Transcript - Official Plan Review and Updates - Planning and Development Committee

Official Plan Review and Updates - Planning and Development Committee - April 8, 2026

Recording in progress. Okay. Good evening. I'd like to call the meeting of the planning and development committee to order. So, Grimby is situated on treaty land. This land is steeped in the rich history of the First Nations such as the Hadawandok, the Hodenon, and the Anoshab, including the Missagas of the Credit First Nation. There are many First Nations, Matei and Inuit people from across Turtle Island that live and work in Niagara today. The regional municipality of Niagara and Grimby stand with all indigenous people past and present in promoting the wise stewardship of the lands in which we live. Are there any disclosures of pecuniary or nonpunary interest? Seeing none, um can I get a mover and secondary to approve the agenda? Councelor Freak, member Potter resolve that the agenda of April 8th, 2026 Planning and Development Committee being approved. All in favor? This carried. Now, can I get a mover and second to approve the previous minutes? Moved by member Potter, seconded by Councelor Freak. We'll reverse it this time. Uh, are there any any questions of comments from the committee? Seeing none, uh, resolve that the following minutes be received. Planning and Development Committee February 4th, 2026 and Grimby Heritage Advisory Committee March 10th, 2026. All in favor? This carried. So there are no delegations or presentations tonight, but uh consent reports. Can I get a mover and a seconder for the consent report? Moved by councelor Freak, seconded by councelor Potter. um resolved by the planning planning and development committee hereby approves the following items and that the various consent items be approved on the recommendation as contained therein PA26-11 uh resolved that report PA26-11 erl comments Ontario's archaeology program information me information memorandum dated April 8th 2026 be received for information all in favor carried okay discussion reports. Can I get a mover and secondary to get report BLG-26-012025 building division accomplishments on the floor for discussion? Moved by member Potter, seconded by councelor Freak. Okay, Tori, please go ahead. Sure. So, tonight uh the 2025 building division accomplish accomplishments report is before you. So, in case you weren't aware, the business uh the building division now reports through uh legislative services. We've left all the reporting to the standing committees the same. Uh this was a a reorg that happened back in August, but given the nature of uh the term coming to a close, we've left uh all the reporting structures the same. Uh the realignment to building uh to legislative services supports that statutory role of the CBO and the technical legislative based service delivery of the building division. Uh throughout 2025, the team performed at a very high level, and I'm particularly excited about the division's focus uh to modernize processes, including the launch of Cloud Permit, uh an online tool that allows uh anyone to submit online building permits. Uh with that, I will turn it over to Anthony, uh the building permit technician, uh for the town to walk you through the accomplishments reports. So through you chair, I'm here to present the building 2025 um building division accomplishments. So just a quick overview of what our uh division is responsible for and what our roles and responsibilities within the corporation are. Um, our division is responsible for all the review and inspections for any construction happening within the town of Grimby to ensure compliance with the Ontario building code as well as providing any um education and enforcement to to homeowners or uh anybody constructing within the town as required. Um yeah, so our role under the Ontario Building Code, uh we're all appointed inspectors and our job is essentially ensuring construction complies with the OBC, the building code act and any other applicable law. Um so in 2025, uh there was a slight decrease in building permit activity uh permits issued and construction values compared to the previous year 2024. This tracks as construction activity tends to closely follow economic trends. So there's really no surprise there. Um on the second page you can see a breakdown of our department activity um categorized by residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, agricultural um numbers of permits issued and construction values for each as well as total construction value at the bottom and inspection services performed by our uh division in 2025. So we'll highlight a few of a few of the departments or division's accomplishments in 2025. Um our main one was the implementation of cloud permit. So cloud permit uh being a fully digital cloud cloud-based uh permit review software. Uh it was our move to cloud permit was to encourage and and uh foster greater efficiency and convenience for the public for applying for building permits. Uh the system allows for full digital applications to be made at any time anywhere um in the world. All reviews uh and correspondence is fully is handled fully digitally. Now payments can be made online and inspection requests and results automatically can be sent using the software and any associated applications. Um the configuration project spanned through 2025 and the launch date was on January 1st of this year. It's received overwhelming positive feedback from applicants and homeowners alike. uh and it has greatly improved our administrative efficiency um since we've uh begun using it this year. So, our next