HomeMy WebLinkAboutPD-111-93
THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON
DN: PUB-SURV.GPA
Meeting: General Purpose and Administration Committee File #
Date: Monday, July 19, 1993
Report #: PD-111-93- File #: PLN 32.3.1
Subject: PUBLIC ATTITUDE SURVEY
Municipality of clarington Official Plan Review
#
Recommendations:
It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and
Administration Committee recommend to Council the following:
1. THAT Report PD-111-93 be received for information.
The Planning and Development Department is undertaking a comprehensive
review to prepare a new Official Plan to reflect the current and future
needs, desires, and values of the municipality. This new Official Plan
will be the principal document that establishes the goals to guide
changes to land use. It will incorporate residents' values and will
essentially become the community's Vision Statement.
In order to prepare the Official Plan, it is necessary to consult with
the public and allow the public to provide input into the review
process. This is being achieved through a number of activities
including:
. written SUbmissions Any resident can submit a written
submission to the Planning Department regarding his or her
views on any issue of importance.
. Newsletter A newsletter is being published every several
months and it informs residents as to what is happening with
the Official Plan Review Process.
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RECYCLED PAPIER
PAPER I1ECVCLE
nJlS IS PfWHEDON IlECYCLED PAPER
REPORT NO.: PD-111-93
PAGE 2
· Public Information Centres - Four information centres were
held November 1992 to present the material gathered from the
First Phase of the review process. Additional information
centres will be held in the fall of 1993.
. PUblic Attitude Survey Staff undertook a public attitude
survey of households in the municipality to determine
residents' opinions on various planning matters and to give
the pUblic a forum for providing input into the review
process.
Approximately 21,000 surveys were mailed out and about 5,391
surveys or 26% were returned which is considered an excellent
response rate. An executive summary of the survey report is
attached. The full report presenting the results of survey has
been forwarded to members of Council under separate cover. This
report is also available to the public.
Respectfully submitted,
Recommended for presentation
to the Committee
dr~~ vJA
Franklin Wu, M.C.I.P.
Director of Planning
and Development
~~
Lawrence E. Ko
Chief Administr
Officer
TH*DC*FW*df
*Attach
9 July 1993
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The major findings of the Public Attitude Survey are as follows:
. The majority of respondents who responded to the survey are relative newcomers
to the Municipality. Approximately, 55% of the respondents have lived in the Town
10 years or less.
. Much of the recent growth in the Municipality is due to the: "affordable" housing
prices, attraction of a smaller urban centre, opportunities to enjoy the natural
environment, and personal safety from crime.
. Most of the respondents who moved to the Municipality in the last 20 years, came
from areas within Ontario, particularly other areas within Durham Region (55.4%)
and Metropolitan Toronto (23.0%). Of the respondents moving from within Durham
Region, 70% moved from Oshawa, 13% moved from Whitby, 7% moved from
Pickering and 10% moved from Ajax.
. Analysis of the results indicate that: 36.6% of the respondents live in Bowmanville,
25.5% live in Courtice, 10.4% live in Newcastle Village and 5.3% live in Orono. In
total, 77.8% of respondents reside in urban areas whereas 21.7% reside in rural
areas.
. Newcomers to the area are likely to be couples with no children living at home.
This is probably due to the fact that younger couples are moving to the Municipality
to take advantage of low housing costs in order to buy homes and start families.
Other households consist of "empty-nesters", particularly those residing in Wilmot
Creek Retirement Community.
. The majority of respondents who live in Bowmanville, Courtice, Newcastle Village,
Orono, and the Hamlets report that their household consists of a couple with
child(ren) living at home. Respondents who live in Darlington and Clarke
Townships are almost evenly split between the categories of couple with child(ren)
and couple with no child(ren) living at home.
. Only 30% of the respondents both live and work in Clarington. The vast majority
commute primarily to other municipalities in Durham Region: 33% work in Oshawa,
7% work in Whitby, 3% work in Ajax and 4% work in Pickering.
. Sixteen (16%) of the respondents work in Metropolitan Toronto including 5.1 % who
work in Scarborough.
. Of the respondents working in Clarington, about 21 % of the respondents and their
family members are involved in home occupations and thus do not drive to work.
