The Saugeen Times

Crowd packs council chamber, opposing Natural Heritage Study changes
By Liz Dadson

Kincardine council

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A crowd fills the council chamber at Kincardine's planning advisory committee meeting

It was standing-room only as a crowd jammed the Kincardine council chamber last night (March 10), most in opposition to plans to change property along the lakeshore to a Natural Heritage System zone.

The affected area runs along the lakeshore from just south of Concession 7 north to Inverhuron.

Deputy mayor Laura Haight clarified that there is no intent to pass a bylaw that evening. The planning document went out for public comment, and it certainly generated that. The proposal will then go to the building and planning department for further review, she said.

Paul Lowes of Sorensen Gravely Lowes planning associates of Toronto, outlined his company's work to develop policy options and evaluation criteria in order to implement the Natural Heritage Study.

Among the options are:

Do nothing
Development subject to no negative impacts in the future
Development subject to certain criteria
Focused development
No development within the Natural Heritage System

Lowes recommended focused development, mainly in the area of Inverhuron, the Bruce Energy Centre, and infilling of existing zoned land.

The proposed Official Plan amendment would allow the municipality to implement a Natural Heritage System, said Lowes. To do that, requires a change in land use designations, to Shoreline Infill Residential, Shoreline Community, Natural Heritage System, Natural Environment, Open Space, and Industrial, from the current land use designations of Shoreline, Natural Enviroment, Open Space, and Industrial.

A variety of policies would be put in place, such as maximum lot coverage, minimum vegetation cover, buffers, etc., said Lowes.

Bruce County planner Bruce Stickney presented his revised report which contained numerous changes to the original amendment based on the many messages and letters sent by property owners in the affected area.

Among the property owners' main concerns were loss of development rights on lands within the proposed Natural Heritage System ; and the severity of development guidelines within the Shoreline Infill Residential designation, said Stickney. Specifically, the guidelines in question were maximum lot coverage, required vegetative zone and restriction of development to the front 25 metres of individual lots which would be difficult to achieve in some cases.

In two instances, he said, mapping inadvertently included properties which should not be in certain designations.

With the modifications, Stickney recommended the amendment be adopted.

However, the public was not so convinced as speaker after speaker urged council to forget the proposal and leave things as they are.

Engineer Brad Pryde of Pryde, Schropp, McComb said the existing Official Plan designates his client's property as shoreline residential, and the owner plans to put a residential development on it. Now, the Natural Heritage Study designation puts extremely stringent controls on that property.

Marian Daniel said her husband's family has been farming property along the B-line (Bruce County Road 23) for almost 100 years. And it wasn't until Feb. 23 that they received notice of this plan for redevelopment of that land.

Meaghan Daniel addresses the committee

Bruce County planner Bruce Stickney points to a map of the affected area

"One-third of our property is being considered for rezoning and we were totally unaware of that," she said. "Your study was two years in the making and there was no consultation with property owners. That's unfair."

She said the changes will take away their ability to make decisions about their land. Plus, the proposal will devalue their property and cause undue hardship on their family.

Her daughter, Meaghan Daniel, told the committee that besides the loss of all development rights to this property, her family feels a sense of loss pertaining to the woodlot below the farm which is an integral part of their farming operation.

She asked if the option of doing nothing is actually an option.

Bruce County planner Bill Hollo said the province has mandated, through its provincial policy statement, that municipalities will protect the natural heritage features within their jurisdiction. If Kincardine does nothing, then these issues will have to be addressed with each development along the lakeshore.

Stickney added that the "do nothing" option means each property owner will have to do a study proving that his property can be developed. "We had hoped to avoid that with this document," he said.

Others spoke, mainly with concerns about the restrictions placed on their properties for future development, and the poor notice about public input.

Haight said the public comments are exactly what the committee needed to hear. "In other applications (such as the Hartwick Farm), we keep hearing that council is not doing enough to protect the environment," she said. "This Natural Heritage System document is not chiseled in stone. We can work through it and create a good document."

Mayor Larry Kraemer said he is fine with leaving the Official Plan as is, without any changes.

After two-and-a-half hours of listening to members of the public make comments about not having enough notice about this proposal, and not wanting their property devalued because it is designated Natural Heritage System, council decided to defer a decision.

The issue will go back to the building and planning committee, with a recommendation back to council no later than July 30.

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Wednesday, March 10, 2010