major project was the building bylaw modernization project. This was um a review of our town's current building bylaw to modernize and update it to reflect best practices within um current legislative uh environments. This was also done in collaboration with other area municipalities um NLE uh Thorald and Fort Erie being um working with their chief building officials on the project. So the review um is designed to just ensure that anything covered in the bylaw such as um processes related to fee collection classes and requirements for permit applications, any required plans, specifications and documents uh for building permits. Uh anything highlighted in the bylaw is is um updated to reflect current legislation in the most efficient manner. Uh the the new bylaw should be um it would it'll be ready for presentation in front of council by Q2 2026. Um yeah, so the next major project that we've been working on in 2025 was to improve the building division's web page to provide for more um modernized, streamlined, and improved user interface for the public uh to assist in their uh ease of applying for building permits. Um so since our project begun on that and it is ongoing but um we we've improved our web phase to having a streamlined UI uh as well as integration with cloud permits. So tutorials and and guides for the public to um assist them in applying as well as uh any additional documents and information that will assist in their uh preparing for projects and applying for cloud permit as well as some construction guides that our deputy chief has put together for the website. Um there's been positive feedback regarding this as well. And then our last major uh project was um the commencement of our building fee study. So the fee study um we committed to it in 2025 and it had officially begun in 2026. The intent of the study is to review that the building division's revenues, fee categories and expenses. Um ensure that the revenue the department receives is sufficient to provide full cost recovery for the services provided. um and that our our budgets remain uh in accordance with all applicable legislation that governs it. Um the consultant that we used was Hempson and Associates and they have assisted uh building permit fee studies for many municipalities and building departments as well as um assisted the town of Grimby in the past. So then a highlight of a few major projects that we handled in 2025 include um granting occupancy at the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital. Uh the completion of the Peach King Arena where occupancy has now been granted. Um, some residential projects that are currently ongoing are Evergreen Estates on Kerman Avenue, a 46 unit subdivision, Century Condos, um, on Main Street, uh, a five sto or a four-story uh, condominium building which is well underway, a um, and then there's another project on Main Street East, another condo building. Uh, a foundation permit has been issued for that project and that is now also ongoing. So in 2025, we had a a a good few large projects completed as well as started. And uh in 2026, given current um trends, we're expecting uh construction permanent activity to slightly increase um going forward. So yeah, I'm happy to answer any questions as well. Okay, member Potter. Thank you very much. Uh just uh just scrolling through couple of questions, but I'll ask one at a time just to not throw too much at you. Um obviously I don't have the previous year's data, but on the building department activity summary with the the dollar levels in the residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, agricultural, is that fairly consistent with the sort of percentages attached? Are you seeing a growth in any one or more of those? Um through you, chair. Uh you're you're referring specifically if there's been any increase in any individual categories. Um off the top of my head, I I without running the report to compare them exactly. Um I'm not exactly sure. I would imagine that with these large projects for um the condominium buildings, those are extremely large uh residential projects. So I don't know if um the ones that are currently ongoing how they've been reflected because they the permits have been issued in stages where there's foundation work which allows them to get started on that. But the actual finishing of the condo buildings is usually handled on a separate permit. I believe for 133 Main Street East, that one hasn't been issued yet, but will be soon. So in 2026, the um the activity for that will reflect a lot will the construction value and the the residential project category will go way up just due to the finishing of that condo. That's just the one example off the top of my head, but I'd be happy to look into it for you. That's all right. It's just more if you knew the data. Um it's just I know I'm not looking to my colleague over here that runs the economic development committee, but more on the commercial building, that sort of thing. and sort of the support that the economic development team has um had over the last few years and if what the driving impact of that has been on these sort of permitting issues or opportunities I'd say pray Frank uh Reg may give a comment in a minute but the only other two comments um one um it's great to see the movement in many of these big projects um you know I live on Main Street and seeing uh the 83 and the the condos uh century condos. I know you know it's not everybody likes them. Um but uh it's after living here for 7 years it's great to see the movement in some of these big projects. Um unfortunately I don't share your enthusiasm