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Our meeting with our MPP,

Brian Saunderson

BMRA Board representatives held a meeting with Brian Saunderson at his Stayner riding office last week. Our objective was to continue the dialogue we had initiated earlier on concerns related to Bill 23, and to review other issues of importance to the Town of Blue Mountains.

Bill 23

Brian confirmed the detailed regulations that will provide specificity to the provisions of Bill 23, which is intended to accelerate home construction in Ontario but that may lessen the ability of municipalities to control development, have not yet been released. Limiting sprawl and maintaining natural lands as housing is built is an objective that Brian referenced. We agree with that intent, but until Bill 23 regulations are released, significant doubts will remain about its ultimate impacts. 

He did say that one of the concerns identified, about making it easier to sell off valuable farmland for housing, is overstated. He said that any subdivision of farm properties would be limited to the creation of workforce housing, or to accommodate building at the front of properties that would not be in current agricultural space. This is intended to facilitate succession planning for family run farms.

Attainable Housing

The Town has received a proposal from a resident, Tom Kritch, to donate land by the Tomahawk site in Thornbury that could be used for an attainable housing development. As the property is zoned as Speciality Agricultural Lands, in the past the Province had not been open to the required rezoning to allow for its use for housing. Brian suggested that while it is hard to predict what position the Province would take regarding the rezoning, it is at least now open to discussion on the matter. We will track how this proposal progresses, as it could represent a significant opportunity for the Town to realize meaningful Attainable Housing stock

Regional Governance

For a number of years, BMRA has questioned the benefit that TBM receives from its Grey County relationship, compared with the costs we must bear. While we did not delve into options for alternative regional governance structures, Brian did stress that the Province is focused on ensuring that all opportunities to stretch the taxpayers' dollars through service delivery enhancements will be pursued. This should be where the Southern Georgian Bay Working Group - comprised of the Mayor's and Chief Administrative Officers of TBM, Clearview, Collingwood, Wasaga, and Meaford - must work to find better ways to deliver shared regional services, with Provincial support.

Transportation / Potential Bypass

We stressed the need for provincial funding to develop a regional transportation plan. Brian acknowledged that all Municipalities in Southern Georgian Bay are pushing for this support. It is obvious to TBM residents that Highway 26 capacity is already inadequate, and the problem will become more severe as the tsunami of new development continues.

In Summary

In summary, the BMRA will work to maintain an open line of communication with our MPP. We will keep him apprised of the key issues our Town is facing, and solicit his support in representing our interests at the Provincial level.

Regards,

BMRA