PPS spells out land use options in rural Ontario
Rules Clarified

NRU
March 12, 2014
By Edward LaRusic

Under the new 2014 Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) that takes effect next month, municipal and regional planners are expected to pursue land use planning that supports “healthy, integrated and viable rural areas,” according to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

To assist in achieving the goal, the latest version of the provincial policy (updated from 2005) adds new language that defines permissible uses of agricultural land and opportunities for growth-related development in rural communities.

The 2014 PPS introduces new policies for “rural areas,” which include prime farmland, natural heritage, resource areas and rural towns. Planning authorities will be expected to leverage rural amenities and assets, promote redevelopment of brownfield sites, add a range and mix of housing, and to use rural infrastructure efficiently.

As well, the PPS introduces a definition of “rural lands” as a sub-category of rural areas - lands outside of settlement areas and prime agricultural areas - and clarifies what is permitted within them, such as recreational dwellings, home industries and cemeteries. In recognition of the growing importance of agri-tourism in rural Ontario, the 2014 PPS acknowledges there are a range of economic opportunities on farms.

In an e-mail to NRU, Ministry of Municipal Aff airs and Housing spokesperson May Nazar wrote that the new PPS offers “new and enhanced policy direction to further recognize the importance of rural communities and support rural Ontario.”

“During the PPS five-year review, we heard that the PPS should be refocused to provide more clarity and flexibility for northern and rural Ontario,” she stated.

Caledon mayor Marolyn Morrison, chair of the Greater Toronto Countryside Mayors Alliance, told NRU via e-mail that the new PPS addresses alliance concerns by providing greater clarity about employment areas, permitted uses of farm land and support for current and projected infrastructure projects of rural municipalities.

“These policies will provide farmers more freedom in the use of farmland,” she wrote “For instance, now we see expanded definitions of agri-tourism, the ability to process and add value on site.”

Among municipal members of the alliance, she stated, the updated PPS language “will make big differences to farmers who are working hard to adapt to a new way of farming and conducting business. We’re pleased to see changes that allow for better economic viability.”

Dennis Wood (Wood Bull LLP) told NRU that the new PPS attempts to relieve some of the inherent tension in rural Ontario that occurs when farmers look to make money by severing a portion of their acreage for residential use, which could lead to demand for new subdivisions in areas not designated for growth.

“[Farmers] want to create lots out of farms. So they take a hundred acre farm, and they want to create one lot, two lots, three lots,” Wood said, with the stated intention to create housing for family members.

“The experience of course, was they didn’t end up living on the farm, and they got sold to third parties, and so you had to come up with some sort of policy to rein this in,” says Wood. “I see some of that tension in [the new PPS], between wanting to allow reasonable agricultural and economic use of rural lands, but not having them redeveloped for subdivision lots or to have things ... which are nuisances, such as a [car] salvage yard.”

In assessing what’s new in the 2014 PPS, Wood says the province has highlighted the importance of energy supply.

He cites new language in the PPS that instructs planning authorities to “provide opportunities for the development of energy supply” including renewable and alternative energy systems.

“There’s a big fight going on in the countryside about where wind turbines will be permitted,” he said. “I think this provision in the PPS is intended to give policy support for those that are promoting alternative energy, including wind turbines.”

Along with the new PPS, the ministry has released two draft documents - one for Northern Ontario and the other for rural Ontario - to provide guidance in understanding the new 2014 document.

“They are intended to complement the PPS 2014 and may be helpful when read together with the policies,” said the ministry’s Nazar. “They do not create new or additional policy requirements for northern and rural areas. They highlight policies in the PPS 2014 that affect planning in northern and rural Ontario, in particular those policies which have been added or revised since PPS 2005.”

In assessing the broad impact of the new PPS, Leo Longo (Aird & Berlis LLP) told NRU that one helpful change is a recognition that not all policies are “necessarily applicable to specific site or development proposals.”

“You don’t have to test site-specific developments against every policy,” he said, with some policies acknowledged as having implications beyond a single municipality. “There seems to be a recognition that you don’t need to put every site-specific application under the microscope and say that it positively achieves certain goals.”

Longo cautions that the guidelines may require close attention by planners and lawyers if the Ontario Municipal Board uses the PPS and the guidelines to review an application.

“It strikes me that it will be the subject of some comment when someone initially wants to figure out ‘what do these guidelines mean,’ and ‘should they offer guidance to the [Ontario Municipal Board]’ when making their determination in regards to consistency,” said Longo.

“Depending on how much the board relies or doesn’t rely on the guidance document, it might start having them actually doing the thing that they’re not supposed to do, which is adding to or detracting from the policies.”

The new PPS takes effect April 30, 2014. The Ministry of Municipal Aff airs and Housing is receiving comments on the draft “Introduction to the Provincial Policy Statement, 2014 - Northern Ontario” and “Introduction to the Provincial Policy Statement, 2014 - Rural Ontario” documents until April 25, 2014.

For more information about the new Aboriginal interest policies in the 2014 PPS, see the March 5 issue of NRU GTA. For more information of new policies affecting Toronto and other municipalities, see the March 7 issue of NRU Toronto.