County of Simcoe council approved Collingwood’s new Official Plan at the end of September.
However, it won’t be smooth sailing to get the new plan implemented, with 14 appeals to the new plan received by the Ontario Land Tribunal as of the appeal deadline on Oct. 29.
“County planning staff are preparing the appeal package to be sent to the Ontario Land Tribunal in mid-November in accordance with the Planning Act. A copy of the appeal package will be circulated to the Town of Collingwood once submitted,” wrote Tiffany Thompson, planning manager with the County of Simcoe, in an email to CollingwoodToday on Monday.
“The tribunal will review the appeals according to their policies and procedures. Timing is unknown at this time. The tribunal will then provide direction on next steps and guide the process,” she said.
The town's Official Plan (about 200 pages) guides land-use decisions in Collingwood and an update is completed every five to 10 years. The plan is the guide for the town’s 20-year growth and directs where, when and how growth should occur.
The town is expected to grow from a population of 22,500 people in 2016 to a projected population of 41,500 by 2041. The new Official Plan will guide land-use decisions into 2051.
The last Collingwood Official Plan update was completed in 2004, and although it has been updated multiple times in the years following, this marked the first complete revamp since that time.
Work on Collingwood’s Official Plan finished up in December 2023 following four years of drafts and public feedback, with town council voting at that time to push ahead. The plan was then sent to the County of Simcoe as the approval authority for all Official Plans within its purview.
The county approved the plan at the end of September, after the town made minor adjustments in July based on county feedback.
The County of Simcoe has undertaken the process of being the approval authority of Official Plans for about half of their 16 member municipalities so far, with more expected.
“While every Official Plan process follows the requirements Planning Act, every process is unique given the local landscape and planning policies in each of our local municipalities,” said Thompson.
In March 2023, the county approved Bradford West Gwillimbury’s Official Plan. It received two site-specific appeals at that time. Innisfil redid their Official Plan in 2018, and the county received seven appeals at that time. In 2020, the county approved Midland’s new plan, and also received seven appeals.
“While 14 OLT appeals is more than some communities, it is not well beyond what could be expected for a fast-growing municipality like Collingwood,” noted Thompson. “Appeals to Official Plans are a common occurrence, and reflect the local community’s continued involvement and interest in planning and growth within a particular community.”
In an email on Tuesday, Collingwood’s planning director Summer Valentine confirmed that the town just received the appeal packages.
“However, all 14 (appeals) do appear to be site-specific, meaning the majority of the general policies would be unaffected by the appeals,” said Valentine, noting that if all 14 appeals are site-specific, the town could put the all-encompassing parts of the plan into effect while they wait on the appeals to be resolved.
"We must now work through the documentation to confirm which sections of the new Town of Collingwood Official Plan policies and/or related schedules are subject to appeal," she said. "Once that task is completed, it would be our intent to publicly post a version of the 2024 Official Plan that indicates the sections that are under appeal, with the balance being in effect."
