Official Plan Review

Land Needs Assessment

The County of Wellington has prepared a draft of the County-wide Land Needs Assessment. The assessment was completed in accordance with the Provincial Land Needs Assessment Methodology issued under the Growth Plan, 2019.

The purpose of the Land Needs Assessment is to determine if the County of Wellington and its memeber municipalities have an adequate supply of designated land to accommodate forecasted population and employment growth to 2051. The draft Land Needs Assessment identifies which communities need to:

• identify excess lands;
• re-designate future development lands; and/or
• expand urban areas

Please note that this report does not make recommendations on which specific lands may be added to urban areas identified as having a need. The location options for urban boundary expansions and re-designation requests will be evaluated during Phase 3.

Phase 2 Municipal Comprehensive Review Report: Land Needs Report - Final (August 29, 2022)

Executive Summary Wellington County Phase 2 Municipal Comprehensive Review Draft Report (March 31, 2022)

Phase 2 Municipal Comprehensive Review Report: Land Needs Draft Report (March 31, 2022)

Final Phase 1 MCR Report: Urban Structure and Growth Allocations

The Final Phase 1 Report provides detailed background and rationale for a County urban structure and proposed growth allocations to our member municipalities to 2051.

Final Phase 1 MCR Report: Urban Structure and Growth Allocations

Final Phase 1 MCR Report: Guelph-Eramosa - Settlement Area Table A-3 Table 3 - UPDATE

Municipal Servicing Analysis

Wellington County has undertaken a Municipal Servicing Analysis of municipal servicing capacity for each local municipality in support of the County's ongoing Municipal Comprehensive Review Process. The analysis evaluates the existing water and wastewater capacities of the area municipalities.

As required under the provincial land use planning framework, growth should be directed to existing 'settlement areas' that have available or planned servicing capacity to accommodate future development. The findings of this memorandum are intended to inform the County's ongoing growth management work regarding where future growth should be allocated.

It should be noted that the information contained in the Municipal Servicing Analysis is reflective of a specific point in time. Interested parties should contact their local municipality for the most current servicing capacity information.

Final Municipal Servicing Analysis 

Growth Management Overview

Growth management is an integrated process to determine where and how population and employment growth will occur to promote healthy, compact and complete communities, while incorporating planning, servicing and financing considerations.

Below is a growth management overview that has been prepared to provide a review of the growth management framework set out in the provincial Growth Plan as it applies to Wellington County.

Growth Management Overview

The County of Wellington is anticipated to experience significant employment growth over the next 30 years and is projected to reach at least 70,000 jobs by 2051. As part of the of the Official Plan Review, the County will be updating employment policies in the Official Plan in accordance with Provincial Policy requirements.

The County’s Employment Areas include lands designated Industrial and Rural Employment Area. These areas accommodate primarily 'export based' employment sectors which typically reach markets well beyond the trade area of the County population base. This includes a wide range of industrial uses (manufacturing, distribution/logistics, transportation services), specific multi-tenant commercial and institutional uses, which generally support the industrial/business function of the County’s Employment Areas.

Employment areas are a vital component of the County of Wellington's land-use structure and are an integral part of the local economic development potential of the County and its achievement of complete communities.

What is an Employment Area conversion?

An Employment Area conversion is a process to consider re-designating lands within an Employment Area to accommodate a non-employment use such as residential or major retail. Through the Land Needs Assessment, the County is required to consider potential employment area conversion requests.

The submission window for Employment Area conversion requests is now closed.

The County will review the submissions received and report to Planning Committee with planning staff recommendations and next steps.

Resources:

Employment Area Conversion Submission Guide 

Agricultural System Mapping and Policy Review

As part of the Official Plan Review, the County will be reviewing and refining the Agricultural Land Base mapping issued under the Growth Plan and updating the County Official Plan to align with current provincial land use planning policy. The County has retained a qualified consultant to assist with this work.

For more information about this work, please review this page. It will be updated regularly with new information related to this project.

Agricultural Land Use Policy

Since the last comprehensive update of the County of Wellington Official Plan, there have been several provincial planning documents released or updated which provide important provincial direction related to agricultural land use policy. Some of these documents include:

• Provincial Policy Statement, 2020;
• Guidelines on Permitted Uses in Ontario's Prime Agricultural Area;
• The Greenbelt Plan, 2017;
• The Growth Plan, 2019;
• The Minimum Distance Separation Document (MDS) - Formulae and Guidelines for Livestock Facility and Anaerobic Digester Odour Setbacks

The County will update the Official Plan to comprehensively apply the policies and guidance contained in these documents. The County will engage with the public and agricultural community through the policy development process.

