Nearly seven years after the process began, the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury’s Official Plan (OP) has been approved.
Simcoe County council approved the comprehensive planning document at its meeting March 14 meeting. Bradford West Gwillmbury Mayor James Leduc was excited to finally get the county’s sign-off.
“It is a nice thing to check off our list to make sure we have our Official Plan moving forward,” Leduc said. “The plan was overdue, needed. It was a long process, but I’m very happy that it is actually done.”
Under the Planning Act, municipalities in Ontario need to revise their official plans every 10 years and update them every five years thereafter to ensure they remain in conformity with provincial plans and are consistent with matters of provincial interest and provincial policy statements.
Upper-tier municipalities are the approval authority for local municipal official plans, and county staff have worked with the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury on revisions and modifications that meet the provincial requirement and conform with the county’s own OP from 2016.
Bradford West Gwillimbury began the process to create its new OP in 2016, beginning with four municipality-initiated Official Plan Amendments, addressing seniors' housing, growth and population, employment lands and downtown revitalization. The following year, the town undertook a community vision exercise and policy directions report.
The draft OP was developed by combining the work done in 2016 and 2017, and between 2018 and 2021, more public meetings were held on the document, as well as various consultations between the county and municipality.
The OP was approved by Bradford West Gwillimbury council in March 2021. The two-year delay in getting county approval means that the document might be out-of-date sooner than anticipated. That doesn’t take away from the importance of the new OP, Leduc said.
“This document is going to be a great guiding document for the years to come,” he said. “When new regulations come down for Bill 23 and the OPA 7 from the county, it shouldn’t make huge changes to our OP. We’ll just do a refresher of the OP to make sure we’re still aligned with the guiding principles of the PPS and Places to Grow documents.”
Taking into consideration the changes expected from the approval of OPA 7, the county’s Municipal Comprehensive Review and the amalgamation of the Provincial Planning Statement and the Places to Grow documents, Bradford West Gwillimbury staff are beginning to work on an update to the 2021 Official Plan.
The county inserted only one amendment to the OP while passing it, excluding the lands at 3999 Sideroad 10 from being included in the decision. A decision on the use of those lands, proposed to house a cemetery, is currently before the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).
The OLT would also have the final say on the county’s decision if any resident chooses to appeal.
