Region of Waterloo begins review of official plan and here's why you should care

The Region of Waterloo has begun the process of reviewing its official plan and it wants residents to get involved.

Now please, don't fall asleep, says Rod Regier, the region's commissioner of planning, development and legislative services.

Planning documents may not be the most exciting topic, but he says there's good reason to get involved in the process.

"It helps direct the evolution of the region into the long term," he said. "That's so important to do because the investments that we make on a day-to-day basis in the region do actually materially affect the way that the region operates."

The official plan is used to decide where developers can build and how communities within the region can grow. It's an important document for protecting the countryside line, on how to increase transportation options and to protect drinking water and significant environmental areas.

Regier says the plan also set out guidelines to grow the cities up around the new LRT.

"The fact that we are seeing now concentrations of development around station areas or our transit system, those wouldn't happen just naturally. That's the result of the policies that are articulated in the regional official plan," he said.

Public input events coming

Under the province's Planning Act, the region has to review its official plan every five years. The current official plan was adopted by the region in June 2009, but didn't come into effect until June 2015 when it was approved by the Ontario Municipal Board.

That process wasn't exactly a smooth one, with the region taking the Ontario Municipal Board to court and questioning whether the board was being swayed by developers.

The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB)was replaced by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal in 2017.

Since the region's official plan received OMB approval, regional staff note there have been a significant number of changes to provincial legislation, policies and plans that impact the official plan.

A special regional council meeting was held Wednesday night asthe first of a series of public consultation events over the next year as part of theofficial plan review. Details on future public input events will be available on the region's official plan website.