Agricultural Land Base Mapping

In 2018, the province released the Agricultural Land Base Mapping issued under the Growth Plan, which identified prime agricultural lands for protection.

The Agricultural Land Base Mapping was created through a Land Evaluation and Area Review (LEAR) analysis completed by the Ontario Ministry of Agricultural Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The LEAR methodology identified high scoring lands which would be appropriate to include within the prime agricultural area. The LEAR findings were then augmented by incorporating all prime agricultural lands currently identified in the County Official Plan, resulting in a final provincially mapped prime agricultural area.

The LEAR analysis also identified candidate areas which are medium scoring areas. The County will need to review these areas and determine if they should be added to the prime agricultural area or mapped as rural lands.

The focus of the County's work will be to review and refine the provincial mapping, and incorporate a final agricultural land base into the County Official Plan. The County will engage with the public and agricultural community through this mapping refinement process. 

Please use the interactive map below to see how the Provincial Agricultural Land Base Mapping applies to your property.

Official Plan Amendments

This section will host the various official plan amendments that are prepared under the Official Plan Review.

The County Official Plan Review will be completed through a series of phased official plan amendments that will bring the County Official Plan into conformity with recent changes to Provincial land use plans, consistency with the Provincial Policy Statement and address other legislative changes.

Official Plan Amendment No. 123 - Future Development Lands

Through Official Plan Amendment (OPA) No. 123, the County has proposed updates to the Wellington County Official Plan, which implements recommendations from the County's completed Land Needs Assessment (LNA) related to the redesignation of future development lands. The amendment addresses various policy matters related to housing and employment, and contemplates other minor policy and mapping changes. Please see links below for more detail.

On October 6, 2023, Official Plan Amendment No.123 was circulated to agencies and members of the public for comment. Public comments are to be submitted to the County no later than November 30, 2023. A public open house and public meeting will be scheduled in the future for this amendment.

Draft Official Plan Amendment No. 123 - Future Development Lands

Notice of Complete Application - OPA No. 123 - Future Development Lands

Official Plan Amendment No. 120 - County Growth Forecast

Through Official Plan Amendment (OPA) No. 120, the County has proposed updates to Wellington County's growth forecast by revising the population, household and employment forecasts to extend to 2051. Please see links below for more detail.

On February 23, 2023, County Council adopted Official Plan Amendment No. 120. Comments that were received through the public consultation for this amendment, and their impact on the amendment, can be found in planning committee report PD2023-03 County Official Plan Review - OPA 120 Recommendation Report. Additional information about the public consultation completed for Official Plan Amendment No. 120 is available under the Public Consultation tab.

Adopted Official Plan Amendment No. 120 - County Growth Forecast

Final Draft Official Plan Amendment No. 120 - County Growth Forecast

Draft Official Plan Amendment No. 120 - County Growth Forecast

Notice of Complete Application – Official Plan Amendment No. 120

Official Plan Amendment No. 119 – County Growth Structure

Through Official Plan Amendment (OPA) No. 119 the County has proposed changes to the Growth Structure and Settlement Hierarchy, that once implemented, will serve as the framework to guide growth in Wellington County. Please see links below for more detail.

On May 26, 2022, County Council adopted Official Plan Amendment No. 119. Comments that were received through the public consultation for this amendment, and their impact on the amendment, can be found in Planning Committee Report PD2022-14 County Official Plan Review - OPA 119 Recommendation Report. Additional information about the public consultation completed for Official Plan Amendment No. 119 is available under the Public Consultation tab.

On April 11, 2023, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) made a decision to approve the County of Wellington’s County Official Plan Amendment (OPA) No. 119 with modifications. The amendment is now in full force and effect. The full details of the decision and modifications can be viewed on the Environmental Registry of Ontario website. Planning staff are currently reviewing the modifications and will report on these changes to the Wellington County Planning Committee on May 11, 2023. OPA No. 119 is the first amendment to be approved under the County’s Plan Well Official Plan Review.

Adopted Official Plan Amendment No. 119 - County Growth Structure

Companion Document to Adopted Official Plan Amendment No. 119

Notice of Complete Application - Official Plan Amendment No. 119

Draft Official Plan Amendment No. 119 - County Growth Structure

Draft Official Plan Amendment No. 119 - Companion Document