Updating the Regional Official Plan

On October 23, 2023, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing announced their intention to introduce legislation that would reverse provincial changes to official plans and official plan amendments for 12 municipalities, including the Region of Waterloo.

The province has asked local cities and townships to submit any feedback, proposed changes and/or amendments to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing by December 7, 2023.

Specific inquiries should be directed to your local city or township. Further details can be found in the attached letter from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Letter from the Honourable Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing - Official Plan Decisions

On August 18, 2022, the Regional Municipality of Waterloo adopted Regional Official Plan (ROP) Amendment 6 by By-law 09-025. The official plan amendment is now before the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for a decision in accordance with Sections 17 and 26 of the Planning Act. As such, ROP Amendment No. 6 is now posted on the Province’s Environmental Registry (ERO) website, and comments from the public will be accepted until January 4, 2023.

As stated in the ERO posting, ROP Amendment No. 6 “proposes to establish the planning framework in the Regional Official Plan to accommodate forecasted population and employment growth to the year 2051 and to implement the policies of the Provincial Policy Statement, A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (A Place to Grow), and the Greenbelt Plan, across the Region.”

With unanimous support from all City and Township mayors, and hundreds of community members, the amendment also seeks to continue to:

• build an equitable, thriving and sustainable community that includes plans for the addition of 306,000 new residents, 168,000 new jobs and 121,000 housing units that support a range-and-mix of housing;
• develop 15-minute neighbourhoods in all cities and townships;
• protect of the Region’s natural and agricultural resources; and,
• ensure supply and distribution of employment lands for job growth and economic development.
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To view the ERO posting and to submit comments to the Province by January 4, 2023, please visit https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-5952.

With thanks to all members of the community who took time to participate in consultation throughout this stage of the ROP review process.

The Notice of Adoption has been issued with respect to Amendment No. 6 to Regional Official Plan: An amendment to establish the planning framework for accommodating Waterloo Region’s forecasted population and employment growth to 2051, in conformity with the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Sections 17, 21 and 26 of the Planning Act.

On August 18, 2022, Regional Council passed By-law No. 22-038 to adopt Amendment No. 6 to the Regional Official Plan (ROP) in accordance with the Planning Act. This Notice summarizes the purpose of the amendment, the next steps in the approval process, and explains how to obtain additional information.

NEWS RELEASE

Addition of 121,000 homes, 15-minute neighbourhoods among plan highlights

Waterloo Region – Regional Council voted to adopt the growth components of staff’s proposed amendment to the Region’s Official Plan (ROP) at a special meeting of Council on Thursday, August 18, 2022. The decision comes after a two-year process to review the Region’s Official Plan (ROP) to 2051 - a requirement to plan for projected population and job growth.

The adopted amendment includes plans for the addition of 121,000 housing units that support a range-and-mix of housing, development of 15-minute neighbourhoods in all cities and townships, protection of the Region’s natural and agricultural resources, and ensures supply and distribution of employment lands for job growth and economic development.

The review process is meant to best position the Region to achieve its vision for an inclusive, thriving, and sustainable region of connected rural and urban communities with global reach, fostering opportunities for current and future generations. This is achieved by identifying community (housing, commercial, institutional) and employment areas that support critical community building and climate change objectives.

“We feel this approach to growth is ambitious, achievable, and responsible,” explained Rod Regier, the Region’s Commissioner of Planning, Development & Legislative Services. “It achieves our established community building objectives, prioritizes intensification, builds on a strong employment base, and importantly delivers on housing, as it promotes diverse range-and-mix of housing that will improve both choice and affordability.”

The Region of Waterloo’s population is forecasted to grow to 923,000 people by 2051 and the ROP, a long-term tool used to manage growth and development, will the guide future development, transportation and infrastructure within the Region. The next stage of review will focus further on policies on the natural, agricultural and water systems, in addition to the transportation system, mineral aggregates and overall plan implementation.

Staff have developed and published the proposed ROP amendment (PDL-CPL-22-24), which includes policies to implement the endorsed recommended approach to growth for the Region and revisions to the draft policies based on area municipal, stakeholder, and public feedback.

The proposed ROP amendment reflects the Region's strong commitment to inclusivity, thriving communities, and sustainability. The proposed amendment shows Waterloo Region’s leadership on climate action and equity through policies aligned to enable the community’s transformation into an equitable, prosperous, resilient low-carbon community over the next 30 years.

The proposed ROP amendment includes revisions in response to feedback received from the community since the release of the draft amendment on June 24, 2022. This includes feedback from the public information sessions held in early July, the statutory public open house on July 19, and the statutory public meeting on July 27. Most of the revisions are editorial nature to improve clarity and policy implementation. The more substantive policy changes are listed in the background section below, and further described in Attachment F.

