HomeMy WebLinkAboutPD-4-97THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON
DN: ROPA9613.GPA
REPORT
Meeting: General Purpose and Administration Committee Filed
Date: Monday, January 6, 1997 Res. # G&
Report #: PD-4-97 File #:ROPA 96-013 & ROPA 96-019 By-law
Subject: MALONE GIVEN PARSONS/BROOKVALLEY HOLDINGS LTD (ROPA 96-013)
REGION OF • (ROPA .,
REGIONAL OFFICIAL PLAN AMENDMENT
•. ROPA 96-019
Recommendations:
It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration
Committee recommend to Council the following:
1. THAT Report PD -4 -97 be received;
2. THAT the Region of Durham be advised that the Municipality of Clarington has no
objection to the application to amend the Durham Region Official Plan submitted
by Brookvalley Holdings Ltd. (ROPA 96 -013) on the understanding that planning
for a 30 year horizon in the local official plan is permissive rather than mandatory;
3. THAT the Region of Durham be advised that the Municipality of Clarington
continues to support the designation of a 30 year supply of employment area
lands as proposed in it's application to amend the Durham Region Official Plan
(ROPA 96 -019); and
4. THAT all interested parties listed in this report and any delegation be advised of
Council's decision.
Two applications related to urban boundary issues are currently before the
Durham Region for review and all local municipalities in Durham Region have
been required to comment on these applications.
1.1 Brookvalley Holdings Ltd. (ROPA 96 -013)
On October 10, 1996 a request for comments was received from the Region of
Durham with respect to an application submitted by Brookvalley Holdings Ltd. to
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REPORT NO PD -4 -97 PAGE 2
amend the Regional Official Plan. Brookvalley Holdings Ltd. owns 72 ha (178
acres) of land in Whitby designated Living Area in the Durham Regional Official
Plan and Future Urban Development Plan in the Whitby Official Plan. The
application proposes to amend Section 5.3.14 and 5.3.15 of the Durham Regional
Official Plan the effect of which would eliminate the need for local official plan to
distinguish between 20 and 30 year urban boundary.
1.2 CLARINGTON (ROPA 96 -019)
At a meeting on September 16, 1996, Council passed a resolution requesting the
Region to "initiate an amendment to its Official Plan to delete Section 5.3.14
and /or amend all applicable policies that would require the area municipalities to
designate only up to a 20 year supply of Employment Area land ". In a letter
dated November 20, 1996 from the applicant to the Region, the applicant clarified
that his requested change "would permit (and not required)" the area
municipalities to plan to the 30 year time horizon.
2. BACKGROUND
2.1 The policies of section 5.3.14 and 5.3.15 of the Regional Official Plan encourages
area municipalities to implement phased development. Section 5.3.14 reads in
part as follows:
"5.3.14 In order to phase development within each area municipality in
accordance with the Region's 20 year servicing plan, area municipal
official plans shall only designate a 15 - 20 year supply of land for
development at any one time. Further, area municipalities are
encouraged to implement phased development through the
preparation of secondary plans....."
Section 5.3.15 states the following:
"Regional Council may consider amendments to an area official plan
to allow an area municipality to maintain a 15 - 20 year supply of
land provided that:
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REPORT NO. PD -4 -97 PAGE 3
a) the amendment is only undertaken as part of a
comprehensive five year review of the area municipal official
plan;
b) the amendment is supported by an analysis which evaluates
and demonstrates the need for designating the additional
lands; and
c) the amendment is supported by an analysis evaluating the
achievement of the targets and policies of both the area
municipal official plan and this Plan, particularly those matters
outlined in Section 5.3.13.
2.2 In the Durham Regional Official Plan, a 30 year time horizon was utilized for the
urban area boundary. This allowed for the consideration of the longer term
service commitments under the Region's authority (sewage treatment plans, water
supply plants and arterial roads) while the local Official Plan provided detailed
land use designations within a 15 - 20 year time frame. The Clarington Official
Plan was prepared based on a 20 year time frame extending to 2016. In addition,
Section 5, Growth Management, contains management policies to control the rate,
balance, direction and pattern of growth as contemplated and required in the
Regional Official Plan.
