Council was back in session on Monday for a Special Meeting to receive the third draft of the new Official Plan. Despite the early 5:30 p.m. start, there was no shortage of in-person and written delegations, or Council debate.
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The most recent and perhaps last major revision to the Town’s Official Plan has been posted and will be presented to Council at a Special Meeting on Monday, June 1st.
Among a few of the notable policies proposed by the consultants and Town Staff in the draft:
- Building heights of up to 12 storeys in the Downtown District.
- Removal of the Grimsby Beach Secondary Plan and replacement with “Area Specific Policies.”
- Residential neighbourhoods expected to accommodate intensification through ARUs and “modest low-rise development.”
- More density, with more flexibility to reduce or replace on-site parking.
- Certain planning procedures may shift toward less public notification, less public input, and less direct Council oversight.
The new Official Plan, once finalized, will shape how Grimsby grows until 2051. You can read the draft plan at: https://www.letstalkgrimsby.ca/…/172425/documents/169510
The Special Meeting of Council on Monday will start at 5:30 PM in Council Chambers at Town Hall and is open to the public. If you want to delegate on the matter, submit your request before 5:30 PM on Sunday at: https://eforms.grimsby.ca/Delegation-request-form
If you want to get your comments on the public record, you can email them to: grimsbyop@grimsby.ca
For more information about the Official Plan process, visit: https://www.letstalkgrimsby.ca/officialplan
On Monday, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra announced at Queens Park that after reviewing previous decisions made by the Ministry, it would be introducing legislation to roll back Provincial changes made to Official Plans and Official Plan Amendments in 13 municipalities, including those made to the Region of Niagara’s OP (list of changes here).
For the most part, this applies to urban boundary changes. Calandra said this was part of “building a better relationship” with municipalities. That also includes the Minister “reviewing costs” of Grimsby and Pickering, reversing course on his statements last week that would have municipalities on the hook for incurred expenses.
The costs incurred by Pickering hover around $360K, while Grimsby’s costs have been pegged between $82K to $88K.
While the Province intends on making municipalities whole, officially no “person” will have any recourse under Bill 136 aka “The Greenbelt Statute Law Amendment Act, 2023” should it receive Royal Assent in its current version.
With provisions such as “Proceedings barred”, “No costs award”, “No remedy” and “Retrospective effect”, the Province has attempted to prevent litigation through legislation between anyone, be it the Province, developers, municipalities and other classes related to this whole affair.
With the Town moving away from the Committee of the Whole governance system and re-establishing Standing Committees, opportunities have re-opened for residents to be an active part of the municipal decision-making process through committee membership.
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The agenda for this Monday’s Committee of the Whole/Council meeting has a letter dated December 19, 2022 from MPP Oosterhoff. In the letter he trumpets the sunshine that Bill 23 and changes to the Greenbelt will mean to Ontarians and Niagara… and says he will not show up at Council, despite the invitation.
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With Bill 23 now passed by the Ford Government and having received Royal Assent, the proposed Greenbelt changes have now come into focus. This has spurred calls for the Premier to resign, an MPP launching a complaint to Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner and many calling for a criminal investigation due to the issue not passing the “sniff test”. With media linking possible names and political donations to the PC party, it seemed timely to return to our own local Greenbelt parcel of controversy, 502 Winston Road.
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The Town released a media statement today regarding the departure of CAO Harry Schlange. Mr. Schlange will no longer be with the Town as of December 5, 2022 based upon a “mutual agreement” between him and the Town.
This move was not unexpected, given some of the controversies during his tenure in Grimsby and the common “shuffling of the CAO deck” by new terms of Councils in the province.
The Director of Legislative Services/Municipal Clerk, Ms. Sarah Kim, will fill the role as Acting CAO in the interim.
The full statement from the Town can be read at this link here.
With Monday night’s Special Council initially scheduled to address the proposed Greenbelt changes in Grimsby, including a Specialty Crop area on the lakeshore and another parcel near Main Street West, things took a different turn with the Provincial government “plowing ahead” and passing Bill 23 on Monday morning.
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When Premier Ford decided to drop Bill 23 aka “More Homes Built Faster Act” on October 25th, a day after the municipal election, planning staff in many municipalities scrambled to analyze what this bill would mean. We know it will line the pockets of Ford’s developer friends, but how will it impact municipalities… and ultimately the taxpayers that fund them.
The Planning Staff in Ottawa scoured over the document and looked at what the changes would mean for the City and prepared a report for the consideration of their Council. Their findings paint a grim picture of the local impacts that the Bill will have upon their city, and by extension, other municipalities.
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Our next post was meant to highlight the environmental aspects of Bill 23 “More Homes Built Faster Act“, but it appears Doug Ford and his Progressive “Conservatives” managed to one-up themselves today by proposing to remove or re-designate 7,400 acres from the Greenbelt. Among the proposed areas up for grabs in Grimsby is the 502 Winston Road lakefront property and a large block near Main Street West.
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