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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSD-13-089 - 2nd Draft - New Official PlanStaff Report Community Services Department w .kitchenera REPORT TO: Mayor Zehr and Members of Council DATE OF MEETING: August 26, 2013 SUBMITTED BY: Alain Pinard, Director of Planning PREPARED BY: Tina Malone- Wright, Senior Planner - 519 - 741 -2200 ext. 7765 WARD(S) INVOLVED: All Wards DATE OF REPORT: August 16, 2013 REPORT NO.: CSD -13 -089 SUBJECT: SECOND DRAFT OF THE NEW OFFICIAL PLAN COUNCIL STRATEGY SESSION RECOMMENDATION: For information and discussion. BACKGROUND The August 26th, 2013 Council Strategy Session is the second discussion during August of the draft new Official Plan. The primary purpose is to allow for more dedicated time with Council to exchange information on specific topics and policy direction. The August 12th, 2013 session at Planning & Strategic Initiatives Committee covered: orientation to the document, urban structure, institutional uses and identified topics for August 26th REPORT: The following topics will be discussed at the August 26th, 2013 session on the new Official Plan: • Employment Areas • Special Policy Areas • Drive - throughs • Sustainable Development (Water /Energy /Air Quality/Waste Management) • Natural Heritage System (particularly the Locally Significant Features) At the August 12th session, it was requested that we also consider discussing Aggregates and Agriculture. Given that those topics only impact a very small portion of the city, and that relevant policies are essentially required to reflect the wording of policies in the Region's Official Plan (which remains under appeal), staff suggest that the 5 topics noted above be the priorities for the August 26th session. There will be additional opportunities to follow up on any questions about the Aggregate and Agriculture sections. 4b. -1 Staff Report Community Services Department wwkitchenera Employment Areas (Page 29 - Policies 3.C.2.51- 3.C.2.54, Page 40 — Policies 5.C.1.3 - 5.C.1.4 and Page 194 - Section 15.D.6) The new draft of the City's new Official Plan includes updated policies with respect to the City's Industrial employment areas. This is to reflect the policy direction in the Provincial Policy Statement and the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The provincial policies require that municipalities plan for, protect and preserve employment areas for current and future uses. An employment area is defined as: "areas designated... for clusters of business and economic activities including but not limited to manufacturing, warehousing, offices and associated retail and ancillary facilities." The industrial employment land use designations in this draft new Official Plan have been revised to remove those employment uses which do not the meet the definition of an employment area. Only those employment uses as listed in the definition of an employment area and those associated and ancillary facilities employment uses will be permitted in the City's industrial employment land use designations. The change or official plan redesignation of employment areas to non - employment uses constitutes a `conversion' under the provincial policies. The draft policies specify that residential, institutional, non - ancillary commercial, non - ancillary retail and major retail are considered non - employment uses. Conversions of employment areas to non - employment uses must be justified through a municipal comprehensive review. The City completed and Council approved a Municipal Comprehensive Review of its employment areas in March of 2010. The recommendations of this Municipal Comprehensive Review are reflected in the industrial employment area policies in the new draft of the City's Official Plan. One of the recommendations was a definition of what is considered major retail for the purposes of applying the conversion policies. In accordance with the regulations in the Planning Act, a new policy (Page 239 — 16.E.2.17) has been added to state that there are no appeal rights with respect to the refusal or failure of the City to adopt an Official Plan amendment or the passage of a zoning by -law amendment for the redesignation or conversion of lands designated as industrial employment areas. Special Policy Areas (Page 215 — Section 15.D.12, Map 5) These specific policies are intended to recognize sites or areas within the City where special conditions, other than those specified in the land use designation, will also apply. Accordingly, notwithstanding the land use designation and associated policies, certain sites and areas may be subject to more detailed and specific policies and /or exemptions to some of the policies contained in the applicable land use designation policies. The locations or areas to which the policies apply are shown on Map 5. For example, Policy 15.D.12.7 recognizes /permits additional uses beyond what is currently permitted by the Institutional land use designation to the property known as the Steckle Heritage Homestead. Drive- Throughs (Page 163 — Policy 15.D.2.10, Page 183 — Policies 15.D.4.7 and 15.D.4.9) The City's current Official Plan is silent on drive - throughs as a land use and relies on the policies with respect to the planned function of the Downtown, the Mixed Use Nodes and the Mixed Use Corridors to