about where this year is going at the moment because of the uncertainties. Maybe hopefully after this morning we'll maybe a little bit more stable. Um but uh I think I'll I'll hold judgment till this time next year. Um and I think you should as well because I think it may slow down with the economic uncertainties and uh simple things like the price of gasoline and diesel um and the knock-on effects into the supply chain. So I'd maybe tailor your enthusiasm a little bit. Thank you, Councelor Frick. Uh thank you, Chair. Uh Anthony, thank you for the presentation. Um yeah, I I would I would recommend uh for comparison purposes that we put the previous year in on this report as well so we can get an idea of trend. I think that helps us because we don't know where we're coming from, where we're going. I think that would help a lot. Uh to answer Ian's question, um some of the projects that we have been working on, we're basically working on them. So you probably won't see some of those come to fruition till this year sometime. So you'll see this on the report for next year. Uh but 2024 I think was a fairly busy year as well. But I maybe we can we can get that feedback and I think you should put those numbers on there and maybe circulate it to the committee. So, Anthony, um I'm looking at the accomplishments and congratulations to the team uh for taking biting the bullet and getting all these new efficiencies in place. And I'm all about efficiency and cutting of red tape and making moving things through the process further. And I see Kristen over there laughing because she knows exactly where I come from and I preach it all the time. But with with the with the cloud permit, I know the cloud permit just was just launched this year. So it's I guess it's difficult to uh establish how more much more efficient we're going to be as a result of it. But I would assume that when we did the the analysis of of the what it would do for us, there must have been a reason why we decided to go that way because we must have seen some efficiencies in there. So I'd like to see how those efficiencies play out in terms of cost and getting more permits issued faster, that type of thing. Um so then then you've got another you we upgraded the building bylaw we modernized the building bylaw uh process uh as or building by process as well. So there's I would assume some efficiencies came out of that. Uh and then I look at the the website and we've made some improvements to the website and I would assume there's some efficiencies that come out of that. So how do we measure those things? things. I mean, do we measure do how do we put some hard numbers or times um on these things that are we put in place? I mean, because I know we're talking about putting up the the cost of permits and it's going to come to council next week. So, when I see these efficiencies coming out of these these various changes, I'd like to see where we're saving some money which we can pass down to either the residents or the investors that are building in the town. So, I don't know if you're going to if you can address that or if there's any numbers that you have, maybe not here now, but that you can share with us that shows why or how these efficiencies will affect us from a cost perspective and an efficiency perspective, getting things to market faster kind of thing. So, it's probably maybe you don't have the answers to of those questions, but go ahead. Uh through your chair. Um yeah, I I I don't have any hard numbers or any hard data to to reflect the efficiencies, but I can maybe speak on on some of the ways that um all of these have have improved the efficiency of the department. So prior to the implementation of cloud permit, our department was a little old school in the way that um we handled building permit applications as in we were still fully a fully physical, fully in-person um application system. Um, so that obviously, you know, has some some merit, but also, you know, it creates a you have to come into town hall, you have to print off two sets of drawings, um, which is timely, it's costly. Um, you could only make payments to the town during work hours, right? Um, since we've implemented Cloud Permit, people have been able to take drawings from their designers and, uh, simply log into Cloud Permit, upload the drawings, and we're able to give them the permit fee bill through Cloud Permit. Um, and they're able to pay it through Cloud Permit. They don't have to wait. They don't have to drive to town hall. They don't have to um, come during work hours, spend money printing drawings off, and then even correspondence as well. Um, before we would send letters via email and then they would have to revise their drawings and print them off physically to come to town hall to then uh drop them off for us to review and and um issue a permit or address or it could lead to future correspondence. But um this can now all be handled through cloud permit which makes uh correspondence with our applicants far far easier. Um so when in terms of hard numbers I don't have anything. I can maybe look into that and and get back to you on that. But um just on a high level, how is it how has it led to efficiencies? It's made speed of coordination with our applicants. Um the improvement there 10fold. Um I would say the the submission process, the payment process, a lot of that's been improved just by virtue of going digital. On that same note, so I know it's only just been launched, but when the consultants came through with I would assume the consultants were somewhat involved in helping us get agree on using cloud permit as the