November 16, 2011
Town moving forward
on OP
by Vance Gutzman
Deep River continues to make strides towards revising its Official Plan
(OP).
That document, which sets out land-use policy directions for the
municipality, has been under review (as per provincial mandate every
five years) for the better part of this year, and members of the public
were recently asked to throw their two cents in.
Town council held a public meeting, asking ratepayers if there any
changes they would like to see in the current OP - with the intent of
considering that input before the revised version of the plan is
presented to council and the public at a later date.
And while no members of the public rose to speak about the OP, council
did give a hint at what the revised document will look like.
"Our overriding consideration is to try and find ways of encouraging
development," said Deputy Mayor Daniel Banks, chairman of the town's
official plan review committee.
"We found a number of places (in the plan) that seemed restrictive."
The committee has been going through the current OP with a fine-tooth
comb, and Mayor David Thompson acknowledged the arduous nature of its
task.
"It's slow-going because every word counts," Thompson said, while also
acknowledging the contributions of that committee's two lay-members,
Rueben Marini and Ian Towner - the latter of whom played a key role in
developing the town's planning policies during his time on council in
the 1990s.
"He brought an historic viewpoint to our meetings," Thompson said of
Towner's contributions to the official plan review committee.
"He's quite passionate about protecting the interests of this town."
Thompson also took pains at last week's public meeting to reiterate
Banks' stated goal of ensuring the new OP encourages new development.
"The message that will be sent out is the town of Deep River is
officially open for business," the mayor declared.
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