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1993-066 Oro THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWNSHIP OF ORO BY-LAW NO. 93 - 66 Being a By-Law to Adopt Official Plan Amendment No. 67 on Part of Lot 23, concession 8 for a site specific designation. 4 The Council of the Corporation of the Township of Oro, in accordance with the provisions of the Planning Act, hereby enact as follows: 1. The attached explanatory text and schedules which constitutes Amendment No. 67 to the Official Plan of the Township of Oro, is hereby adopted. 2. The Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to make application to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs for approval of Amendment No. 67 to the Official Plan of the Township of Oro. 3. This By-law shall come into force and take effect on the day of the final passing thereof. BY-LAW READ A FIRST AND SECOND TIME, THIS 15TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER , 1993. BY-LAW READ A THIRD TIME AND FINALLY PASSED THIS 15TH SEPTEMBER , 1993. DAY OF THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWNSHIP OF ORO ~ ~bu<>'jX-' Clerk - Darlene Shoebridge 4 . AMENDMENT NO. 67 TO THE OFFICIAL PLAN FOR THE TOWNSHIP OF ORO . AMENDMENT NO. 67 TO THE OFFICIAL PLAN FOR THE TOWNSHIP OF ORO Index ~ The Constitutional Statement 1 PART A - THE PREAMBLE 1.0 Purpose 2 2.0 Location 2 3.0 Basis 2 PART B - THE AMENDMENT 1.0 Introduction 5 2.0 Details of the Amendment 5 PART C - THE APPENDICES Appendix 1 - Planning Opinion Report Appendix 2 - Public Meeting Minutes . THE CONSTITUTIONAL STATEMENT The following Amendment to the Official Plan for the Township of Ora consist of three parts. PART A - THE PREAMBLE - consists of the purpose, location and basis for the Amendment and does not constitute part of the actual Amendment. PART B - THE AMENDMENT - which sets out the actual Amendment and consists of the text, and Schedule "A" con- stitutes Amendment No. 67 to the Official Plan for the Township of Oro. PART C - THE APPENDICES - consists of information pertinent to this Amendment in the form of background infor- mation. This section does not constitute part of the actual Amendment. PART A - THE PREAMBLE . 1.0 Purpose The purpose of this Amendment is to add site specific policies to the Official Plan which would permit the granting of a residential consent for the purposes of a retirement lot for a bonafide farmer. The site specific policies would reduce the minimum area requirement for the existing lot. 2.0 Location Item (1): The subject property, located in the north-west quarter of Lot 23, Concession 8, Township of Oro, is more specifically situated west of County Road No. 27, north of Ridge Road (County Road No. 20). The area is generally undeveloped although the property is located near the northerly portion of the built area of the Village Community of Oro Station. The subject property is located shown in Maps 2 and 3 of Schedule 11011 of the Township of Oro Official Plan. Item (2): A site specific notwithstanding clause governing the lands subject to this Amendment is to be added to Section 5.9.5 (a)i) of the Official Plan for the Township of Oro. 3.0 Basis 3.1 Introduction & Background The subject lands are designated IIAgricultural1l and IIEnvironmental and Wood- loe in the Official Plan. The subject property is approximately 20 hectares (49 acres) in size, consists of Vasey Sandy Loam and is rated according to the Canada Land Inventory as being Class 3 with limitations due to natural fertility and topographic constraints. The present size ofthis parcel of land is considered by the applicants, Mr. Robert and Joyce Strachan, to be beyond their retirement needs. The applicants have applied for a site specific Official Plan Amendment to allow a severance to occur on the subject property for retirement purposes. The subject property is the remaining landholding of the applicants whose original landholdings in the area were substantially larger. The application related to this Official Plan Amendment for the subject property was received by the Township of Oro Planning Department on January 12, 1993. This application results from, and is strongly related to, a previous application by the current applicants on adjacent lands formerly owned and farmed by them. The applicants had formerly owned and farmed for over 30 years an additional . area of land of approximately 70 hectares (175 acres), situated immediately north and abutting the subject property. A previous application for a severance for retirement purposes on these lands had been submitted to the Township of Oro Committee of Adjustment. This application generally met the intent of the policies of the Official Plan but the decision regarding the severance application was deferred by the Committee of Adjustment because of concerns relating to, among other matters, the shape and location of the proposed lot. As part oftheir retirement plans, the applicants had negoitiated a sale of a portion of their landholdings, specifically the 70 hectare (175 acre) parcel and Counsel for the applicant did not make a resubmission to the Committee of Adjustment before the sale closed. After the adjacent lands were sold another severance application was submitted on behalf of the applicants for the subject property. This application was declined by the Committee of Adjustment as the proposed severance did not conform to the Official Plan and a minor variance was felt to be inappropriate. The current application was then lodged with the municipality to consider an Official Plan Amendment to permit the severance. The policies of the Official Plan does not allow for the creation of a new lot, by consent, from parcels of less than 40 hectares and Subsection 5.9.5 a)i) states as follows; "i) the (original) lot contained a minimum of 40 hectares or was an original Township lot, on March 31, 1983, and a residential/ot has not been severed from the parcel since March 26th, 1973, and..." The present landholdings of the applicants in the area do not now constitute the minimum size for an original lot and a site specific exception is required from this policy in order to permit the severance to occur. 