Last year, Innisfil broke ground on 738 housing units, crushing its target of 462.
And before shovels hit the soil for any of them, the developments they are part of had to go through a heavily regulated — and at times lengthy — planning process.
Nearly every month, town council holds a special session outside its regular twice-monthly schedule that often acts as a statutory public meeting as outlined by the Ontario Planning Act. These content meetings vary: from the seemingly innocuous — a boat house here, a property severance there — to the kinds of developments that will likely help Innisfil reach the 6,300 units of housing the town pledged to build over the next eight years.
In February, one of those larger-scale developments was on the docket, as a plan for 314 new homes near the Lake Simcoe shoreline on Lockhart Road was presented to council for the first time.
The property, a 35.5-hectare parcel at 706 Lockhart Rd., is slated to be the next phase of the Lakehaven Development in the Sandy Cove area. A joint venture between Parkbridge Lifestyles Communities and Mattamy Homes, Lakehaven North is proposed to consist of 184 single detached freehold lots and 130 townhouse land lease lots.
For nearly an hour, council, town staff and the applicants heard from area residents about the reasons this development shouldn’t go forward. Some are worried about the makeup of their neighbourhood, with the increased density. Others lamented the loss of wildlife and greenspace.
Still more voiced concerns about the safety of their water sources, with about 90 per cent of the neighbourhood drawing their water from shallow dug wells. Ron Pettit was one of those neighbours. He’s already seen issues stemming from previous developments in the area and wants the town to take notice.
“I have been out pounding the pavement in our neighbourhood speaking with neighbours and have learned that our well is not the only one in our neighbourhood that has suffered some negative consequences following the commencement of the work on Lake Haven South,” he wrote in an email to InnisfilToday. “I used to change my sediment filter twice a year, I am now up to every other month.”
Pettit has circulated a petition around the area and online, amassing nearly 900 signatures in opposition to the development moving forward.
“The community feels like we're being left in the dark and at risk of having no drinking water if this project goes ahead, and I say this as someone who has spoken to a large number of local residents about this proposed development over the past few weeks,” he added in email to the town that was shared with InnisfilToday.
The passion of Pettit and residents like him is not unique in any municipality, especially one undergoing such a significant transformation as Innisfil. One of the fastest-growing municipalities in Ontario, Innisfil has seen its population increase by more than 10,000 since 2011.
Accordingly — and by Mayor Lynn Dollin’s admission — the town is a willing partner for developers who want to build in the community.
“We don’t actually build homes; we create the environment that the permits are easy to get and (we) respond to the builders’ needs and wants ... Our job is to have our house in order to provide services as efficiently and effectively as possible,” Dollin said at an event April 2, where the town received $2.52 million, through the Building Faster Fund, for exceeding its 2023 provincial housing target.
“We are also mindful that growth needs to be managed carefully, sustainably and in alignment with the town’s strategic plan and vision,” she added.
That’s where municipal staff come in, leading council and developers through the highly regulated planning process laid out by the province. The Planning Act lays out the requirements that need to be followed, explained town planning and growth director Andria Leigh.
Beyond dictating the need for public meetings on zoning bylaw or official plan amendments, the Planning Act outlines the necessary documents that need to be adhered to when rendering a decision on an application, including the Provincial Policy Statement and the official plan of the upper-tier municipality, in this case, the County of Simcoe. Then, the town’s own documents are put under the microscope in comparison to the proposal from the applicant.
“We have to consider all of those guiding documents when we look at any development application that comes to the town,” Leigh said. “As an example, we might have an application come in for a townhouse and people might not want a townhouse (in their neighbourhood). But our policies say that’s a medium-density area which is supposed to be townhouses. We have to make recommendations that actually conform with our official plan or provincial policies.”
When a proposal is submitted to the town, a planner is assigned to the file and that person becomes a facilitator. In owning that file, the planner needs to reach out to the impacted stakeholders and collect the information required to render a professional opinion as to whether an application should move forward.
“A planner’s role is to look at what’s in the public interest and how do we balance those competing interests,” Leigh said. “There’s a lot of back-and-forth between that planner and others that happens through that process.”
That includes reviewing the comments of people such as Pettit, who has sought additional clarity on the depth of the proposed homes at Lake Haven North, and when such engineering studies would be completed, to fully determine the potential impact on well water in the area. He also has concerns about the future of Sandy Cove Creek, the last remaining untouched Lake Simcoe tributary in this area.
“Every spring this creek stacks up with minnows from Lake Simcoe all the way up to the point where the creek is directly adjacent to this proposed development,” Pettit wrote, noting the creek also hosts a population of native brook trout. “Every other creek in the area has been urbanized and, let's face it, destroyed by development.”
Leigh spoke to InnisfilToday after the public meeting on the Lakehaven development, but the questions posed and answers received were on the planning process in general as opposed to any particular application. Still, she noted the bevvy of concerns raised during the Feb. 21 public meeting, particularly about servicing and the wetland. Those will factor into the final report that comes to council, she said.
“There’s obviously those discussions that go on with the applicant. They hear the comments; they’ve ever seen the written comments that come in before a public meeting or they hear the comments,” Leigh said of applicants, in general. “They need an opportunity to go reflect, understand the comments, see what they can do to try and address those concerns.”
It's not always perfect, of course; staff and developers aren’t always going to be aligned. The decision in those cases, as with all developments, rests locally with council. If there’s a disagreement, and the applicant’s proposal still conforms to provincial policies, it’s up to staff to defend its position as to why the two sides aren’t in concert. Regardless of the decision of council, an appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal can loom over any application.
Ideally, if the town is keen to receive more seven-figure cheques from the province, most development applications won’t face that lengthy and costly process. But the town, in good conscience, can’t sell out the concerns of its existing residents, especially valid ones about safety and quality of life.
For Leigh, and the town, it comes back to balance.
“We usually try and get to a solution that would work for both parties before that came to council,” she said. “Ultimately, we want the development — we need the housing, obviously, based on our housing pledge. We need growth to happen. We have a population that’s supposed to double. We know we need housing to occur, but it is trying to balance with those residents that are already in the area. So, there’s usually enough compromise that can be made between the two sides to bring a recommendation that both support.”
— With files from Chris Simon
