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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPD-135-82 I I CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE i PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT HAMPTON, ONTARIO LOB 1 JO TEL. (416)263-2231 i REPORT TO THE GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE MEETING OF JULY 26, 1982 REPORT NO: PD-135-82 SUBJECT: PRIOR NOTICE REZONING, SUBDIVISION AND OFFICIAL PLAN AMENDMENT APPLICATIONS � RECOMMENDATION: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: 1 . That Report PD-135-82 be received; and * 2. That the attached procedure for providing public notice in respect of rezonings, subdivision approvals and Official Plan amendments be approved and incorporated within this Department's procedures for processing such applications. BACKGROUND: I On April 26th, 1982, Council approved Resolution C-331 -82 as follows: i "That the Planning Director report to the General Purpose and Administration Committee relative to advising the public of rezoning in their vicinity prior to such an application coming to Committee. " This Report is being submitted in response to that request. I i Report No: PD-135-82 . . ./2 For some time now various members of Council have expressed concern, as have members of the public, about the fact that there is very little in the way of prior notice to residents of an area within which a development application is being considered. In many cases this has resulted in referrals to the Ontario Municipal Board which may have been avoided if an opportunity had been provided for area residents to discuss the proposal and provide comments prior to Council action. By way of a brief explanation, there are four types of applications which the Town deals with on a regular basis, these are: Official Plan amendments; Zoning amendments; Application for subdivision approval ; and Application for site plan approval . Each type of application has slightly different procedures for processing, however only applications for rezoning are subject to a statutory requirement for public notice, and in that case, notice is provided following Council approval of an amendment to a Zoning By-law. Public notice on Official Plan amendments is covered by a Regional policy and site plan approvalsand subdivision approvals are not presently subject to notice requirements of any form. With respect to the Regional procedures for Official Plan amendments, the nature of a public notice and the responsibility for same depends on the type of application. A Type "A" application is one which amends the Regional Official Plan only, and the responsibility for placing public notices in appropriate newspapers rests with the Region. A Type "B" application is one which amends a local Official Plan or a District Plan, and the onus for placing public notices rests with the area municipality. The third type of amendment is a Type "C" application, which would amend both the Durham Regional Official Plan and a local Official Plan or District Plan, in which case both the Region and area municipality become involved in providing public notice. In simple terms, the Regional policy requires placement of a public notice in Report No: PD-135-82 . . ,/3 appropriate newspapers outlining the relevant details of the application and soliciting submissions from the public with respect to the proposal . Thoseindividuals who have provided a submission in response to such a notice would then be notified of the date of the meeting at which the Regional Planning Committee and the Council will consider the amendment application. In certain cases, depending on the nature of the application, a special public meeting may be held. Based on the_'for_egoi.ng, staff are of the opinion that adequate public notice is provided in respect of Official Plan amendments. With respect to applications for amendments to Restricted Area (Zoning) By-laws, it has been suggested on a number of occasions that staff undertake the advertising of public notices or a circulation to residents within the area prior to formulating a recommendation in respect of such an application. In the case of a circulation, depending upon the location of the application, this could result in a great deal of work and expense which is duplicated as required by law, once the By-law has been approved. Public notices, on the other hand, do not represent a duplication of effort but are not as effective in reaching the residents of a given area. The same holds true in the case of public notices for Official Plan amendments, inasmuch as the effectiveness of public notices is often a reflection of the extent of circulation of a given newspaper. In view of this,staff are of the opinion that the most effective way of making residents of an area aware of a development proposal which may affect them, is by means of a sign or placard posted on the affected property, much the same as for the Land Division Committee and the Committee of Adjustment. With this in mind, staff have prepared the attached procedures for the placement of Development Information signs. This procedure would require applicants for an amendment to a local Official Plan or Restricted Area (Zoning) By-law to place on the affected property an Information Sign advising the public that an application has been submitted to the Town of Newcastle for a specified change. Report No: PD-135-82 . . ./4 It is not suggested that this be made a requirement relative to subdivision approval at this point in time, nor of site- plan approvals, inasmuch as subdivisions are usually subject to a requirement for rezoning, and site plans are usually a condition of the approval of a rezoning, and prerequisite to the issuance of building permits in the case of lands appropriately zoned for the proposed use. However, should the Committee wish to pursue such a course of action, the attached procedures should be amended accordingly. Staff note that Bill 159, which contains proposed amendments to the Planning Act, will , if approved in its present form, modify the present requirements in respect of public notice, as well as introduce new requirements relative to Official Plan Amendments. Approval of the attached policy would supplement these requirements but, in the meantime, would achieve the Council 's objective to make the public more aware of the planning process as it affects them. Based on the foregoing, staff are, therefore, recommending adoption of the attached procedure for prior public notice which places the onus, for this type of notice, upon the applicant and therefore will i have little or no effect upon the Department's advertising budget for the balance o.f, this year. (q_ Res ec T)-y ,�submi tted . T. T.- Edwards, M.C.I .P. Director of Planning TTE*mj c July 21 , 1982 PROCEDURES FOR THE ERECTION OF DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL INFORMATION SIGNS Applicants for an amendment to the Town of Newcastle Restricted Area (Zoning) By-law, to permit any use other than low density residential uses; and Applicants for an amendment to an Official Plan or District Plan of the Town of Newcastle ARE REQUIRED to erect, at their cost, Information Signs on the subject lands as outlined below: 1 . The signs shall not be less than 1 .0 square metres on one side, and no greater than 2.0 square metres. 2. The signs shall be erected within seven (7) days of the application being received. 3. The signs shall be removed within seven (7) days of the denial or withdrawal of the application, or upon Council approval . 4. The wording of the signs shall be approved by the Town of Newcastle Planning Department upon receipt of the application and in accordance with the attached general text. 5. The lettering of the text is to be black on a white background in the case of a rezoning application, and black on a yellow background in the case of an application to amend the Official Plan and shall be printed in upper and lower case Roman type lettering of sufficient size to be legible from the street line. 6. The signs shall be erected and maintained on the subject lands approximately mid-way along the street frontage, at least 1 .0 metres, but not more than 2.0 metres above grade. 7. There shall be one ) sign e of 1 for each street frontage( n g g the subject lands. SAMPLE: - SIGN TEXT N O T I C E PROPOSED ZONING/OFFICIAL PLAN CHANGE "Applicant 's Name" has submitted an application to the Town of Newcastle to change the zoning/Official Plan designation of these lands from "EXISTING ZONING/OFFICIAL PLAN DESIGNATION" to an appropriate zoning/Official Plan designation to permit the development of " For further information please contact the Town of Newcastle Planning Department 623-3379 (Ext. 47) or 263-2231 . Not required for low NOTICE - 15 cm uppercase density residential PROPOSED ZONING CHANGE - 10 cm uppercase Applicant 's Name - 7.5 cm EXISTING & PROPOSED ZONING - 7.5 cm uppercase All other text 5.0 cm Upper and lowercase, as required.