The City of Markham recently released their highly anticipated
Draft New City-wide Official Plan. The Draft New Official Plan was
prepared to implement recent provincial and regional policies
including the Greenbelt Plan, the Growth Plan for the Greater
Golden Horseshoe and the York Region Official Plan.
As a follow-up to the release, the City of Markham has scheduled a
Statutory Public Meeting (7 pm) preceded by an Open House (6 pm
– 7 pm) on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, at the Markham Civic
Centre where the public can learn more and provide comment on the
Draft New Official Plan.
Only those who make an oral submission at a Public Meeting or
provide written submissions to Council prior to the adoption of the
New Official Plan can appeal it to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Therefore, it is important to understand how the New Official Plan
could affect your property and to make your concerns known.
Highlights of the Draft New Official Plan include proposed
policies:
- Guiding growth and employment to 2031 (421,600 population;
240,400 jobs);
- Directing growth to identified centres and corridors (located
along the rapid transit network) and allowing for limited
expansion of the urban area boundary;
- Establishing new parkland dedication rates for residential
development (amount of land to be conveyed to be a minimum of 5
percent but not to exceed the rate of 1.2 hectares per 1,000
people);
- Introducing requirements applicable to zoning by-law amendments
to permit the establishment of drive-through service facilities;
and
- Requiring pre-consultation meetings for all development applications (a development application will be deemed incomplete if submitted prior to a pre-consultation meeting).
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
