Northumberland County is updating agriculture mapping and policies in the County’s Official Plan to protect our vital local Agricultural System for future generations. Updates proposed as part of this amendment to the Official Plan will be presented for feedback at three open houses across the county this summer.
This process marks the third amendment review process undertaken as part of Northumberland Next — an initiative to update the County Official Plan through the introduction of a series of amendments, guiding community growth and development in Northumberland over the next 30 years.
“Northumberland County is known for having a thriving agricultural community and high quality farmland,” states County Land Use Planning & Inspection Services Manager Dwayne Campbell.
“Over 31 per cent of land in Northumberland is currently designated as protected agricultural land. As we review our current mapping and policies to ensure they are updated to meet the needs of our community’s forecasted future growth, we want to ensure this valuable system remains protected for generations to come.”
This agriculture mapping amendment will increase the amount of protected agricultural land in Northumberland to support the collective well-being of the agriculture economy. Updates proposed as part of this amendment will include the identification of the best areas for agricultural production in Northumberland, updates to land use mapping to preserve our local agricultural land base for food production in alignment with the Provincial Growth Plan and Agricultural Land Base for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, as well as updates to land use policies that will ensure agricultural uses can continue now and into the future.
Feedback gathered at the open houses will be used to inform the development of a full amendment report. This report will be presented to the community during an additional round of public consultations to be scheduled in the coming months. Feedback from the second round of consultations will inform final recommendations to be presented to County Council for adoption and submitted to the province for approval, prior to being incorporated into the County’s Official Plan.
Residents are invited to visit the County’s online consultation portal at JoinIn.Northumberland.ca to learn more about the Northumberland Next initiative, to view PDF maps demonstrating how the proposed agricultural mapping would be implemented in our community, and to sign up to receive project updates directly to their email inbox.
Event details
County staff and project consultants will deliver two 15-minute presentations at each session, at 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Presentations will be followed by a Q&A period for questions and feedback.
Session 1
Monday, June 27, 2022
4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Forest Dennis Centre
55 Grand Road, Campbellford
Session 2
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Cramahe Municipal Office Council Chambers
1 Toronto Street, Colborne
Session 3
Thursday, July 14, 2022
4:00 – 7:00 p.m.The Port Hope Community Hub
5325 County Road 10, Port Hope
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