as a platform. So they must have come up with some type of of justification in terms of cost. It's going to take you if if if we're doing a lot of if if the permit u holders are going online and doing a lot of this work and it's taking time and away from our own staff doing that work. There must be some cost savings in their summer. I just like to know what they are because you know I mean if as we go if we're taking cost out of the system then can we somehow just pass it down? I just I just or just put the money in our pocket whatever we need to do. So anyways, yeah, if you can come back with some hard numbers, I'd appreciate it. Tori, you want to say something through the chair? So, a couple things I just wanted to highlight. Um, cloud permit as we know that is new. It's we're seeing it a lot across other municipalities. Uh, in addition to implementing cloud permit, we're also uh working on the development review process. So, that came to GDACK. There's a report there that you can review in from February. um that's also going to speak a little bit more to what you're talking about because it includes the whole process, not just the building section of a site plan approval or um any type of of planning application that could come in that would involve the building department. And so we're also hoping that cloud permit will um the planning department, we're doing bylaw right now, but planning department is looking to also onboard cloud permit. So this software will be able to help monitor and track our KPIs from start to finish of an application from when the developer or resident submits it at the counter to when the building permit is issued to construction. So there's the whole process that should be documented in the software. Whereas right now we aren't necessarily tracking those numbers or if we are it's a very manual process. Uh so I think you'll see more of what you're asking about come through the development review process which is all-encompassing versus specifically the building department. But it's a great pilot and uh you know next year this time we look forward to reporting back on some of those statistics about how long it takes and the volume of applications. If I may just the only other thing I wanted to mention I don't have all of the comparisons um but to speak to the previous question about comparisons just a couple that I do have. So residential permits between 2024 and 2025 were up uh 6% detached homes were up approximately 73% and uh the industrial value was up but uh in speaking with um our chief building officer and and uh deputy chief building officer you know that tends to fluctuate depending what projects are on the table of course. So I know we had a couple big industrial projects up uh in the last year. So, just to give you a couple statistics there and I hope I answered a couple of your questions about KPIs. I look I look forward to seeing those in the future. The the the new changes. I just curious. I see that pool pool enclosures seem to be the trend of of all the numbers here. I think the pool enclosures is the second largest one on the on the list. So, I guess we're becoming a a town of pools. So, just it just stuck out. It just it stood out for me. Anyway, thank you very much, Anthony. Resolve that report BLG-25-01 2025 building division accomplishments dated April 8th, 2026 be received for information. All those in favor? Okay, that is carried. Can I get a mover in secondary to get report PA-26-08 Planning and Development Services Annual Report 2025 on the floor for discussion? Moved by councelor Freak, second by member Potter Swoop. Go ahead. Thank you, chair. Um, I had a presentation. Thank you. I'll just tell you when to skip. Awesome. Um, so before you today, I have the second annual uh planning and development services annual report. So if you kind of take a time machine way back when, 2024, we did do it last April, we did a 20 uh4 reporting. So this year we're basically building off of that. So the sum this uh presentation will summarize the 2025 activities and achievements. Um we're going to continue to bring insight into the range of activities that the planning department does including uh land use zoning um you know zoning checks for building permits as well as um some of our more departmental changes through construction. Um and then this specific reason for this report is that it's designed and formatted to be for public engagement. So not only is it uh data keeping but we provide the report in front of you that uh is printed out for public engagement uh in a more digestible format. Next slide. So like I mentioned before this is a followup to the 2024 annual report. Um along with the report to committee there is the annual report which is the first appendix. Um, and based off of previous feedback that we received, we've also now included a development spreadsheet. So that's appendix B that primarily reports on all active files. Um, like I said, even some that are through construction. Next slide. So as you flip through the report, the first thing you'll see is after um Kristen's message um is you'll see a snapshot of this year. Um the goal of the snapshot is to provide a summary. So, if you only really make it that far in the report, you'll get to see um some of the key aspects of what planning does going through the process uh primarily the delivery of excellent customer service as well as supporting uh sustainable economic action uh investment as well as strengthening collaboration um across our departments to provide better public engagement and consultation and advancement of council priorities. Next slide. So the first uh section or of this report primarily focuses on our policy. So our policy staff have been working on as you know an official uh plan review. So currently we are in the process of reviewing a draft official plan but some other things also took place this uh in the past year um since 2029 and this was kind of reported in the 2024 report as well but uh we've seen continuous change from the province right. So, we've seen new uh provisions come through. 