Town of Laurentian Hills Official Plan Review
2009-10-13

Planning for Tomorrow's Community Today

Every municipality has a vision. It may be expressed as part of a strategic plan or a capital works program. More often than not, that vision is set out in an Official Plan. An Official Plan is like a blue print for how a community will grow and develop. The Plan describes how land in the community should be used. It deals mainly with issues such as where new housing, industries, offices and shops will go and what services like roads, water mains, sewers, parks and schools will be needed. It also provides for the protection of fish and wildlife habitat and the conservation of heritage buildings and landscapes. With an eye to public safety, the Plan will identify areas that are unsafe i.e. floodplains, or where special precautions have to be undertaken such as building on contaminated soils or near a landfill site or heavy industry. In rounding out the content of an Official Plan a municipality will set out its goals and objectives, in essence its vision on what kind of a community residents and businesses want to live, work and play in.

In Ontario today, municipalities must plan for a 20 year time horizon when preparing a new Official Plan. This is often described as the planning period. Municipalities will project population and employment growth and how much land is required to for new housing and other land uses to accommodate growth within the planning period. The Planning Act also requires that municipalities conduct a check-up every five years. This is a way to evaluate how they have progressed, whether they are achieving their goals and objectives, and whether changes should be made to the Official Plan.

Laurentian Hills has just initiated the first five year review of its Official Plan. This process is expected to take six to eight months and involves consultation with residents and businesses in the community. There are several issues which are particularly relevant to the review which the Town would like to have input from its property owners. Please take the opportunity to provide us with your ideas and comments on any or all of the following questions: Closed .