South Frontenac and Frontenac County promoting flexibility to province over municipal boundaries, private water systems

Jeff Green | Oct 09, 2019

A collegial relationship between the planning departments of Frontenac County and the township of South Frontenac was reflected in a document that was submitted for approval to South Frontenac Council this week.

The document, prepared by South Frontenac’s Director of Development Services, Claire Dodds, is the proposed South Frontenac response to the proposed new Provincial Policy Statement (PPS).

Frontenac County Council approved of the response by County Manager of Planning and Development, Joe Gallivan, at their meeting on September 18th, and that response was forwarded to the local municipalities for their input.

The main disconnect between the pattern of development in South Frontenac over the last 10 years and the Provincial Policy statement is that the statement promotes rural development “within settlement areas”, which leads to at least two problems. The first is that much of the pattern of development in South Frontenac is outside of the “settlement areas”, or hamlets within the township. Much of the demand for lots is for larger lots outside of the hamlets, particularly lots that offer water access. The second is that none of the hamlets in South Frontenac have a municipal sewage system in place, and only one (Sydenham) has a municipal water system, making the environmental impact of further development greater within the hamlets than it would be in the countryside.

Since the Provincial Policy Statement contains a lot of language around promoting development in Ontario in the context of environmental sustainability, the push towards development within “settlement areas” has never been a good fit anywhere in Frontenac County.

There is some language in the new revision that addresses this tension and Dodd’s response makes a point of supporting them.

One is a change that will make it much easier for municipalities to alter hamlet boundaries when necessary, in order to fit new patterns of growth. A second is a subtle change in wording that provides encouragement for a new development option that Frontenac County, with input and support from South Frontenac, has been working on for a couple of years. “Communal servicing” refers to privately owned water and sewage systems serving multi - residential developments. Frontenac County Council received a comprehensive and “Communal Servicing Study” earlier this year and sees it as a tool for future development, particular in portions of South Frontenac where development pressure is greatest.

The new PPS describes “communal servicing as the “preferred form of servicing for multi-unit/lot development to support protection of the environment and minimize potential risks to human health and safety”. The current PPS only says “municipalities may allow the use of” communal servicing.

While this change is encouraging, there remain major hurdles to overcome, including the potential liability for developers or the township from privately owned communal water and sewage systems. Also, the question of whether the small water systems will need to comply with the stringent regulations of the Source Water Protection Act, which was designed to protect lakes and rivers that are used to supply water for towns and cities.

The final two of Dodd’s 17 proposed South Frontenac Township recommendations to the province deal with these issues.

Recommendation 16 asks that “the Province take a leadership role with managing and mitigating risk from the implementation of communal servicing system, in order to support rural communities to direct growth to rural settlement areas and providing housing options for rural communities”.

Number 17 asks the province to “review other legislation that may put barriers in place to facilitating the implementation of communal servicing in rural Ontario.”