2025 was no different. So, we had two major um acts that went through. So, we had the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act uh that received uh Royal Ascent. Um and then we had in November um we received Royal Ascent for um sorry, Fighting Delays and Building Faster Act 2025. Um and then as of March 30 31st, 2025, we've also consolidated our official plan with the region. So that's been keeping our staff busy. Um and then of course we continue to provide support and review um of other major plans that are being undertaken in the town of Grimby as you may know the transportation master plan and also the parks master plan. Next slide. The next section of this report uh primarily focuses on um community. This is where we kind of try to highlight how the work we do is also uh engages across our community members. Um so of course you know that there's our more common methods of community engagement whether that's through email, phone call, attending public meetings, information center, special events um as well as online communication through let's talk. Uh but we also have many community projects underway. So uh one thing that we continue to provide um and work in collaboration with the the MTO Metroinks and the region is go transit expansion. We also have our heritage team which does weekly weekly sorry annual Ginsby heritage week uh in which they often do some type of walk or um go through and review heritage sites um and provide greater feedback. Um, so and all this is done as like a public process. Um, as well as Peach King Center, which has finally opened up as of this year. Um, so those were some of the projects we had our hand in that directly benefit the community and aren't necessarily just homes or commercial sites as well as some quick uh numbers that I wanted to share. I know Anthony already, oh, he's not here. Uh, uh, reported on some of the total building value of building permits. Um, where we come in is we do the zoning checks for those. So, it's kind of a team effort. um as well as correspondences. So um we're averaging about 15 uh inquiries, just email inquiries. That doesn't include front desk and phone calls among staff uh totaling to over 700 over the year. So um the community keeps us busy, which is awesome. Next slide. Our next chapter or section of the report is our heritage section. So heritage team continues to deliver. One of the major changes um in our heritage um I guess day-to-day activities you could say is that as of 2025 since the cons consolidation of the regional official plan we are now responsible for archaeological management uh review. So essentially uh as a result on top of their recommendation reports and their designations um Heritage staff have completed over 68 uh archaeological assessments um for the year of 2025. Um their major projects continue to be the grant program. So this would uh 2025 would mark um this the second year. Um we have main street preservation which continues to be a priority and as well as the commencement and I guess the launch of the tax rebate program have been major for um our heritage team. Um and of course um their priority remains property owner consultation. So um this year they reported 175 property owners were consulted with across the register and the designated properties. Next slide. Okay. Hey, brick work. Um, this is what our development staff kind of do. Um, so in as of 2025, uh, planning staff brought forth applications to committees and council resulting in 53 complete applications. I do want to report on just some I guess some metrics. We do see a slight decrease from last year in our um um minor applications such as minor variances. But if you compare 2024 to 2025, we've actually seen a rise in our major applications primarily considering zoning bylaws and condominiums. So these are some of our major planning applications that come in that often do come to council and committee. Um so we did see a raise in those rise in those. um as well as over nine uh new site plan applications. That doesn't include the continuous applications we carry forth um through construction. Um and new site uh site plan applications considering construction. We had six residential and mixeduse projects and four industrial projects that were managed under construction with our new development services team. Um so we've kind of created a process um where in our department now we have um applications go from either major applications from zoning ballot to OP um through site plan and then they're monitored through construction through our development services team. So, um just highlighting some major projects. Again, um there's way more in the report, but some of the big ones I think that are known across the community. Uh we have uh Anatolia, so 725 South Service continues to be under review. Um we have our 19 and 23 Alm Street and 13 Mountain Street, um which uh came to committee um last year and is continuously is still under review. And then 133 Main, which is under construction. So um some different variations of our uh development uh throughout uh the last year. Next slide. Uh building on our look ahead. So this is what