2023-Jan-27
Municipal Planning and Comparison Project
We are excited to announce that the GBA’s Coastal Protection Committee’s Municipal Planning Comparison Project (MPCP) is entering into its final stages of development. The executive summary can now be found here on our website. Over the next few months we will be publishing the presentation, and then the full comparison, following review by your five coastal municipalities.
The GBA’s Coastal Protection Committee (CPC)’s mandate is to support the protection of the natural environment, biodiversity and ecology of the lands and waters of the eastern and northern coasts of Georgian Bay. The CPC aims to benefit the public by promoting and defending sound planning standards and protecting the integrity of municipal planning regulations, in order to ensure that development is sustainable and environmentally responsible. The MPCP project is a key component of CPC’s strategy, as we believe understanding the planning regulations along the eastern and northern coasts of Georgian Bay is a key starting point to build upon for coastal protection.
The MPCP examines the Strategic Plans (SP), Official Plans (OP), and Comprehensive Zoning By-laws (CZB) of each municipality along the north and east shores of Georgian Bay where GBA members are located (“GBA Area”). These are (alphabetically): Township of the Archipelago (TOA), Township of Carling (TOC), Township of Georgian Bay (TGB), Town of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands (NEMI), and Municipality of Killarney (MOK) (collectively the “Coastal Municipalities”). The comparison focused on development in waterfront zones (residential and commercial), environmental protection zones and general development.
In addition to the comparison, an overall goal of the project is to initiate discussion amongst the Coastal Municipalities on understanding how they align and differ on their policies related to waterfront and island development and land use standards. We hope that providing the Coastal Municipalities with this comparison will lead to collaboration, discussions and action on developing sound practices, and setting standards for development in the GBA Area which will better protect the coastal communities and the environment.
Read more here.