MAPLETON – Mapleton’s mayor, with the full support of council, is calling on the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to approve a county official plan amendment (OPA) that would pave the way for the township’s urban population to double.
Included as correspondence on a Mapleton council agenda is a letter sent by Gregg Davidson, Mapleton’s mayor, to housing minister Paul Calandra asking him to review Wellington County’s OPA 119 submissions and include the township’s recommended urban boundary expansion.
The changes proposed in Mapleton would add more than 300 acres to urban boundaries mostly in Drayton but to Moorefield as well.
In a phone interview, Davidson said this would allow the urban population in the township to double to 7,000 people.
“That will support our long-term growth and not only for residential but also for employment lands,” he said, referring to a large addition of industrial land near an existing business park proposed to be included in Drayton’s urban expansion.
Wellington County’s OPA 119 was previously approved by the province which included an urban boundary expansion of more than 1,000 acres, mostly in Centre Wellington, that had not been sought by county planning staff. Mapleton did not have any land added to its urban boundaries through this approval.
Following previous housing minister Steve Clark stepping down amid investigations into the ministry’s handling of removing land from the Greenbelt, Calandra decided to review past decisions by the ministry. As a result, he introduced legislation that would reverse changes made to local official plans including the county’s OPA 119.
Davidson said Calandra had reached out to mayors asking for input after the reversal.
“What they asked us is if we would provide what we would like for urban expansion,” Davidson said.
The mayor explained this direction comes with the full support of himself and council.
“We unanimously supported the growth plan that was put forth in front of us and we actually sat down and looked at the map and worked together to figure out where that growth should be taking place,” Davidson said.
Although the township has not been given a housing target, Davidson’s letter said the township currently has over 1,200 units in its “planning pipeline” and once urban boundary expansion is approved and infrastructure is in place, the township is ready to turn those into permits.
However, infrastructure is where the mayor sees another issue ahead.
“The upper levels of government are the clog in the pipeline to complete our community,” Davidson said. “As municipalities we lack the funding to build and maintain the necessary infrastructure. The provincial and federal government, they take in 91 cents of every tax dollar and they need to start sharing that with us nine percenters.”
