Lanark County staff sought to begin the process of tendering a wide-scale growth management study as part of the county’s official plan update, but some councillors shared some concerns.
Not in the necessity of the study itself but the scale of it, and openly wondered if it was better to break it down into more manageable chunks.
Among other things staff suggests reviewing land needs, urban and hamlet boundaries, key policy areas, update population projections, and review agricultural land within the county.
Councillors Christa Lowry, Richard Kidd and Warden John Fenik shared similar remarks about the size of the proposed study coming on the tail of a large population boom.
Fenik also said that growth needs to be embraced and managed well.
The provincial government uses lower-tier official plans to identify the interests they have to help accomplish policy goals.
Which is where the concerns laid for councillor Sharon Mousseau, when it came to the idea of an agricultural land review.
The economic development committee eventually landed on approving the staff recommendations but have the terms of reference tweaked and brought forward at a future meeting before pushing it ahead to county council for approval.
Story by Grant Deme
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