2.3 The Provincial Policy Statement states that land requirements and land use
patterns based on the provision of sufficient land for industrial, commercial,
residential, etc. shall accommodate projected growth for a time horizon of up to
20 years. The policy further allows where a longer time period has been
established, "that time frame may be used for upper and lower tier municipalities
within the area ". In essence, this allows local official plans to provide for the same
time horizon of future growth similar to those in the Regional Official Plan.
3. COMMENTS
3.1 The Clarington Application
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REPORT NO. PD -4 -97 PAGE 4
Through the Council adoption of the Clarington Official Plan, Council promoted
and approved the concept of allowing Employment Area lands to maintain a 30
year time frame. Council in adopting their resolution of September 1996, objected
to imposing undue restrictions on the development potential and opportunities of
employment areas. Furthermore, Council stated they believe the current
restriction in the Durham Region Official Plan is contrary to the goals of both the
Region and the area municipalities in attempting to promote and develop the
Region to its fullest economic potential.
In consideration of Council's resolution of September 16, 1996, we recommend
to the Region that Section 5.3.14 and 5.3.15 be amended to allow all local
municipalities to designate up to 30 year supply of Employment Area lands in
their respective official plan.
3.2 The Brookvalley Holding Application
As stated earlier, the effect of the Brookvalley Holding application, if approved,
would have the effect to allow local municipalities to designate Living Area beyond
the 20 year time frame. Staff reviewed the amendment and its potential
implication to Clarington and have concluded that Clarington should neither
object to nor support such an amendment, for the following reasons.
There is no doubt that the proposed amendment would allow Municipalities west
of Clarington to designate lands for future development up to a 30 year horizon.
The additional residential lands will be consumed as future growth occurs in these
municipalities and could be viewed as replacing the anticipated growth in
Clarington. In other words, residential land consumption and the resultant
population growth in Clarington could slow down as a result with the Courtice
urban area being affected to some degree. However, this is neither positive nor
negative as Clarington Official Plan emphasizes growth management with
Bowmanville urban area being planned and promoted as the dominant centre for
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REPORT NO. PD -4 -97 _ PAGE 5
Clarington. In addition, it has been a long held belief and confirmed by studies
that residential growth is a financial liability for any municipality. Therefore, if the
westerly municipalities have the ability and desire to add more urban residential
development lands by eliminating the 20 year urban boundary in their official
plans, Clarington should not be concerned about this.
On the contrary, one could argue that residential growth would lead to
commercial /industrial growth which will eventually help the Municipality to balance
its assessment. Although this argument is valid, one must recognize that it will
take a long time for Clarington to reach a fully developed mature stage where
residential /non - residential assessment are reasonably balanced. In Clarington,
this is unlikely to happen for a long time as the market place to a large extent,
dictates that growth will take place gradually easterly from Toronto.
In summary, staff are not convinced that eliminating the 20 year urban boundary
provision in the Durham Plan would have any noticeable detrimental impact to
Clarington. In fact, we are of the opinion that the proposed amendment will
provide the flexibility to Clarington should Council decide in the future that there
are merits to amend our Official Plan to delete the 20 year urban boundaries.
This is an issue that should be dealt with at the 5 year mandatory review of the
Official Plan.
In consideration of the above comments, staff conclude that the Municipality
should take a "no objection" approach to the Brookvalley Holdings proposed
amendment. With respect to the deletion of the 20 year urban boundary for
Employment Area, this amendment is initiated by Clarington and staff would
recommend that this position be confirmed.
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REPORT NO. PD -4 -97 PAGE 6
Respectfully submitted,
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Franklin Wu, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.,
Director of Planning
and Development
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Attach.
December 23, 1996
Reviewed by,
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W. H. Stockwell
Chief Administrative
Officer
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