Resident hopes to ease pathways to OFDUs
Proponent says risk focus is a barrier to economic prosperity
Monica Branigan is hoping to break down barriers for other farmers who want to add on-farm diversified uses (OFDUs) to their agribusinesses after finding the planning process discouraging and cost prohibitive.
Branigan shared her experience with members of Clearview Township council on Monday during a delegation. The crux of her plea to council and staff is to look to the overall community benefits of on- farm diversified uses as a balanced approach when assessing risk.
“If you’re only looking for risk, you’re only going to see risk,” she said.
It is her experience that the risk focus creates an expensive reliance on consultants, underutilization of staff expertise, and a decrease in economic opportunities and revenue.
In Clearview Township, on-farm diversified uses require site plan approval under the township’s Site Plan Control Bylaw, although its Official Plan is more interpretive on the matter and the new draft Zoning Bylaw proposes many OFDUs and agriculture-related uses as a right.
Branigan said she has been mired in the planning process for two years and still hasn’t been allowed a change of use that would permit her to operate a farm related home business.
She hopes to offer workshops on her Fairgrounds Road farm on the topics of land stewardship, climate action and nature connection.
The plan is to run the workshops in her barn and on the property’s existing trails, up to three sessions per week with eight visitors staying for 2.5 hours. As a result, she has been going through a site plan approval process that her planner said was on scale with building a Walmart. Branigan is calling on township officials to create a separate site plan stream for on-farm diversified uses that would be more suited to the small scale of the proposed operation.
Pointing out that agriculture is identified as a core business in Clearview and that 32 per cent of farms are 69 acres or less in size, she said, “[Farmers] need this opportunity to make additional money and right now, the process makes it prohibitive.”
She said it is her expectation that many OFDUs are operating in the township without having gone through a planning process for that reason.
She said she has already spent $50,000 during the permitting process, below the $150,000 or more originally estimated.
“I hope I have reduced your litigation risk although I don’t understand why my business is risky,” said Branigan. “The only winner here is the consulting industry.”
“I think that the current system does not distinguish between OFDU and subdivision development,” Branigan told The Echo during a site visit. “They don’t have the tools to scale down the development.”
“There is no recognition of benefit to the community,” she said. “They just see it from a risk perspective yet they can’t articulate the liability risk.”
As a retired palliative care physician, Branigan said, “I spent my life taking care of people. We came here and fell in love with the land and now I’m taking care of the land.”
An effort has been made to rejuvenate the land by converting 12 acres into a tall grass prairie to create wildlife habitat and pasture for cattle. The rest of the property has a diverse forest plantation and a restored wetland.
Branigan said she initiated the planning process in June of 2023 with the idea of building a barn from which to run her business. She said, “I made the mistake of being honest.”
The barn was constructed in 2024.
“I am hoping for other people not to have to go through this process,” she said. “The more ridiculous you make the process, people are not going to engage with the township.”
She is hoping to see a change in the system and a shift in the mindset that OFDU is a big risk.
At the conclusion of Branigan’s council presentation, staff said they would take her comments under advisement and that work is being done to better incorporate OFDUs into the planning and development process.
Mayor Doug Measures said he appreciated her appeal for the township to focus on permissions.
“From a customer service point of view it has always been my objective to ask all our staff to find a way,” he said. “That’s what we want… to find a way to get our citizens to where they need to be.”
Trina Berlo photo: Monica Branigan says she has faced many barriers when trying to establish an on-farm diversified use home business in her barn located on Fairgrounds Road.
