Jennifer Boyer, Manager of Policy Planning, outlined the presentation, and introduced Jamie Cook and Brad Post of Watson and Associates who made the presentation.
J. Cook outlined the focus of the Employment Land Needs Assessment (Assessment) and requests made for the conversion of lands to or from the Employment land designation, and areas requiring a settlement boundary expansion. He reviewed the previously made Residential Land Needs Assessment, and placed it in the context of the Assessment, noting that the focus of the Assessment is on available land in the settlement boundaries of Paris and St. George. He indicated that the County currently has a large concentration of industrial type uses, and that as the local economy diversifies, there is a need to meet the growing demand for “flex” industrial settings. He further noted that a reduction in the supply of land, and increasing costs in the Greater Toronto Area show that the County is an attractive and competitive base for Employment lands.
B. Post reviewed the premise of the Assessment and outlined which lands were and were not included in the Assessment. He noted that servicing constraints on water in St. George are a consideration for the Assessment, and that the current vacant land supply is 56% in the urban areas, and 44% in rural areas. He further noted annual growth rates of 2.1% in Paris, 2.7% in St. George, and 0.5% in the remaining settlement areas and rural areas.
J. Cook outlined the land demand forecast to 2051 noting the County expects to see 3,600 new jobs in the period to 2051 in urban community areas, which at 15 jobs/gross ha will see a requirement for 384 gross ha of land, leading to a deficit of 103 gross ha from the current 281 gross ha of vacant land supply. He further outlined the requests for conversion to Employment designated lands under the Municipal Comprehensive Review (MCR) process which allows for a proper study of the current supply and future requirements. He indicated that 5 requests were received through this consultation process and that recommendations regarding the requests will be presented at a future meeting. He explained the requirements to review settlement area boundary expansion requests, and noted that 11 requests were received, and that different processes are followed for requests in urban community boundaries and rural settlement boundary expansions.
In response to questions from Council, the following responses were provided:
- Prime agricultural land in the Canada Land Inventory is defined as Classes 1-3 lands;
- Lands remain within their current designation until a final decision is made on land use designations;
- The calculations for vacant land as presented are preliminary, and a final update based on development processes will be provided prior to the final recommendation;
- A Provincially Significant Employment Zone (PSEZ) is a designation applied by the Province to select areas that provides protection against future conversion requests, corridor protection amongst other items, and the Highway 403/Rest Acres Road would be a candidate for a PSEZ to be requested to be applied for the County of Brant;
- Plans continue to expand the County’s inventory of shovel ready land including proper infrastructure servicing requirements;
- The Assessment provides a reasonable view of what will be required in the period to 2051 with a focus to not under or over designate lands, with it noted that certain parcels can be identified as a focus for future Employment land designation without explicitly providing the designation;
- A further review of the Assessment will be undertaken to ensure that no current lands have been missed prior to Council’s final consideration of the MCR;
- Council’s decision on the settlement area boundary expansion requests that have been received will be reviewed by the Province as a part of it’s request of the MCR.