you can kind of expect to see us reporting on next year in our 2026 uh annual report. So we will also be implementing cloud permit. I know we kind of briefly talked about that with Anony's presentation. Uh we're also going through process improvement. So this is internal processes um that we're trying to uh review how we process applications um and get them in and out through the the system. We have their fee review um which is kind of being taken on um across kind of departments but we're also a part of that go transit that's a big one I know that's been moving um with some major announcements from the province and then of course our OP completion so um anticipated municipal adoption of the the town official plan and provincial approval. Um that is technically my last slide but the other thing I want did want to mention if you're looking at appendix B I'm sorry I didn't print it for you apologies. Um it is all active projects and no minor applications. So you will not find any committee of adjustment applications on there. Uh just cuz oftent times that's our homeowners and whatnot. So um these are all of our major applications that are still currently active and active in this case is also moving through I guess construction as they get managed through construction or reviewed through construction. Yeah, thank you very much for the report. Uh questions from the committee. My turn. Councelor Freak. All right. Thank you for Thank you for the presentation. You guys got a lot going on. I know. And Kirsten is 6 months now. Not quite now. Not quite six months. So you you certainly have you certainly come in at the right time. Maybe. I'm not sure if we should say that right. Maybe it's the wrong time. It's the right time because we have so much to do and and and uh because we spent a number of years trying to catch up and and we've had a lot of upheavalss in the last couple of years. So, and here we are heading into another election which is going to be fun. So, uh but anyways, the I'm glad to see that you've got cloud permit on there. I actually saw a I me I meant to mention to Anthony earlier. I saw a demo of that with one of the exhibitions that we went to. I'm not sure which one it was. one of the GDAC economic development actually uh events and they showed that actually I'm so I'm glad to see you installing that. Uh I hope that when we do the process improvements we will find um we will lessen or shorten the the uh the time that an investor comes into town, puts his money up, buys a piece of property, and gets a shovel in the ground. And there's there's two sides of that coin. And we had this discussion today with a with a developer and I believe Kirsten was part of a discussion we had recent this past week. You know, the investor comes in, they buy the land, they find the clients, um, and the, you know, they're they're they're at the behest of their clients. And if they don't get things going fast enough and and don't meet all their deadlines, they lose their clients. We lose them. We lose they lose their clients. And so we therefore we lose the the the revenue and we lose the we lose the commerce, we lose the jobs, we lose everything else and and we've got a couple of big names that are coming to town and you know they've been quite frustrated. So I hope that we can find really fantastic really good process improvements to move those things along because it's not just the developer, it's the developers clients. I mean I'll pick one out just out of the air which we talked about last week. Atco is a $25 billion Canadian company. huge massive name and they've chosen Grimby to to to expand and they're under tight deadlines and they're so so they're pushing the the developer and developer pushing us but if they don't get to open their facilities on time then sometimes they just pull out and go somewhere else and we lose it and and we came close by the way in in a couple of cases which I don't want to mention here but we're where it came down to that and now we have another big name coming to town uh and they're under a deadline. So having this these process improvements coming faster will be good because as I say it's not just a developer it's it's their clients that are coming here who are going to create the jobs and so on so forth and give us the taxes that we need. So I I hope that these processes will I don't know what will just just shorten that time so much that we can we can be heroes. And I I know it's difficult to talk about it now because you're going through the process, but I do look forward to seeing what you come up with. And I know Chris, I I preach to you all the time about this and and I I'll never stop because it's so so important. Um it's not the red tape, it's just the time it takes to do things. So anyway, thank you very much. Great presentation and and you have a you have a fun year ahead of you, a term, member Potter. Well, thank you very much for the report. I always enjoy reading these ones. It's always good to see and remember what actually happened and uh Kirsten, thank you. I mean, come in, you know, drinking from the fire hose properly, but uh it's good to see the movement. As I said earlier in the previous presentation on a lot of the files, I uh agree with my colleagues comments um you know look to the longerterm line of sight to get things moving and done. I say I was pleased to see the things moving forward but I know there's other things without mentioning specific projects that seem to be about stuck but not moving as fast as I would hope maybe and council and probably yourselves. I found it a little bit ironic. Bianca's