Collingwood residents are getting involved in the town's work to plan for future growth in a way one veteran planner hasn't seen in his 40-year career.
Work continues on the town's new official plan, which is on the second draft, and has included several meetings, surveys, and other calls for public input.
Ron Palmer, a consultant with The Planning Partnership who was retained by the town to oversee the Official Plan process, led the session and went through an overview of the plan to-date.
“We’ve received 213 written submissions providing detailed commentary on the work in draft one,” Palmer told attendees. “In my four decades of work, I’ve never seen quite that level of public involvement.”
“That is a real credit to the ratepayers here in Collingwood,” he added.
The public interest continued with about 30 residents and developers attending a public open house on Oct. 4 at the Collingwood Public Library.
Some of the attendees took issue with the draft plan suggesting the town allows up to 12-storey buildings. Residents shone a light on the elephant in the room asking how any plan governing growth and development could feasibly be implemented considering the town’s water treatment plant expansion worries. Collingwood currently faces estimates of $270 million for a necessary water treatment expansion plan (costs shared with New Tecumseth), and a delay in the project pushing it from 2026 to 2028.
The town's official plan (about 200 pages in its current draft form) 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 first draft was presented to councillors in July 2022 and was the culmination of work first started in 2019. The second draft was presented to councillors on July 31.
New changes in the second draft include definitions for attainable and assisted housing. The plan notes the town may become involved in the supply of attainable/assisted housing through land acquisitions, use of surplus land, development partnerships and the provision of financial incentives. The plan also contemplates the establishment of a not-for-profit housing corporation.
Other primary changes between the first and second drafts include accommodating growth through minimum targets to be achieved for new residents and jobs, reframing housing policies, prohibiting certain uses in industrial-focused employment areas, providing opportunities for added residential units in rural/agricultural areas, updating transportation mapping to ensure Collingwood is a walkable and bikeable community, and enhancing urban forest policies. Changes were informed by public consultation as well as Ontario-wide legislative and policy changes.
During Wednesday’s meeting, residents asked questions about how the plan could be implemented. Resident Ulli Rath raised concern about the plan and how it would relate to the new water treatment plant budget expectations of $270 million with a timeline for completion into 2028, noting the two issues were directly related and shouldn’t exist in silos.
“Why can’t we have an amendment that includes forward-thinking over the next five years that assumes we won’t have the new water treatment plant until 2028?” asked Rath. “The plan you’re submitting will be a ghost. It won’t be connected to the reality the public are facing.”
“We might have a fine vision but it doesn’t address what we can afford,” he added.
Palmer noted Collingwood is aware of the issue with the water treatment plant, but the purpose of long-term planning through the Official Plan is to ensure the planning for infrastructure has something to work toward.
“This plan is not divided into increments of five years... or phasing, primarily because we don’t know what the timing of development will be,” said Palmer.
Back in November, the province granted a minister’s zoning order for the Poplar Health and Wellness Village project, that allows the inclusion of 12-storey buildings within that design. The proponents of the project – Live Work Learn Play Inc. and Di Poce Management Ltd. – have not yet brought a full design to the town for consideration.
Palmer clarified during Wednesday’s meeting that the new Official Plan suggests 12-storey buildings also be permitted in areas of town zoned as Mixed Use 1 designation, which is mainly along Collingwood’s arterial roads such as the north side of First St., parts of Balsam St., some sections of Hume St. and the southern-most section of Hurontario St. Developers would still have to apply to the town to do so as building height would depend on overall lot size.
“We need to find locations in Collingwood where we can promote an urban structure that can support transit and that’s really on the arterial roads,” said Palmer. “You can only achieve 12 (storeys) when you have a site that is big enough and deep enough to create appropriate transition to whatever is around it.”
He also noted that allowing taller buildings could help improve affordability in town.
“Promoting taller buildings gives the opportunity for more of the dwelling units to be smaller and less expensive,” said Palmer.
Ed Leonard lives in Collingwood’s west end. He attended Wednesday’s session to learn more about future planning for the town.
“I’m concerned about the cavalier use of terms like climate change and 15-minute communities,” said Leonard. “They have to be defined before they’re tossed around.”
“I’m not concerned about 12-storey buildings or 30-storey buildings, as long as they’re properly placed. I’m more concerned about urban sprawl,” he added.
Guna Thuraisingham doesn’t live in Collingwood but owns six acres of land in Collingwood’s east end adjacent to Highway 26 and Beachwood Rd. He attended the session to talk about his land, which has been zoned environmentally protected through the Official Plan. His concern is that there are residential homes already built next door, which is on land not considered environmentally protected.
“In my opinion, there is no justification,” Thuraisingham told CollingwoodToday, saying he’s in the process of completing an environmental assessment for his land to make a case against its protection.
Alan Gilker recently moved to Collingwood from Toronto into the new Monaco building with his wife. He attended the session to try to get more involved in his new community.
“I think they have a good plan. I agree with (Rath) that the water situation could be a bit of a stumbling block. We need to solve that problem in order to carry out this plan and have the growth,” said Gilker.
Gilker says his wife suffers from multiple sclerosis and uses a scooter, and they chose to come to Collingwood specifically because of the walkability so his wife wouldn’t be confined to their home.
He also talked about the history of the Monaco building itself, and that it wasn’t so long ago that there was opposition to the six-storey (plus a partial seventh storey) building at the corner of Hume and Hurontario St.
“When we think about it now, you realize it wasn’t a big problem. Our building fits in with the neighbourhood,” said Gilker. “I don’t think larger buildings are necessarily a problem.”
To read the entire second draft of the Official Plan, click here.
There is a public meeting on the Official Plan on Oct. 17, and deputations will be permitted at the meeting. A final draft is expected to come to council for approval by the end of 2023.
