It’s one small step for council, one giant leap for Springwater Township.
It’s going to take a year to complete, but when Springwater’s growth management study (GMS) is finished, municipal officials will be banking on it to transform the way the township moves into the future.
According to Doug Herron, director of planning and development services, the study — which will cost the township just under $200,000 — is perfectly timed to take advantage of changes in provincial legislation that put the development onus on individual municipalities.
“The benefit to the timing of this report is that it dovetails with provincial policy that has just been approved,” Herron told council at a recent meeting. "This report will provide us with the bedrock for the background that we will use to build a more modern and updated Official Plan."
He explained that with the introduction of Bill 185, a bill to cut red tape and create more homes, and recent changes to the Provincial Growth Plan — which has been absorbed into the new Provincial Planning Statement — municipalities now have more responsibility to create their own futures as opposed to the previous policy regime, which was more of a top-down approach from the province.
“The timing of this report is ideal in that council will have that ability to make decisions on how growth will occur,” Herron said. “And, if we burrow deeper into what that means to the community, it means we will have the ability to look at where servicing will occur, where we will prioritize development lands.
"We’ll have a deeper look at parks and road access and stormwater management. We’ll have a better understanding in the urban areas, which are currently somewhat true but not wholly true, bedroom communities," he added. “The idea is to plan for those bedroom communities to become complete communities."
On June 19, council approved a request for proposal (RFP) for the study to examine growth potential within the township to 2051. Nine vendors downloaded the RFP, but only one (WSP) submitted a proposal.
According to a report prepared by Deborah-Ann Liske, a planner for the township, Springwater’s evaluation committee reviewed the submitted bid by WSP and provided an evaluation score of 86.1.
“WSP is a reputable firm that the township has utilized their consulting services in the past for similar studies,” Liske wrote in her report to council. “The evaluation committee is confident that WSP is qualified and well equipped to complete the study and meet the project deliverables for the township.”
To ensure the project is on track and on target, council will be updated as it moves through its various phases.
According to the project RFP, it will be delivered in three phases. Phase one will include producing a background document that includes the existing and planned infrastructure available to serve potential settlement area boundary expansions. It’s scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of this year.
Phase two will identify two or three growth scenarios, including draft settlement area boundary expansion land for future employment and community uses in alignment with agreed methodology and defined areas and population figures for intensification. It’s expected to be presented in the first quarter of 2025.
Phase three is expected to be completed by the end of quarter two next year and will include a final recommendation report, which includes the recommendations of the study including land to be included in the Official Plan review, high-level development phasing and a fiscal impact study.
“Ideally, within two to three years we should have a new Official Plan to help guide growth so the population will understand where they will be living, what type of housing they’ll be in, where they can go shopping,” Herron said. “Springwater will be more independent from the larger Barrie market.”
