May 17, 2007, By: David Fleischer, Staff Writer, The Liberal

Get in on their plans

Richmond Hill - Politicians want you to help them plot your municipality's future through updated official plans

Change is coming fast and furious in York Region and muniicipalities are trying to keep pace by updating crucial planning documents. Official plans may not be sexy, but they can help keep 20-storey skyscrapers from being built beside your home.

Some towns face a bigger job than others.

Richmond Hill, for example, has gone 25 years without an update and, in the interim, faced explosive growth, the protection of land in the provincial greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine and attempts to revitalize its village core.

One result of all that has been many costly and time-consuming trips to fight developers before the Ontario Municipal Board.

In his inaugural address in December, Mayor Dave Barrow put the focus on a new plan and said it "will not be about land. It will be a plan about people".

The town is hiring consultants and expects to roll out a detailed timetable in June.

The province's Places to Grow legislation, passed last year, forces municipalities to review their official plans every five years.

While Richmond Hill might seem behind the curve, it is still ahead of Vaughan, which has passed 600 amendments to its plan over the years, but has not done an overall review since 1961.

"It's a wonderful opportunity. It gives us a chance to tidy up," said Diana Birchall, the city's director of public policy and urban design.

A time when Vaughan is fully built-out is not too far over the horizon and Ms Birchall is excited about the opportunity this presents.

"It seems to represent a really terrific opportunity because we won't be doing things piecemeal," she said.

North of the current urban boundary at Teston Road, there are only another four to six concession blocks considered developable, but there are also redevelopment sites in the rest of the city.

While public apathy toward planning meetings is nothing new, Ms Birchall was adamant residents' input is crucial to making Vaughan's new official plan work.

"This will be their plan. We've got to make sure we really do hear from people," she said.

Accordingly, city officials are brainstorming what they can do beyond the usual focus groups and meetings to get people excited and involved in a process that will take nearly four years.

In Richmond Hill, Mr. Barrow has asked his staff to be bold and creative when they roll out their public meeting plans.

He expects smaller, roundtable discussions, sometimes facilitated by residents so everyone has a comfortable environment to make their voice heard.

"It's a challenge," he said. "We want to create interest in meetings, but we also have to go to where the people are."

Farther north, East Gwillimbury is pegged as one of the next hot growth spots in the Greater Toronto Area and it is trying to do something different with the town's first official plan review in seven years.

"We wanted to get away from what we did years ago," Mayor Jamie Young said.

A mix of rural and urban living, the communities in East Gwillimbury -- Sharon, Holland Landing and Queensville -- have largely developed plans on their own. With growth accelerating, however, a more holistic approach is needed.

"Some of the community plans were dominating the overall town plan. Now, it's the other way around," he said.

One advantage the town has is it knows growth is coming. Accordingly, planners can cherry-pick the best ideas from existing community plans and learn from what the southern York municipalities have done.

So too, Mr. Young knows communities such as Georgina, King City and Whitchurch-Stouffville are watching them.

Even when East Gwillimbury is fully developed, more than half of it will remain green. That means finding ways to sustain or even enhance its agricultural industry is a concern, as well.

In a few weeks, the town will unveil a schedule of public meetings aimed at garnering crucial public input in the coming months.

"At the end of the day, the people of East Gwillimbury will make decisions about how we will grow," Mr. Young said.

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