Council receives update on Rural Zoning By-Law Project

Kawartha Lakes – At the February 18 meeting, Council received an update from Planning on the current progress surrounding the Rural Zoning By-Law Project. The project, which kicked off in February 2019, is currently wrapping up stage one and moving into the second stage of the consolidation process.

Phase one

Last spring, a dedicated Task Force was appointed by Council to oversee and manage the consolidation process. Shortly after, WSP Consulting was brought on board to assist with the development and execution of the updated by-law. Over the past year, the project team has worked hard to analyze the current policies in place, identifying key issues and differences between the 13 existing rural zoning by-laws and the municipality’s Official Plan.

The team has also held four public meetings across Kawartha Lakes and incorporated public feedback into the project’s discussion paper—a document surrounding their findings to date and guidelines as to how to approach this consolidation process in the next phase.

“There are quite a number of objectives in this project: For example, you have people in communities trying to do the same thing but are currently subject to different regulations,” stated Bobby Gauthier of WSP Consulting. “One of the benefits of this process is that we’re going to create equity across the City.”

Phase two

The next steps in the project are to finalize the team’s findings in a summary report, which will then be presented at three community workshops roughly in early summer 2020. The first draft of the updated rural zoning by-law will then be released for review, followed by additional public information sessions in the fall.

When asked why the process was so lengthy, Richard Holy, Manager, Planning replied, “We’ve explored opportunities for streamlining the process but it is quite difficult—not only because of the amount of work involved, but because we want to make sure we’re getting out to the public at key milestones in the project.”

There are two dedicated project websites: an information based site hosted by the City of Kawartha Lakes and the other, an interactive map created by WSP to help residents identify which settlement area they live in.

Public feedback and comments are welcome throughout the course of the project. Comments can be submitted directly to the taskforce through the website, or by emailing ruralzoningbylaw@kawarthalakes.ca.

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