3.2 The Proposal This Official Plan Amendment for the subject property will have the effect of reducing the original lot size from which a retirement lot may be created. It is not the intention of the municipality that this reduction in the requirement of the original lot size to 20 hectares set a precedence for future exceptions to the policies contained within the Official Plan for the Township of Ora. Rather, it is the intention of the municipality that by adopting this Official Plan Amendment, the intent of Policy 5.9.5 b) vi) of the Official Plan is maintained. "vi)the severed lot is for a bona fide farmer who has been farming a substantial number of years and who is retiring from active working life... II . It is the intent of the above noted policy that a retiring farmer may be allowed, subject to fulfilling a set of conditions, a retirement lot. The applicants previously met all the conditions and regulations of the Official Plan for a severance for retirement purposes but could not complete the application before a real estate transaction closed. If the real-estate transaction had not been completed it may have involved financial hardship for the applicants and made them liable to litigation proceedings by the purchaser. It is recognized by the municipality that the onus of obtaining a severance prior to the divestiture of property is on the retiring farmer. In this instance however, it is evident that the owners made an effort to secure the severance before the transaction occurred. The deferral of the decision on the severance inadvertently removed the opportunity for the applicants to realize a severance that would have occurred in general conformity with the intent of the policies of the Official Plan. It is the understanding of the municipality that the intent of the initial Committee of Adjustment decision to defer the application was not to deny the application but rather to allow the applicant and their representitive an oppor- tunity to address the concerns of the Committee. An Official Plan Amendment to allow this site specific exception to one of the Official Plan provisions governing the granting of consents is warranted. The Amendment fulfills the intent of the policy of the Official Plan which permits the granting of a consent to a retiring farmer through the altering a regulation concerning lot size and prevents undue hardship to the applicants. . PART B - THE AMENDMENT 1.0 Introduction All of this part of the document entitled PART B - THE AMENDMENT; which consists of the following text constitutes Amendment No. 67 to the Official Plan for the Township of Oro. 2.0 Details of the Amendment Section 5.9, Agricultural, Subsection 5.9.5, to the Official Plan for the Township of Oro, is hereby amended by the addition of the following: The following is added to the end of Section 5.9.5 a)i): "Notwithstanding the above, Part of Lot 23, Concession 8, may possess an area of approximately 20 hectares for the purposes of a severance and" ""-> .... EZ:3 ............. ,~~ ,:...I1'.ri . ~.- LEGEND ~ I'....,...., 1'</:,; C::J L--l Shoreline Resicenc<31 Village Communrcy Residencel - PHASE 1 VillagE! Communrcy ResldenCial - PHASE 2 C:::<...rruy ReslCenc:a1 Agrlcuicural Escace Resldencial Cornrnercial Induscr:al Rec:--eaCicral 5'"lVirorrnencai and \;\/oodl:::Jc Nacural Area Ecer1IC Resource Area ~ ~ ~ ,',-v;!"l r----: '---'-' :--.....,..--; , > ' . ., ..~ 1!"S'CIT:wtlonai Scu::JY Ar='-"3 Bc:::undary _ Ecer1IC Drive ~ Soec:al POliCY Area i'-Jo'.1 ~ Rescr:; Area ~ , ~!RPt-f.)"fCG;:(A~Y . SPRNG o~ !97'S Schedule ' A' to y AMENDMENT No.67 J.'. ~ TO THE OFFICIAL PLAN FOR THE TOWNSHIP OF ORO ~ I I o 100 250 500 , 1 aOOm . PART C - APPENDICES . Appendix 1 Planning Opinion Report PLANNING OPINION REPORT . This Planning Opinion Report is being written in response to the Report (P-3/93) prepared for the Planning Advisory Committee by the Township of Oro Planning Department dated April 8, 1992. In addition to giving the planning opinion of the Township Planning Department, the report indicated that no objections were raised by any of the circulated municipal departments to the proposed Amend- ment. The comments of the Planning Department begin by identifying the reasons for the necessity of an Official Plan Amendment for the proposed severance. With respect to the draft "Notwithstanding Clause" included in this section of the report, we are in general agreement with the wording and content of the draft policy as outlined. The Report states that the province generally discourages site specific policies unless they are in response to some type of land use or a particular project that was not planned for or contemplated by the Official Plan. While it is true that the province is generally not in favor of numerous site specific amendments to the policies of the Official Plan to permit severances, it is also true that from time to time exceptions are required in order to apply policies and guidelines fairly and to avoid causing certain applicants undue hardship. We also agree with the Township Planner when it is stated in the report that severances are con- templated and addressed in the Official Plan, however, it is our opinion that the present application is a unique situation not anticipated by the policies of the Plan. In the evaluation of the merits of the application, the Report identified a number of policies contained within the Food Land Guidelines. These policies generally state that the original parcel should remain useful over the longer term, the severance should not reduce the utility of the original parcel, the original parcel should remain sufficiently large and that the viability of the land use and characteristics of the land be taken into consideration. The proposed severance (1 ha +) would not significantly reduce the size of the original parcel as this parcel is basically being reduced by approximately 4-5 %. In terms of viability and the characteristics of the land it is unlikely that the severance would impact the ability of the land to remain in agricultural production. In terms of sections 4A.22 and 4A.23 of the Foodland Guidelines, we agree in principle with the contents of these paragraphs. We do, however, take this opportunity to suggest that the scenario's depicted in these excerpts are only likely to occur over the longer term as the applicants are considered to be retiring bona fide members of the farming community and