Municipality pauses rollout of new zoning maps
Clearview Township is pausing its rollout of proposed new mapping that staff and consultants were hoping would help assuage the concerns of residents who are unhappy to learn their properties would be rezoned environmental protection as a result of a Zoning Bylaw review that is currently underway.
After the draft mapping was published, the municipality was flooded with comments opposing the EP zones which are more restrictive than the existing rural or agricultural zones. The EP zones may restrict or prohibit accessory dwellings, home businesses and on-farm diversified uses.
“Through a review of the public and agency comments received, staff have determined that an Official Plan amendment is necessary to reflect revised greenlands/natural heritage feature mapping in the township’s Official Plan and to permit a more permissive land use framework in the greenlands designations. An Official Plan amendment that focuses on the greenlands mapping and associated land use policies is now proposed in coordination with the Zoning Bylaw review,” reported Derek Abbotts, Clearview’s director of planning and building, in February.
Staff had planned on presenting an Official Plan amendment and a second draft of the Zoning Bylaw, along with revised mapping for public review and comment in February and to hold a public meeting on March 25, but a decision has been made to hold off to allow time for further consultation after planning consultants at MHBC and township staff circulated the draft Official Plan amendment and Zoning Bylaw to the County of Simcoe and NVCA for initial review and comment. The county comments identified concerns with the proposed approach to the natural heritage system mapping and conformity with the county’s Official Plan. NVCA requested additional areas to be zoned as regulated areas, according to a memo from MHBC partner Dave Aston dated Feb. 27.
“MHBC and township staff have determined that additional discussions are required with the county and NVCA to present draft natural heritage mapping and policies that balance the comments received from the agencies with the concerns raised by the public on the EP zones and property impacts,” writes Aston. “MHBC and township staff remain committed to preparing an Official Plan amendment and Zoning Bylaw that will better address the public and agency comments received as part of the Zoning Bylaw review to date. Following additional consultation with County of Simcoe staff, the draft Official Plan amendment and draft Zoning Bylaw will be published in advance of a public meeting.”
The hope is to hold the public meeting later in the spring, after determining if planners can proceed with their proposed solutions.
At the Feb. 9 council meeting, Aston had appeared optimistic about new approaches to the EP zonesby way of environmental overlays.
“We believe that’s going to provide a positive response to the number of comments we received on the first draft of the bylaw…” said Aston. “Not to say we’re minimizing environmental protection, it’s just a different approach. Now, landowners can use their properties within what we’ll be calling a greenlands or EP overlay.”
“We want the public to understand we have been addressing their concerns,” said planner Rosalyn Workman at the Feb. 9 meeting.
Comments are still being accepted via www. clearview.ca/ZBLReview, where residents can also view an interactive map that shows their property’s current zoning and the zoning proposed during the fist draft of the bylaw review.
Image: Residents were seeing red at the amount of green in the first round of draft zoning maps released by Clearview Township, indicating an increase in the restrictive environmental protection zones.
