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Region of Waterloo Official Plan - Printable Version

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Region of Waterloo Official Plan - Spokes - 05-14-2015

Region of Waterloo Official Plan


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RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - Spokes - 05-14-2015

Any news on the OMB appeal at for the Region's OP? Timeline for it?


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - The85 - 05-14-2015

I was doing some research on it this week, and as far as I'm aware - no. 

Last I heard is some of the issues will try to be resolved through settlement.


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - Spokes - 05-26-2015

Region settles land dispute with developers
May 26, 2015 | Paige Desmond | Waterloo Region Record | Link

Quote:WATERLOO REGION — The Region of Waterloo has settled a drawn-out battle with developers over its Official Plan, which guides land planning in the region to 2031.

The announcement was made Tuesday morning.

If the settlement is accepted by the Ontario Municipal Board at a hearing in June, which decides land planning disputes, 255 hectares of land will be opened up for urban development once the deal is finalized.

Another 200 hectares will be approved for development between 2016 and 2019.

The region had sought to limit new development land to 85 hectares and developers sought up to 1,053 hectares.

"We are very pleased with this outcome," Regional Chair Ken Seiling said in a media release.

The conflict on how this region will grow has been ongoing since 2010 when politicians approved the official plan, which several local developers appealed. The document dictates land planning rules to 2031.

Regional officials want to focus growth in city cores and planned to open up about 80 hectares of new land for development. Developers argued for hundreds more hectares.

Board officials disagreed with the region's calculation for new land and ordered the two sides to negotiate a compromise. The board endorsed up to 1,053 new hectares and negotiations have been underway since the January 2013 ruling.

Timeline:

January 2013 — Municipal board orders region, developers to negotiate the quantity of new greenfield land to be developed.

January 2013 — Region announces it will ask a court to review procedural fairness of the ruling and overturn it because of alleged errors in law. The region asks the board to reconsider its decision. That request is refused.

Sept. 9, 2013 — Region requests judicial review claiming bias on the part of the board.

December 2013 — Municipal board suggests the region bring a motion before the board to consider whether it was biased. The region refused.

April 2014 — Region seeks an injunction to prevent the municipal board from considering whether it was biased.

May 2014 — A judge dismisses the injunction motion and declines to proceed with the judicial review pending the results of the municipal board bias hearing.

Sept. 18, 2014 — Municipal board rules it wasn't biased.

October 2014 — Regional council votes to proceed with judicial review.

Feb. 12, 2015 — June is set as the date to hear any settlements and January 2016 to debate the countryside line.



RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - Spokes - 05-26-2015

Good compromise, but I definitely say it's a win for the Region


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - panamaniac - 05-26-2015

I wonder what is supposed to happen between 2019 and 2031?


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - Spokes - 05-26-2015

A new OP I would imagine.


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - MidTowner - 05-26-2015

The 455 hectares will be developed- 200 hectares of which will be made available now; and 255 hectares of which will be made available sometime between now and 2019. Not all will be paved over by 2019; it will take time.


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - rangersfan - 05-27-2015

I'm glad a compromise has been reached but I would have liked the number of available development land to be closer to the 85 hectares.


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - Viewfromthe42 - 05-27-2015

On one hand, 455 is closer to the region's 85 than to the developers' 1,000+.

On the other hand, the amount of developable land the developers would have had in our region with their number, new and existing: ~4,500

Now, they see "only" ~4,000.

So really, it's only reducing the developable area by ~10%, not 50%+. I'm also curious if the rationing - 200 now, 255 in a few years - will add argument to make this a regular assignment of land to the developable area, that being whatever land a developer purchased at a discount on the peripheree of the region.


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - MidTowner - 05-27-2015

(05-27-2015, 07:43 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: On one hand, 455 is closer to the region's 85 than to the developers' 1,000+.

On the other hand, the amount of developable land the developers would have had in our region with their number, new and existing: ~4,500

Now, they see "only" ~4,000.

So really, it's only reducing the developable area by ~10%, not 50%+. I'm also curious if the rationing - 200 now, 255 in a few years - will add argument to make this a regular assignment of land to the developable area, that being whatever land a developer purchased at a discount on the peripheree of the region.

The pessimist in me saw the compromise and thought that the developers can only develop half of what they originally wanted, but will now be able to develop more than five times what the Region initially thought was sensible.


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - Spokes - 05-27-2015

(05-27-2015, 07:43 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: On one hand, 455 is closer to the region's 85 than to the developers' 1,000+.

On the other hand, the amount of developable land the developers would have had in our region with their number, new and existing: ~4,500

Now, they see "only" ~4,000.

So really, it's only reducing the developable area by ~10%, not 50%+. I'm also curious if the rationing - 200 now, 255 in a few years - will add argument to make this a regular assignment of land to the developable area, that being whatever land a developer purchased at a discount on the peripheree of the region.

I wondered if it had to do with particular plots of land being approved while others being rejected


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - JoeKW - 05-27-2015

And in a few years they'll go back at it to develop more land and it'll never end...


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - BuildingScout - 05-27-2015

I don't know. In Japan the trend towards the suburbs came to an end about 25 years ago. Of course since then they also had no more population growth so this trend happened faster there than it will happen here, but I do think the new generation will be several times more likely to live in dense areas and even raise a family in denser housing formats.

Please don't tell anyone, as not to spoil a good thing, but if you have kids the ideal location to raise a family is a townhouse complex, with many other kids of a similar age to play with and a large common green area where to do so.


RE: Region of Waterloo Official Plan - MidTowner - 05-27-2015

As Herbert Stein said, if something can not go on forever, it will stop. "Never" is a very long time, and there are any number of things that could (eventually) put an end to suburbanization, or the civilization that creates it. Sprawl is not sustainable.

I agree with BuildingScout that the market will put an end to the pace of sprawl we have seen in the last half century. We won't be able to afford to subsidize it like we have forever, and few people would be able to afford it at its true cost. There are many benefits to living in denser areas, and young people are increasingly seeing that.