An Urgent Call-Out – Make Sure You Have Your Say in Planning the Way Niagara Grows

Region’s Proposed Official Plan Will Impact Niagara’s Urban and Green Spaces for Decades to Come

A Notice from Niagara’s Regional Government, with a Foreword by Doug Draper

Posted April 5^th, 2022 on Niagara At Large

A Foreword by Doug Draper, reporter/publisher, NAL

After years of discussion and debate, and of  drafting and redrafting a new Official Plan for Niagara, the Region’s Council is hoping to give the Plan final approval before this term of the council ends in the fall.

An Official Plan, as Niagara’s Regional Government explains it, “includes land-use policies that cover topics like Niagara’s natural environment, land needs, growth allocations, housing, transportation, urban design, employment lands and agriculture.”

In a nutshell, it sets the framework for how and where our communities grow, both inside and outside urban boundaries for decades to come.

And for those of us who, in an age of climate crisis, believe that everything possible should be done to protect and preserve what is left of our natural heritage, including our food-growing lands, an Official Plan plays a significant role in the fate of those vital resources too.

That is why we, the people, take advantage of every opportunity there is to follow and to have our say in how a new Official Plan for Niagara comes together.

That is why Niagara At Large is posting below details on the following two opportunities that the Region is providing – on April 7^th at 5:30 p.m. and on April 28^th at 6:30 p.m. – to engage in online public consultation and meeting sessions.

Now here is the Region’s notice on those opportunities –

Have your say

Statutory consultations will be held under the Planning Act on the proposed Niagara Official Plan as follows:

Online open house – April 7 at 5:30 pm

Register for the session to hear a presentation on the proposedI plan and ask questions

Online public meeting – April 28 at 6:30 pm

Pre-register with the Regional Clerk by 9 a.m. on Friday, April 22 to provide input at the public meeting. Learn about speaking at a Regional Council meeting.

View the livestream meeting without providing oral submissions

The Information Report for the public meeting will be posted on or before April 22.

Submit comments

You are welcome to make a written submission at the online public meeting on April 28.

Submit your comments on the proposed Niagara Official Plan to makingourmark@niagararegion.ca or by mail to Niagara Region, 1815 Sir Isaac Brock Way, P.O. Box 1042, Thorold ON, L2V 4T7.

Deadline to submit comments is April 28, 2022.

Any personal information is collected under the authority of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P. 13 and may be used in an appendix of a staff report, published in the meeting agenda, delegation list and/or the minutes of the public meeting and made part of the public record.

The Region collects this information for the purposes of making informed decisions on the relevant issues and to notify interested parties of Council’s decisions. It may also be used to serve notice of an Ontario Land Tribunal hearing.

Information collected, used and disclosed is in accordance with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Questions about this collection and disclosure should be directed to the Access and Privacy Office at 905-980-6000 ext. 3779 or FOI@niagararegion.ca.

To read entire document, click on – https://niagararegion.ca/official-plan/proposed-plan.aspx

For more on Niagara’s Official Plan, click on – https://niagararegion.ca/official-plan/

NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.

“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders