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BLUEWATER
SHORELINE RESIDENTS’
ASSOCIATION
GMB 411
R.R. 2
Zurich, ON N0M 2T0
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
July 3, 2003
Mayor and
Members of Council
The Corporation
of the Municipality of Bluewater
14 Mill Street
Zurich, Ontario
Re:
Rezoning Freeze Pending Official Plan Approval
On June 9,
2003, Council passed a motion to initiate the development of a new Official Plan
for the Municipality. At the June
21st General Meeting of our Association, Mayor Dowson invited our contribution
during the development phase of the Official Plan, and our participation at the
various
public meetings
throughout the process. Subsequently, Council reviewed the guideline recommended
by the County
Planning Department for developing a process to create the new Official Plan,
and
scheduled a
special meeting on July 14 – “a
strategic planning session with Council, staff, and the Planning Department to
discuss issues, concerns, strengths and weaknesses in the Municipality.”
BSRA fully
supports Council’s actions in this regard to develop a blueprint for the
future of Bluewater.
Planning for
economic development across the Municipality and the related zoning by-laws form
an essential part of any Official Plan. To
ensure integrated planning across the entire Municipality,
it is important
that all zoning be done on a planned, systematic basis, consistent with that
Plan.
However, in the
absence of any Official Plan at the present time, consideration of any proposed
rezoning
prior to the
approval of the Plan is obviously premature – rezoning on an ad hoc basis
should not occur during this interim period.
Any such rezoning may be contrary to the wishes of the community that
will be expressed during the public input sessions, and may be contrary to the
Plan eventually produced. Such
rezoning would make a mockery of the entire planning process. It should be recognized that any rezoning approvals during
the period when an Official Plan is under development may therefore be appealed
to the Ontario Municipal Board on principle alone, irrespective of the merits of
a particular application.
Therefore, to
ensure the integrity and credibility of the Bluewater planning process, BSRA
recommends that Council defer all requests for rezoning until the Official
Plan is developed and approved.
Such deferral
should include the proposed zoning by-law amendment currently pending further
consideration by Council to change the zoning on Part of Lot 20, Registered Plan
525, Hay Ward.
Sincerely,
Bob Campbell,
President
cc:
J. Zimmerman
Sandra Weber, Huron County Planning Department
Don Salata, Highlands I
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