply in the Bowmanville East Main Central Area, the Newcastle Village Main Central Area and the Orono Local Central Area. ~~ 19.5.5 Within established Hamlets, it is recognized that the arterial road standards established in Section 19.5.1 to 19.5.3 may not be practical or implemented precisely. In this regard, the desired operating speed in Section 19.5.1 and the access requirements of arterial roads shown in Table 19-1 do not apply. The exceptions to the right-of-way width requirements are identified on Table 19-2." TABLE 19.2 EXCEPTIONS TO ARTERIAL ROAD STANDARDS IN CENTRAL AREAS AND HAMLETS Central Road From To Rght-of-way Width Area/Hamlet Courtice Main Trulls Road South limit of MCA North limit of MCA 30 m Central Area Bowmanville East King Street Bowmanville Creek Mearns Avenue 20-26 m Main Central Area Newcastle Village King Street West Limit of Main Mill Street 20-26 m Main Central Area Central Area King Street Mill Street East limit of Main 26-30 m Central Area Mill Street South limit of Main North limit of Main 20-26 m Central Area Central Area Orono Local Mill Street Station Street. North limit of Local 20-26 m Central Area Central Area Enfield Reg. Rd. 20 West limit of the East limit of the 36 m Hamlet Hamlet Reg. Rd. 34 South limit of the North limit of the 36 m Hamlet Hamlet Enniskillen Reg. Rd. 3 West limit of the East limit of the 26-30 m Hamlet Hamlet Brownsville Hwy. 2 West limit of the East limit of the 30 m Hamlet Hamlet Newtonville Hwy. 2 West limit of the East limit of the 26 m Hamlet Hamlet Reg. Rd. 18 South limit of the North limit of the 26 m Hamlet Hamlet ii) Re-numbering the existing 19.5.5 to 19.5.6 INTERPRETATION: The provisions set forth in the Clarington Official Plan, as amended, regarding the implementation of the Plan, shall apply in regarding to this modification. INTERPRETATION: The provisions set forth in the Clarington Official Plan, as amended, regarding the interpretation of the Plan, shall apply in regard to this modification. 6l9