are not unfamiliar with standard agricultural practices and the rural lifestyle of the Township. It should also be noted that these considerations were taken into account when this issue was initially " Planning ~pinion Report - Strachan O.P .A. (cant.) 2 initially reviewed and the retiring severance policy was approved by both the Township and the Province and incorporated into the Official Plan. . In terms of recent provincial policy initiatives, the report identifies that both the Ministry of Municipal Affairs Growth & Settlement Guidelines and the Draft Report of the Sewell Commission generally discourage rural farm severances. While we may agree with this generalization it should be noted that neither document prohibits the practice of permitting rural severances, and in any event, the Township has extensive qualifying criteria which serve to significantly limit the potential number of severances. In terms of severance statistics it is our understanding that over the last ten years there have been 183 lots created through the severance process in the Township, 97 of which occurred in the Agricultural designation. If the creation of an average of 10 lots a year in the Agricultural designation is thought to be excessive then perhaps the Township may wish to begin a review of this Official Plan policy. We do not believe, however, that the separate issue of the general appropriateness of the Official Plan policy should be brought forward as part of a review of any particular application. The Planning Report states that there are approximately 172 potential farm severances based solely on the 40 hectare requirement and that if the 40 hectare policy was amended to 20 hectares it is estimated that the number of parcels of land that would qualify for potential severances would double (to approximately 344 parcels where a potential consent could occur). This statement in our view could be viewed as being both speculative and alarmist in nature and is not relevant to the subject application or supported by background statistics. The relevance of these figures are also questionable because they are based on only one of many qualifying criteria. Of the 172 parcels identified as having severance potential, it is unknown how many are actually bona fide farmers who have worked the land for a substantial number of years and who are close to retiring from working life. We also do not know how many of these parcels could meet the requirements of the Agricultural Code of Practice concerning the required minimum separation distances between uses. The proposed Amendment is site specific to the subject property and not IItownship widell and it is our opinion that if approved by the municipality, it would not necessarily lead to a doubling of the number of potential severances in the Township. Such a scenario is highly hypothetical and ignores all of the other qualifying criteria outlined in the Official Plan that must be satisfied by an applicant before a severance is approved. Indeed, even though the initial severance application submitted to the Committee of Adjustment by the ap- plicants generally conformed at the time to the intent of the policies of the Official Plan, it was deferred for other reasons. While it is true that approval of a site specific Official Plan Amendment could possibly be construed by some to imply that a precedent has been set and that the severance policies ofthe Township have been compromised, it is our opinion ... Planning Opinion Report - Strachan O.P .A. (cont.) 3 . that this is not the case. The adoption of the proposed Official Plan Amendment to make a site specific exception for the subject property does not categorically disregard the 40 hectare policy since the applicants had previously qualified for a retirment lot under this policy and had lost their retirement severance oppor- tunity through unfortunate circumstances. It is our position that the Township planning report does not recognize the unique background of this application nor does it take into account that the applicants at one point generally met the criteria and intent of the Official Plan and continue to do so except for the policy contained within the plan that pertains to the size of the original lot. In our opinion the planning report also does not mention or deal with a significant intent of the Official Plan, this being, the intent of the Plan to allow a bona fide retiring farmer to sever a lot from his landholdings for retirement purposes. The Planning Report referred to comments prepared by representitives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food concerning the application which stated that the Ministry had no objection to the proposed severance. Possible reasoning given in the Planning Report for the Ministry's support of the application was that the Ministry reviewed the application as a site specific severance application as opposed to the "broader picture of an Official Plan Amendment'i. We believe that the implied connection between the approval of this application and the maintenance of other broader and more general Township goals is vague and unclear. The Planning Report concluded by saying that the approval of the amendment "could set a dangerous precedence of increasing scattered residential development". It is our belief that the possible effect alluded to in the Planning Report of the doubling of the number of potential parcels of land where severances could occur is highly speculative and hypothetical. The scenario of the approval of this Amendment setting such a far reaching precedent in our opinion is unlikely given our understanding of the nature of the subject applica- tion. The applicants, who in our opinion should be recognized as bona fide farmers by the Township, were not able to obtain a severance for the purpose of retirement even though they had initiated proceedings to complete same and at the time generally conformed to the intent of the policies of the Official Plan. It is our opinion that the intent of the Official Plan, to allow retiring farmers to sever a retirement lot, should be maintained and that the inflexible application of the provisions and qualifying criteria of the Plan should not preclude the main intent of the policies contained within the Plan. " . Appendix 2 Meeting Minutes