left, but Walter may remember in our first um discussion with Stantech on the Heritage Conservation District. Uh there was somebody from I want to say the Brick Museum Association of Ontario that talked about the history of bricks and how Grimby was front and center in that with the types of bricks we have. So when I see the brick work over the finish line section in here, it made me think of that and it's something to celebrate in some respects and you know it brings in the heritage with the future on where you're trying to go and linking those sort of things together I think is useful from a cultural perspective and if you linking that into the uh the comments in the official plan or the draft official plan and uh I know cultural was struck out in one of the lines can't remember which line it was now. I'm cultural is important I think. So we'll get into that probably in the next section. Uh but the the foundation for planning and the the construction and you know everything that we can celebrate I think is there's more to it but it's the resourcing as well. Um overall I'm I'm pleased to see the things moving forward. Um I think you know um for somebody that's lived in Ginsby I say for 7 years but the people that moved into uh Ginsby you know 10 years ago with the aspirations of the GO train it's it's you know the reality on that one and when it's going to happen. It's good to see the movement late uh recently but there's a lot more as you know to get it over the line. Um so I don't know how you prioritize and I'll leave that to you to prioritize. Um, but you know, look for the big hits, but also you know, the quick wins. Um, and you know, where are you putting your effort and your your team's effort? I mean, there's not a neverending resource pool that you can pick from. So, how are we prioritizing those things? I think will be useful. And maybe, you know, you've you've talked about it in the 26 go ahead. Obviously, there's a lot of devil in the detail behind that. Um, but really where where can you make a difference in how do you upsell this for next year in that sort of end statement? Um, because I think there is movement and I think you're underelling what you've actually done in this on that just as a back page. So yeah, thank you member Potter. Actually have quite a few Grimby bricks myself, a few in the office. So, thanks for that. Uh, resolve that report PA-26-08, Planning and Development Services Annual Report 2025, dated April 8th, 2026 as attached as appendix A be received for information. All those in favor carried. Now, we got a mover and second to get report PA-26-10 revised draft official plan on the floor for discussion. Moved by member Potter and seconded by councelor Frank. Lauren, please go ahead. Good evening, everybody. Uh through the chair, uh I'd like to provide a brief verbal presentation regarding the interim report uh regarding the release of the revised uh draft official plan. So, as you are well aware, the town has been uh reviewing and preparing a new official plan to replace its existing OP. A first draft of this draft official plan was released on October 24th, 2025. And since that time, the town has received public input in various forms uh and has also held public information centers, a statutory public meeting, and an open house. Uh staff would like to extend their their thank you to residents and stakeholders for their interest and their continued participation on this project. Um it's extremely helpful to receive your comments and we look forward to continuing to receive those comments. So, a revised draft of the plan has been released for continued input. And in this revised draft, uh, yes, there have been a number of changes, uh, that have been made. Um, and some of these, uh, are they're large to say the least. Um, so I'll just kind of quickly uh touch on a number of those. I think that likely the most significant is the combining and clarifying of land use policies in the built form framework. So in the previous version of the draft where we had uh land use policies and built foreign policies in uh two separate chapters uh we have now uh united them into a single chapter um which breaks them down in relation to specific places such as centers, nodes, corridors, residential areas etc. This revised plan also has a renewed focus on compatible and responsible growth. Um this has been added as a guiding principle to the plan where formally there were three key pillars. There are now four which include uh policies that are related to mobility, connectivity and inclusivity, environmental, economic, cultural and social sustainability, placemaking, identity and authenticity and now uh in addition to that compatible and responsible growth. More policies have also been included to expand the town's um implementation toolbox. Uh so this includes uh uh policy sets for things like block plans for inclusionary zoning um and for application maintenance just to name a few. Um I would also like to note that the Grimsy Beach secondary plan has been uh streamlined a bit and has been uh included as a sightsp specific policy now as opposed to a secondary plan. Um this is a I think that this is a a significant change to the the way that the uh the draft itself is structured. Um and this was in response to uh comments received from the province. Uh so again there continue to be updates and refinements to the schedules and mappings uh and mapping to continue to clarify and align the plan with uh planning frameworks. And the plan of course continues to be aligned with the transportation master plan and the uh parks master plan projects