The County held its fifth open house since March 2023 last week, when revisions to the 2006 Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw began. 

The revision brings the Bylaw into conformity with the 2021 Official Plan and keeps current with the Provincial Policy Statement.

Notable updates include a new Agricultural zone, which consolidates the present Rural zones. The Official Plan makes provisions for Agricultural zoning, but no such zone exists in the 2006 Zoning Bylaw. 

Only one home business will be allowed per residential lot. County planners stressed, however, that all new zoning regulations allow for grandfathering. If you already operate more than one business on your property, in other words, you are legally nonconforming and may continue.

Solar panel installations must have a planting strip in front of them.  Waste storage areas for industrial and commercial uses are required to be hard surfaced and located in the rear or interior side yard of a lot.

Some terms are newly clarified, such as “Development,” which the Bylaw defines as: “the construction, erection or placing of one or more buildings or structures on land; or the making of an addition or alteration to a building or structure that has the effect of increasing the size or usability of such buildings or structures.”

A shipping container is considered a “structure” under the new bylaw, and so subject to zoning regulations. You must have a permit to put a shipping container on your property.

Meetings with specific stakeholders, such as those in agriculture, winegrowing, and tourism and hospitality were held in May and July. This Bylaw excludes short-term accommodations, which is now covered in a separate bylaw.

Michael Michaud, Manager of Planning, noted that any revamp of the Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw “will always have winners and losers. That’s the public process. That’s democracy.” 

He urged residents to review the draft bylaw at the Have your Say portal, paying special attention to their own lot’s zoning to understand how the changes will affect them. 

The County requests the public’s feedback before September 30. The final draft deadline is November 30, after which there is a grace period where residents may appeal provisions or zoning in the Bylaw. 

The right of appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal is only granted to those who have made written or oral comments by November 30. 

The final draft comes to Council in December.