direct drive - throughs to more auto - oriented areas of the City. New direction and policies with respect to drive - throughs have been proposed in this draft of the 4b. -2 Staff Report Community Services Department wwkitchenera City's new Official Plan. The policies have been proposed to support the planned function of the Urban Growth Centre (Downtown) and the City's mixed use land use designation. The use of drive - through facilities in new developments and redevelopments in the Downtown will not be permitted. In the mixed use land use designation, the policy direction is that implementing zoning may exclude predominantly auto - exclusive uses such as drive - throughs. Applications for new drive - throughs will require supporting studies and reports and only be considered for approval in circumstances where certain criteria are satisfied. Drive - throughs are proposed to be permitted in the Commercial Campus and in the Commercial land use designations. Sustainable Development (Page 62 — Section 6.C.4, Page 64 — Section 6.C.5, Page 66 — Section 6.C.6, Page 70 — Section 6.C.7, Page 72 — Section 6.C.8) Since 1984, the City of Kitchener has had Official Plan policies and direction for many of the elements that contribute to "sustainable development ". The elements that continue to be identified and that are proposed to be enhanced through the new Official Plan include: water conservation, energy conservation and generation, air quality, waste reduction and management and the built environment. Transportation, land use and many other elements are definitely related to this topic, but are not the primary components of Part C - Section 6 of the new Official Plan or the August 26th discussion. Kitchener, as a corporation, has taken significant strides towards reducing our impact on the environment. There are a number of other great initiatives happening in our municipality as we all realize that continued action is required to help manage our environmental footprint. More can be done with respect to the built environment. Some municipalities have adopted "green development" standards or require a certain level of "environmental performance ". Kitchener continues to promote and encourage "environmentally - friendly design ", but is it time to start requiring this? Question 1: How strong should the policies with respect to Sustainable Development be in the new Official Plan? Question 2: Should the City consider the creation of a "Kitchener Green Standard" for development? Kitchener Natural Heritage System (Page 45 — Section 6.C.2) The Kitchener's Natural Heritage System is comprised of natural heritage features that maintain local and regional biological, hydrological, ecological and geological diversity and functions, support viable populations of indigenous species and sustain local ecosystems. An overview of the Natural Heritage System Features and applicable land use designations is shown in Figure 7 on page 50 of the Official Plan and on page 9 of the Summary Document. The Kitchener Natural Heritage System (KNHS) Technical Background Report, which was prepared by Environmental Planning staff, provides the detailed background information and mapping on each of the component features of the Natural Heritage System and provides direction to the draft policies in the City's new Official Plan. 4b. -3 Staff Report Community Services Department wwkitchenera At this Council Strategy session, staff would like to provide more information and discuss four new Kitchener - specific features of the Kitchener Natural Heritage System: locally significant wetlands, locally significant valleylands, locally significant woodlands and ecological restoration areas. Question 3: Is the proposed policy direction and approach identified in the draft new Official Plan, as supported by the Kitchener Natural Heritage System (KNHS) Technical Background Report, appropriate for local -level natural heritage features and functions? Next Steps The deadline for comments on the second draft of the City's new Official Plan is October 11, 2013. Before that date, staff will hold a public open house and industry session to provide more information and to answer any questions on the second draft. A presentation and discussion will also be held with the City's Advisory Committees in a joint meeting in November. In addition, Advisory Committee members are welcome to submit comments independently by the October deadline. Planning staff are targeting delivery of the final version of the Official Plan for a decision early in 2014. ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN: The Official Plan Review aligns with, and contributes to, all of the "Community Priorities" in the City's Strategic Plan. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: There are no new capital budget implications as part of this report. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: INFORM - this report is an information update only. The August sessions are a form of CONSULT. A formal public meeting will be held prior to the adoption of the final draft of the City's new Official Plan. The intended timing for an advertised public meeting is early in 2014. REVIEWED BY: Brandon Sloan, Manager, Long Range and Policy Planning ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Michael May, Deputy CAO Community Services Department 4b. -4