respectively. Uh and there of course are still a number of items that continue to be under review uh such as items related to the Grimsby Air Park uh among other things. And so staff uh continue to take public input on the official plan and we will do so until May 6th, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. And staff anticipate a draft to be brought to council for adoption in June of this year. So again, just another thank you uh to everyone who has provided your feedback and contributions on this project. Thanks. Thank you, Lauren. We'll start member Potter. Thank you very much. Beast of a document. I appreciated it coming into my inbox this morning. Um 700 pages was really what I needed over coffee this morning. No, no, speed the speed reading course I did years ago was really worthwhile. Um I didn't read it word for word. It was speed reading. Um but it was a question I probably could have asked in the previous session as well. Um and if you don't want to answer, I would understand why. Now you're worried what I'm going to ask you. Um the planning process obviously there's a lot of pieces to it. Um one of the uh things that we're always conscious of and one of the things that when we go through planning it's one of the groups we check off is the conservation authority. The changes there that are being proposed for what we know today and that's not a lot really. How do we make sure whatever we're putting together here is boilerplated against the changes there and making sure that we can accommodate the whatever comes with that consolidation of the conservation authority. So I know it's a political question maybe but I think it's an important one for a lot of the permitting and a lot of the planning that you do. Thank you. Uh thank you for the question and and through you chair. Um I I do appreciate that it was a short turnaround with the release of the the official plan. So I'll just address that first. We did uh we were trying to get it out um with the release of the agenda, but we were a little bit delayed. So I I do appreciate that you only received it um this morning. Um but it is out um now uh for review and um we're happy to take any questions uh following a more deeper um dive into the into the policies. Um in terms of the environmental policies or um the conservation authority review, we have incorporated the policies uh modified um for Grimby but the policies of the region's official plan. So they did do quite a detailed review and um in-depth uh policy set for environmental policies and we have received comments from the conservation authority on uh the first draft and we will circulate the second draft for their input as well and then I guess we will continue to monitor the changes at the the provincial level. Um ultimately council will adopt the official plan. It will go to the province for final approval and they will modify it if there is changes that are needed related to the conservation authority. Okay, I'll leave it. Um, I guess I just asked a qu a question related to uh transit station areas. Uh, there's a little bit of growing concern I' say in the community of the VIA flag rail station. So, just if you could expand on on uh on how that would be impacted in our official plan, I'd be much appreciated. Uh thank you for the question and through you. Um so we have not identified it as a major transit station area within the official plan. Um it is within the downtown center. Um but has not been identified as a major transit station area. The only area that we are planning for as a protected major transit station area is the go station location uh near Casablanca and the service road. Okay. Yeah, thank you for the answer. Um whatever lobbying efforts that I guess we could do and let us know if we can be of any help in trying to communicate with VIA and Metro Links to end up with one station. I think that would be ideal. Um, but I I certainly support just uh the one transit station area on Casablanca. Uh, seeing no further questions, resolve that report PA-26-10 revised draft official plan dated April 8th, 2026 and attached as appendix A be received for information. All those in favor? And that's carried. So, seeing that there's no correspondence, moving on to other business. Is there any other business pertaining to the committee? Seeing none, I see Katie has uh some other business to provide as well. So, pass. Thank you to your chair. Um so, the planning and development committee will be providing a brief end of term report for council um which will note the committee's accomplishments and future opportunities for this term. Um so, the report will be compiled by staff using points provided by you and this work will be done during committee meetings and no working groups or subcommittees will be permitted. Um, we're going to dedicate time on the um during the April 22nd, May 6th, and 20th meeting agendas to brainstorm accomplishments and future opportunities. And the report will be finalized ahead of the last meeting on June 10th to allow time for committee review. Um, from there, the committee chair, Mayor Jordan, will present the report during the chair's report at the council meeting on July 13th, while other members may attend in person or virtually if they wish. the rules that govern chair's reports fully apply, such as not exceeding five minutes in length. Um, other than that, I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have them. Okay, seeing none, the next uh planning and development committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Thank you everyone. The meeting is adjourned. Recording.

Full Transcript