Land Use Planning and Development
Land use planning and development in the Province of Ontario is governed by the Planning Act. Your local municipality and Otonabee Conservation are mandated to ensure that provincial planning policies are addressed at the local level.
Subdivision proposals, zoning changes and other development proposals, as well as municipal planning documents, severances and minor variances are approved by municipalities and/or the County of Peterborough. Otonabee Conservation is mandated to ensure that planning documents and development proposals consider matters pertaining to natural hazards and local water resources, such as flooding, erosion and pollution. It is also Otonabee Conservation's responsibility to provide information and expertise to assist municipalities and developers in satisfying provincial policy requirements while ensuring the protection of environmental features within the watershed region.
Conservation Authorities operate on a watershed basis rather than according to municipal boundaries. Activities upstream affect the water and land downstream, and there is always someone downstream. The involvement of Otonabee Conservation in land use planning and development issues within local municipalities advances the:
- protection of new development against property damage
due to flooding and erosion, - protection of natural areas, water quality, stream flows and habitats in an integrated watershed-based manner, and
- avoidance of costly remedial efforts in the future.
Early input pro-actively resolves problems and avoids delays during the final stages of environmental plan review, stormwater management review and Section 28 permitting processes.