Regional Planning and Works Committee will be virtually presented the recommendation report on Thursday, August 11th beginning at 3:30PM.

Staff have developed and published a draft Regional Official Plan Amendment, which includes a recommended approach to growth for the Region and draft policies.

The recommended approach to growth is ambitious, achievable, and responsible. It achieves our community building objectives via four key features:

• Best advances the community’s key priorities outlined in our strategic plan
• Prioritizes intensification to retrofit existing neighbourhoods into 15-minute neighbourhoods
• Targets community area expansions to enable urban areas in the Townships to become 15-minute neighbourhoods with a full range of housing types
• Builds on a strong employment base

The Recommended Approach to Growth (PDL-22-20) best positions Waterloo Region to achieve its vision for an inclusive, thriving, and sustainable region of connected rural and urban communities with global reach, fostering opportunities for current and future generations. This is achieved by delivering strategic growth that supports critical community building and climate change objectives, while also meeting Provincial obligations to accommodate forecasted population and jobs to a 2051 planning horizon. UPDATE - Please note that PDL-CPL-22-20, including all appendices are now available in the Document Library, to the right.

The accompanying policies in the draft amendment (PDL-22-21) reflect the Region’s strong commitment to inclusivity, thriving communities, and sustainability. The draft amendment shows Waterloo Region’s leadership on climate action and equity through policies aligned to enable the community’s transformation into an equitable, prosperous, resilient low-carbon community over the next 30 years.

Together, the Recommended Approach to Growth and these draft policies will have a significant influence over how our community will transition into an inclusive, thriving, and sustainable Waterloo Region, both within existing and future neighbourhoods, and for current and future residents.

Regional Council will be presented recommendation reports on Wednesday, June 29th beginning at 1:00PM.

Have something to add to the conversation? Register a delegation.

Future updates will provide additional information on public information meetings on the Draft ROP Amendment. Save the dates in your calendar:

• Wednesday, July 6^th (6:00PM – 7:30PM) – Virtual Public Information Meeting – Register Here
• Wednesday, July 13^th (2PM-4PM & 6PM-8PM) In-person Public Information Meetings (Location to be announced)
• Thursday, July 14^th (6:00PM – 7:30PM) – Virtual Public Information Meeting – Register Here
• Tuesday, July 19^th (2PM-4PM & 6PM-8PM) – Statutory Public Open House (150 Frederick St, Kitchener)

Wednesday, July 27^th (3:00PM) Virtual Statutory Public Meeting

The ROP team has another brief update on the preparatory work on the recommended approach to growth.

Staff are working through some of the final items in the review process, in addition to incorporating the perspectives of our Area Municipal Councils into the recommendation and associated draft policies.

To accommodate incorporation of all feedback, we are again adjusting the schedule for the ROP this month.

The Special Planning and Works Committee meeting currently planned for June 22^nd will be moved to June 29th. This will also require the statutory public meeting (on the upcoming Draft ROP Amendment) to be moved from July 20^th, 2022 to the week of July 25th, so as to allow us to meet the notification requirements under the Planning Act for this process.

The ROP team appreciates that this is yet another change in an already intensive process, however we believe allowing this additional time will improve the outcome on the overall recommended approach to growth.

Thank you for your patience through this process and we look forward to June 29th.

As you are likely aware, the ROP team have been working to ensure that we are engaging on the draft Land Needs Assessment (LNA). Over the last six-weeks in particular, we have been meeting with stakeholders and supporting area municipal staff in conversations with Area Municipal Councils.

While we planned to present our recommendation on a recommended growth approach at a special Council meeting on June 15th, we understand that municipal Councils are meeting and gathering feedback through June 13, 2022.

In order to continue the meaningful conversations on the LNA, provide area municipal councils more time to review and provide feedback on the growth options outlined in the LNA, and comprehensively assess the feedback, we will reschedule our special Planning and Works meeting to June 22 at 1:00PM. The meeting will precede the regularly scheduled meeting of Council. This additional week will allow us to keep listening and more comprehensively take in and reflect on all feedback and suggestions.

Thank you for your understanding, your participation in this process and we look forward to a fulsome discussion on June 22nd, starting at 1pm.

We're growing. The questions is...how? The growth options (PDL-CPL-22-11) are on the table. Right now! Please join the conversation and provide your thoughts and feedback at the May 18th Virtual Special Public Input Meeting (3pm start). Sign up to be a delegation.

Also, for those that are curious about this process and would like to review some of the material associated with the draft Land Needs Assessment, please browse the Document Library (right column of this Engage page), where you will find a variety of presentation slide decks, videos, background technical reports, regional council reports, and the draft LNA.

We will be accepting feedback on the draft LNA and growth option until May 27th, so we invite you to please get in touch with the ROP team if you have any questions or would like to talk about the options (regionalofficialplanreview@regionofwaterloo.ca).