Of the remaining respondents who indicated that they travel to work, 63.2% use
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personal automobiles or car pools, 0.3% use public transit, 4.8% use various means
of transportation (ie. combination of car pool, public transit, etc.), 0.9% use a
bicycle, and 9.4% walk.
. The majority of respondents have positive opinions about many aspects of the
Municipality. In particular, people feel that "Newcastle is a great community to raise
a family; there is a great sense of personal security; and, the downtowns are
attractive and pleasant." Respondents have concerns that "health and community
services are not keeping pace with the rate of growth; and, that there are insufficient
shopping facilities in Newcastle."
. Over 50% of the total respondents indicate that in their neighbourhood, they would
accept a doctor's office, home office, variety store, separate apartment in a dwelling,
day care centre, and a restaurant in a neighbourhood. The majority of respondents
indicate that they would not accept apartments above a store or a group home in
their neighbourhood. Wilmot Creek Retirement Community residents are particularly
notable in their reluctance to accept non-residential uses.
. In reviewing a potential list of planning priorities, the top ten chosen priorities in
order of importance are:
1) more employment opportunities;
2) preservation of the natural environment;
3) preservation of the agricultural areas;
4) developing recreational facilities and parks;
5) improving roads;
6) providing better quality shopping areas;
7) planning less car dependent neighbourhoods;
8) providing affordable housing for all income levels;
9) historical and heritage preservation, and;
10) establishing a transit system.
. Opinions on certain planning priorities appear to be divided. For instance, the
majority of respondents feel that planning less car dependent neighbourhoods is
an important issue, but it is not such an important issue for respondents who live
in rural areas. Unlike respondents throughout the Municipality, respondents who
reside in Wilmot Creek Retirement Community do not feel that a high priority should
be given to providing a mix of housing types in every neighbourhood and installing
bike and walking trails.
. Bicycle and walking trails is also not considered such an important planning issue
by respondents who live in the rural areas. Similarly, improving public access to
the waterfront is an important issue for urban residents, but not for rural residents
and residents who reside in Wilmot Creek Retirement Community.
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. Other planning issues which people feel to be important planning priorities include:
1) traffic and road operations (insufficient parking, need for traffic lights, etc.);
2) housing issues (restrict densities, allow infilling, etc.);
3) servicing issues (demand for more and better services, more schools, etc.);
4) environmental issues (protect the environment, protect the water quality,
etc.);
5) administrative and government functions (taxes are too high, need more
promotion of Municipality, etc.).
. Approximately 69% of the respondents report that protecting the environment would
be more important than promoting industrial development if a situation of conflict
arose.
. Just under 73% of the respondents, regardless of where they live, or how long they
have lived in the Municipality, reportthat preserving agricultural land would be more
important than rural residential housing in a situation of conflict.
. There is no clear consensus with regards to the concept of the Municipality
managing its growth well. Approximately 47% of the respondents report that
Clarington's growth is managed well as opposed to 43% who report that it is not
managed well. Significantly longer term residents have a much poorer perception
of the Municipality's efforts to manage its growth.
. The total number of respondents who advocate growth of some sort amounts to
52.8%, of which 40.6% desire growth at the present rate and 12.2% want growth
beyond the present rate. Approximately 32.4% of the respondents want to restrict
the Municipality's urban growth below the present rate of 7.8% (2500 persons
annually). A further 9.2% want residential growth tied to industrial growth.
. The survey found that newer residents living in Clarington for 5 years or less favour
growth at current or increasing rates, whereas only 48% of those residing here for
over 10 years accept current or increased rates of growth.
. In terms of the management of growth in rural areas, the vast majority of
respondents prefer an intermediate approach which allows some rural development
in a limited form. Approximately 17.8% of the respondents do not want any
restrictions on growth in the rural areas. Of those respondents wanting restrictions
on growth, 13.1 % want to prohibit overall rural growth, 18.5% want to restrict growth
to rural subdivisions, 14.9% want to restrict growth to hamlets, and 24.9% want to
restrict growth to hamlets and rural subdivisions.
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· Newcomers are more likely to state that the Municipality should restrict growth to
rural residential subdivisions only than people living in the Municipality for a length
of time. Respondents living here for a longer length of time are more likely to state
that the Municipality should restrict growth to hamlets only. This likely indicates an
appreciation for the historic nature of many of the hamlet areas by longer term
residents.
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