The Town of The Blue Mountains is getting closer to the finish line for the five-year review of its official plan.
On Oct. 1, council held a public meeting to hear comments and concerns from the community about the draft of the new official plan. The town has been working on the review for the past three years. Phase 1 of the project was completed some time ago and Phase 2 was recently finished. The two phases have been combined to form the draft of the new official plan.
A large audience was on hand for the public meeting and the staff presentation of the draft of the official plan. Council received many comments from the public about the draft on a variety of topics.
Shawn Postma, the town’s manager of community planning, said the public meeting was a culmination of many years of work, 17 different background papers and numerous public engagement sessions and events.
“We’re very proud to present the current draft of the official plan,” said Postma.
The official plan for The Blue Mountains was originally created in 2007. It was last updated in 2016 and it sets a vision and guiding principles, along with goals and objectives for the town’s future growth.
Proposed changes in the draft plan include:
- A limit on the height of new buildings in town will remain at three stories. However, an existing exception at the Village at Blue allowing five stories will remain in place. Five storey buildings will also be allowed in limited places along the Highway 26 corridor in Thornbury, but outside the downtown area. The policy includes setback increases to push taller buildings back from local roads to ensure taller buildings don’t appear to be as tall.
- Housing density targets have been increased across the town in response to the province’s desire to see more homes built.
- The draft official plan sets a target to have 30 per cent that all new homes built in the community are affordable/attainable and includes provisions for ground-level housing to include mandatory design concepts for additional residential units (basement apartments).
On the current schedule, the draft official plan would come to council in November for discussion at a committee of the whole meeting and would then come to a council meeting for final approval in December.
“It’s still a living document. It continues to evolve,” project consultant David Riley said at the meeting.
There was plenty of interest from the public in the new draft official plan. The town received a number of letters from the public and various organizations and there were plenty of comments made at the meeting.
Top concerns included:
- Continuing to have policies to protect the town’s character.
- How the policies to increase density would impact the community.
- Environmental and wetland protection.
- There were also concerns raised about the potential of having taller buildings in the town and the impact that would have on the town. However, some speakers also indicated support for taller buildings.
- Concerns about the impact significant future growth would have on town infrastructure and drainage.
- Concerns about how future growth would impact local transportation infrastructure.
No decision about the draft official plan was made at the meeting. Staff will bring a full report to council for consideration in the near future.
