The County of Wellington will be asking the province for a lower residential intensification target for its urban centres, requesting a 15 per cent increase growth target instead of 20 per cent.
Earlier this week the County of Wellington presented its municipal comprehensive growth plan review to Wellington North council.
Sarah Wilhelm, county's manager of policy planning, explained that the required intensification target from the province is ultimately adding 20 per cent more residential development in urban centres in Wellington County as a way to manage growth population and housing needs.
“The requirement to achieve the minimum intensification target, which is basically all of the development of residential growth in urban centres, is 20 per cent. The 20 per cent is for the development of housing in urban centres,” explained consultant Jaime Cook of Watson and Associates during the presentation.
“I will note that we are recommending an alternative target for the county as a whole at 15 per cent, and that is a result of some limitations to market demand overall within the county and limitations to supplies. We have to ask the province for a request for an alternative target.”
According to Wilhelm, the target request comes from some limitations with the size, location and capacity of some of the urban centres in the county. The province has approved lower intensification targets to other municipalities that have requested it.
The Township of Wellington North, however, still has a total of 132 hectares of land that has been identified as excess lands. These lands are just outside of its urban centres of Arthur and Mount Forest, and they are vacant but developable lands.
The county will determine whether they will use the excess lands for industrial or commercial developments for employment. However, more studies will still need to be conducted for these excess lands before any action can be made, according to Cook.
“So, a lot of the excess lands are zoned but it hasn’t been converted to industrial lands,” said Jannet Harrop, president of the Wellington Federation of Agriculture (WFA), in a phone interview.
“We hope that some of the municipalities like Wellington North and Minto will be converting some land back into agriculture from a zoning perspective. We need these lands for agriculture and not just mainly for industrial or commercial purposes."
Harrop explained that she is happy that the province and the county are intensifying the density in urban areas, noting that the increased density not only preserves farmland but also creates different types of housing that can address some housing affordability needs within the urban boundaries.
"We have a significant problem in the county for affordable housing and the county is doing an affordable housing strategy, as well. Increasing density in the urban centres provides a solution to that. If you concentrate and grow up, the costs are less," said Harrop.
However, the WFA fears that with the proposed low intensification target more farmland will be used for development as the county cannot hit the province's density target.
"We're very concerned with the request for a lower intensification target because the additional land needs that the county have identified doesn't envelop a significant amount of farmland. The only way to prevent using farmland for development is to intensify density in urban areas. We want to preserve as much farmland as possible," she said.
Harrop noted that she understands that growth will be a huge political debacle within the county as there is currently a high need for housing developments, and simultaneously, for farmlands as the county houses the majority of prime agricultural land. Her only hope, however, is that the county also listens to the agricultural sector so farmlands can continue to strive in Wellington County.
