Tillsonburg’s Community Strategic Plan states the Town supports ‘sustainable growth.’
With Ontario passing Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, on Monday, Nov. 28, the definition of sustainable growth has changed, says Tillsonburg Mayor Deb Gilvesy.
“Bill 23 is going to affect absolutely everyone,” said Gilvesy. “It’s about density. To me, it’s like the death of smalltown Ontario because they want to create high density in any type of setting where there is sewer and water services. They want to densify it.
“That being said, I have to say we don’t have all the details. There’s gaps in it that need to be filled in and we don’t have that information yet at this point. But just overall, it’s concerning.”
Gilvesy said she is disappointed because many municipalities, including the Town of Tillsonburg and County of Oxford, sent in opposition to the Bill.
“Basically, the Bill will curtail the fees that municipalities can charge developers. A reduction in these charges will increase property tax – this will affect absolutely everyone.
Plans of subdivision, which she said is key, will no longer have a public process.
“The community does not have a say – this Bill literally strips the community of their voice with regards to ‘plans of subdivision.’
“I feel that every development needs to take into consideration the impact that you’re going to have on already existing neighborhood communities. Removing a public process is never good,” said Gilvesy, again noting municipalities do not have all the details yet.
“There’s a lot of missing information that needs to come forward. But what you can see on the surface, the public process for plan of subdivisions is being… eliminated, simply eliminated.”
There will be reduced parkland and greenspace requirements.
“They are removing a lot of power from the Conservation Authorities, which was one protection that sensitive areas had. So Conservation Authorities won’t be weighing in on subdivisions like they did in the past. There’s only one remaining, which I believe is the hazard areas.”
There is no site plan control when a development is 10 units or less, said Gilvesy.
“The Town will have absolutely no site plan control (for developments of 10 or less units), so you can’t require a landscaping plan. You can’t even see a façade, what the building is going to look like, if it’s under 10 units.
“The big one is essentially any home could be turned into a triplex. So you can add an accessory dwelling, or you can split the home into a triplex, or a duplex and then still add an accessory dwelling. It can be three units per lot. It will not require Council’s approval. It will be exempt from zoning.
“If you start put triplexes everywhere, you’re essentially doubling or tripling the amount that needs to flow through the watermain or the wastewater. How are we going to get a handle on that? If you take an area and start nearly doubling the density – or even multiplying it by 25-30% – is your sewer and water capacity going to be there for that development?
“It’s hydro capacity, too. There’s all these things that need to be looked at, but if it’s not coming to council, that process is being eliminated. There would be no opportunity to weigh in.”