Caledon residents offer input on Town’s Official Plan at open house

By Zachary Roman

Caledon residents were offered a chance to share their thoughts on the Town's draft Official Plan on Monday, April 11.

The plan is a comprehensive policy document that will guide Caledon's growth until 2051, according to Town staff.

An open house was held at the Town's civic campus in Caledon East from 5 to 6 p.m. on the 11th, with a public planning and development meeting that focused on the “Future Caledon Draft Official Plan” starting immediately after.

The room was full at the open house, with those in attendance walking around the room viewing informational posters about the Official Plan and asking questions to Town staff. Feedback forms were distributed by Town staff for people to fill out, as well as sticky notes which could be placed directly on the posters to provide feedback on that poster's content.

The plan has been in development since 2019; the Town was mandated to create it by the provincial government, which also mandates how much growth municipalities are required to prepare for. In Caledon's case, the Town is expected to prepare for a population increase to 300,000 residents by 2051.

The Town's draft Official Plan at the time of the open house was 409 pages long and can be found on the Caledon's civic engagement website, haveyoursaycaledon.ca.

Some major points from it include: The Town's plan to keep 80 per cent of Caledon's land protected and free from urban growth, the setting of a net-zero greenhouse gas emission target for 2050, and the plan accounting for the proposed Highway 413 being built.

According to a presentation on the Official Plan given by Town staff, it was prepared “through the view of five lenses”: Protection, rural community preservation, climate change, urban growth management, and equity and inclusion.

Matthew Cory, a planner with Malone Given Parsons Ltd., spoke at the planning meeting held after the open house.

“As robust and very well-written as the OP (Official Plan) is, as a seasoned planner, I had a very hard time reading the whole thing, it's quite long,” he said, after speaking on a different topic on behalf of a project management company that owns lands in Mayfield West. “I wanted to suggest if in any way possible, if it could be made as succinct as possible. I just worry about usability for anybody but a trained planner in using the document at the length that it's at.” 

Caledon's chief planner, Antonietta Minichillo, said she agreed, and her and her team will be endeavouring to shorten the document.

“We have already began that process to remove any duplications, make it shorter, remove what doesn't need to be in there and, frankly, just make it more palatable so that everyone really understands what's in the documents,” said Minichillo.

Kathleen Wilson, a Caledon resident who attended the open house, shared her thoughts on the Official Plan. 

“There's a lot of policies and vision and goals, yet I see little to no plan to actually execute them,” said Wilson. “There's a huge disconnect between what is actually happening in Caledon to what's going into the Official Plan.”

Wilson said it was unfair of the province to expect municipalities to plan until 2051 during the middle of a pandemic. She said the pandemic made it harder for people to engage with their governments.

Rima Dornfelde, another Caledon resident who attended the open house, said she was there because she believes strongly in civic engagement.

“Some people say there's no point to coming out to these meetings, it's all a done deal, but it's like voting. It's your freedom to come and be informed and to say you disagree with certain things the way they're being done,” said Dornfelde. “It's your right. That's part of being a citizen, you have to get involved at some point.”

Bella Ceremuga, a Brampton resident who has always wanted to live in Caledon, is a planner by trade, and attended the open house because she wanted to see what direction Caledon is heading in.

“I like it because of the conservation areas… a lot of green spaces, it's rural but it's also close to the city,” she said, adding she wants to see Caledon developed intelligently to preserve green space and protect the environment. If it's not, she said she “might as well just live in Mississauga.”

A handout distributed to open house attendees, and that's available online, outlines next steps in the Town's Official Plan process. Written comments about the plan must be submitted to opreview@caledon.ca by April 20 to ensure Town staff can address them prior to finalizing the Official Plan.

The plan is targeted for council adoption in “late spring” 2022.