Alnwick/Haldimand Township councillor Mike Ainsworth brought forward a motion at Tuesday’s committee-of-the-whole meeting for previously denied severance and building applications to be reconsidered, but it was met with resistance.
Ainsworth’s reasoning centred around the Ontario government’s legislative changes, including bills 23, 5 and 27 and Provincial Policy Statement that are reshaping the regulatory landscape in an effort to streamline housing development and reduce administrative barriers.
His motion added the Official Plan is outdated and that Alnwick/Haldimand needs to increase its tax base to continue to fund services in programs.
The motion sought to direct staff to bring forward a comprehensive report listing all denied severances and building permit inquiries and applications within the past 12 months to be reconsidered by council at no cost to the applicant until the application is successful, adding “staff explore opportunities to establish a more integrated decision-making process between Council and the Planning Department to better align outcomes with provincial housing objectives.”
Councillor Greg Booth wondered how verbal inquiries by phone that were denied could be tracked at this stage.
Mayor John Logel said he recently spoke with planning staff and was told there had already been 345 inquiries this year.
Deputy Mayor Joan Stover said Ainsworth referenced development on agricultural land, but noted Premier Doug Ford reversed that decision and it didn’t move forward.
“We did have a severance that we did grant on agricultural land and I do believe, we didn’t get blacklisted, but I do believe we got our hand slapped,” Stover said.
Stover added the municipality should also be concerned with the Oak Ridges Moraine, which has its own set of regulations.
Councillor Mary Catherine O’Neill noted the housing task force is working with staff and experts for recommendations and that’s the kind of process she can fully endorse.
She was concerned the motion would allow applicants to bypass staff and appeal directly to council until they are successful.
“There are lots and lots and lots of good reasons why people need to be turned down,” O’Neill said. “I certainly concur with our deputy mayor, the concerns about agricultural land. We are a community that that is our backbone. That is our number one industry, they have reached out to us on numerous occasions about protecting farmland.”
O’Neill said she didn’t feel it was appropriate for council to be deciding, “I like you, you get a severance and I don’t like you, you don’t get a severance or any kind of nonsense like that.”
Ainsworth said the proposed motion is about provincial policies.
“This isn’t about who your friend is,” he responded.
Ainsworth said the new policies should be adopted into the township’s Official Plan. He said things have changed at the provincial level and they want municipalities to make decisions rather than upper-tier governments and the framework has been provided.
Booth said the timing is an issue because applicants shouldn’t be able to come back if they were denied and council was following the policies in place at that time.
He suggested hearing from planning staff if the request for a report was even plausible, especially if there have been nearly 350 requests just this year.
CAO Dave Dawson said there is a process in place for applicants and there’s only a file on applications that have been presented to council. He suggested requesting a council appearance for planning and building officials if council members sought more clarity.
O’Neill thanked Dawson for his comments.
“We have to support our processes, we have to support our staff,” she said.
Ainsworth said the motion isn’t meant to disrespect staff.
“This is just saying that we’ve had so many changes come through the province in the last year and we’re
behind,” he said, adding that policies may have changed since some applications were denied.
“If we didn’t keep track of that, okay that’s probably not an issue, but how do we get back to those people? Those are tax dollars for us so we can run our township better than what we are because of being strapped with funds. The initiative of it all is to increase our tax base. We need to do that or raise our taxes.”
Booth called for a motion to defer and wait to hear from planning and building staff for more information.
Ainsworth said he hoped for an amendment to the Official Plan to include the new provincial policies.
Dawson suggested that could be discussed with staff when they speak to council, which could be as early as next week’s municipal planning and council meeting.
The motion to defer with the request for staff to appear at council was carried.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
