Official plan options up for debate at next Sarnia city council meeting

Hearing last year from an expert hired to craft the city’s next official plan that expanding the urban boundary in Bright’s Grove likely wouldn’t pass muster, but Sarnia city council could still try, council opted to try.

The decision to try to convert 215 farmland hectares for residential and commercial development in the city’s northeast didn’t pass county review, amid a glut of other, less desirable lands already in the city’s urban boundary, officials have said.

City council voted in December to appeal the decision by county staff, to keep options open.

Those options will be debated at Sarnia city council’s next meeting March 13.

Broadly, the alternatives laid out in a city ​​staff report include asking the county to change its mind, backing off the boundary expansion plan for Bright’s Grove, or invoking one of three options for provincial decision-makers to intervene.

count. Anne Marie Gillis, one of three new Sarnia councilors, not part of the official-plan decisions made before last fall’s election, said talking with the county seems like the best option.

“I think there’s some work that can be done in that regard and I think the discussion can be one that’s not involving a lot of lawyers,” she said.

Costs linked to legal and expert advice are expected if council instead opts for an Ontario Land Tribunal hearing, a Ministers Zoning Order, or invokes the new community infrastructure and housing accelerator tool under the More Homes for Everyone Act, city planning and development staff said in the report.

The zoning order and accelerator tool options both involve minister-ordered exemptions, potentially with conditions, staff said.

Zoning order requests can also be made by private landowners, city staff said.

Gillis said she was “dismayed” when the decision to expand the settlement boundary was made last springcalling it “too big.”

A comprehensive review found the city could accommodate a projected 12,650 population bump — to about 87,000 people — by 2046 through converting to residential 34 hectares of employment lands southeast of Wellington Street and Highway 40, already in the urban boundary. The plan also calls for intensification at a rate of 45 per cent.

Both measures were included in the official plan currently in limboalong with the Bright’s Grove boundary expansion, and a host of other measures linked to things like natural heritage and neighborhood design.

Ron Palmer with The Planning Partnership, the main organization hired to develop the official plan, said last June developing the Bright’s Grove parcel would require constructing at least one major east-west roadway, and questions were raised about whether the sewage lagoon system in the Sarnia community has enough capacity to accommodate the proposed growth.

Comments from members of the public in council chambers at the time were about even in favor and against the boundary expansion.

Proponents of the expansion, like Coun. Bill Dennis and Coun. George Vandenberg, have said people interested in moving to Sarnia want to move to Bright’s Grove, where there’s virtually no space left to build.

If the Bright’s Grove expansion is included, Sarnia’s population could rise more and faster, officials have said.

Critics have said the provincial policy statement prefers intensification over sprawl where possible to guard against escalating infrastructure renewal expenses, for which Sarnia is already facing a crunch.

count. Adam Kilner, another council newcomer, said discussions with the county might be the preferred option at this point, given he wants to avoid unnecessary legal and consulting costs.

“Right now we’re in a difficult spot is all I can really say,” he said.

He’s been having conversations with community members, including people in development and building, to try to better understand the issue before the looming council meeting, he said.

“I’m just wary about trying to appeal something that right now doesn’t look like it’ll be a successful (appeal),” he said.

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley has in speeches said he’s hopeful county officials change their minds, adding he’s disappointed county council wasn’t involved in the decision-making process.

“We think this is the future growth of the community over the next 20 years,” he told the Seaway Kiwanis Club in mid-January.

[email protected]