Kincardine Council received an update about a draft zoning by-law for the municipality.
Consultant firm MHBC prepared the report.
Key issues that were identified in the report:
– Accessory buildings/uses
– Secondary suites/Surplus farm dwellings
– Environment/Climate change
– Source water protection
– Parking
– Mixed Use
– Cannabis production
– Special provisions
– Other: Definitions, mapping, categories,
language, diagrams
Associate Nick Bogaert says that they’re looking to make the existing zoning by-law easier to understand.
“Looking at things like definitions, revising the mapping to make it more user-friendly, looking at zoning categories too to see if there’s any that can be collapsed, or if we need revised ones.
The current zoning by-law dates back to 2003 and was last updated in 2012.
Councillor Beth Blackwell says that she hopes that the proposed amendments will help with housing issues in the municipality.
“[I] hope that it ends up as a really progressive and housing-friendly document. I think that we’ve heard a lot across the province and a lot across Canada, really, about the evils of zoning and it preventing housing and I don’t that that’s actually correct.”
The Planning Act requires updates to the zoning by-law 3 years after the updates to the Official Plan come into effect, and because the Official Plan was updated in 2021 it was time to give the zoning by-laws another look.
MHBC held a community open house to get feedback from residents about the changes they’d like to see, and what they’d like to see stay the same.
The main goal of the new by-law would clear up issues that council has run into over the past several years regarding what’s allowed and what’s not.
Another open house is planned for early 2024, and the company will have a draft of the zoning by-law released so that it can be reviewed by the community.
Final revisions are expected by the spring, and a final draft is expected to go into effect in the summer.