A group of residents from Essex County have expressed their thoughts on changes to be made to the Official Plan.
On Wednesday evening, County council members, along with members of the community took part in an online Official Plan Review Meeting to discuss the plan and changes that could made to it.
The current County Official Plan was adopted and approved in 2014, based on background work that started in 2009.
However, in 2020, the Province of Ontario adopted a new Provincial Policy Statement. The Planning Act requires municipalities to review their Official Plan once every five years to ensure that it is up to date and consistent with the statement.
The plan provides guides to everyone in the community in terms of population, employment and housing projections, land uses and activities, housing affordability, climate change mitigation, transportation, and many other matters.
Patricia McGorman, President of Canada South Land Trust, spoke on Natural Land Preservation in Essex County.
She says local farmers have spoken up to ensure that agricultural lands are not impacted by the Official Plan.
"Especially down here, we know that this is great climate, we know that our precipitation provides for us to grow great crops as well as forests, so we have a lot to protect. But, the people who have most at stake to gain a financial advantage are speaking up to say 'we need this for now and for future generations'."
Brenda Gagnier, a Kingsville resident, spoke on the location and height of buildings.
She says she understands municipalities are growing, but some aspects such as high-rises need to be in a reasonable area.
"The Town of Kingsville residents have voiced their concerns on growth in this area many times over with various venues. I'm certain the Town of Essex, for example, has the same concerns of high-rises going along their main street. I've heard people of authority saying 'not in my backyard', but quite frankly, we are not saying not in our backyard, we're saying make it in a reasonable area."
Elica Berry, Immediate Past President of the Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors, spoke on migration and the growing population of surrounding municipalities, where in 2024 it's now been projected that over 485,000 immigrants will be welcomed to Canada.
She says that in the updated plan there must be conversations on keeping up to take with migration.
"The County must include mechanisms to review and update the plan through its lifecycle to ensure its keeping with moving migration, and internal migration targets and other assumptions that have formed its creation if we don't stand to repeat the mistakes of the past which have contributed to the affordability crisis we are in today."
The plan is being undertaken into three phases. Phase 1 took place from February 2022 to October 2022, and consultations were completed with stakeholders, council members, and the community to provide input.
The County is currently in Phase 2, which started in January 2023 until July 2023 where topics from Phase 1 are being discussed through background studies and reports.
And finally Phase 3 will start in July 2023 to December 2023 and will include the preparation of the draft for the new Official Plan, and the presentation of the draft document to Essex County council, key stakeholders and the community.