In The NewsSigne Leisk Comments to Novae Res Urbis on First Proposed Amendment to the 2006 Growth Plan for the Greater Golden HorsehoePublished: 11/30/2010 Signe Leisk, a partner in the Municipal, Planning and Environmental Group, was quoted in an article entitled, "Reassessing Land Supply," published in the November 24, 2010 Greater Toronto Area edition of Novae Res Urbis, a newsletter covering municipal affairs. The article discusses some of the concerns raised by the introduction of interim settlement boundaries in the first proposed amendment to the 2006 Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. “It’s very unpredictable right now,” said Ms. Leisk. “They say it might catch applications not yet approved, but we don’t know where the [interim settlement] boundary’s are going to be, so that makes it very difficult for people to speculate whether they are inside that boundary,” noted Leisk. However, “it sounds like with this transition provision [the province] may make it apply more immediately so that even if you’re still being processed—if it’s not actually approved—you may end up subject to the new growth plan amendment, and any subsequent official plan that delineates an interim settlement boundary and the rest of the settlement area,” said Leisk. “What is not clear, is people who have already approved subdivision applications, where they don’t need a rezoning — the growth plan is not applicable law for getting a building permit, so if you’re ready to go, its not clear how this could prevent those developments,” commented Leisk. One benefit of the proposed amendment is that it does, in some cases, provide greater certainty for development in the Simcoe sub-area. Unapproved development proposals that may fall outside yet-to-be-determined interim settlement boundaries will likely remain undeveloped for some time. “According to this amendment, they will need to wait with their development until the interim settlement area boundary can be expanded [within the settlement area] with a municipal comprehensive review,” said Leisk. “If you have an application pending, then you’re going to be very nervous right now,” Leisk said. “If you’re at the periphery of the settlement area or the farther away you are from the area that’s already built up, I think you would be quite nervous right now wanting to know how that’s going to play out and where the municipality is going to draw its boundaries,” added Leisk. “I think a lot will also end up being dependent on who has water and sewer allocations because there are often times where you have planning permission to develop but you may not have water and sewer which is allocated by a municipality separately, in which case you're frozen.” Water and sewer allocations may also “influence where the interim settlement boundary gets drawn,” Leisk continued. |