FORT FRANCES — The Town of Fort Frances is continuing on its path to set a new vision for its future by drafting the official policies that will get it there.
The town has been working on creating a new Official Plan and Zoning By-law in 2023, updating two key pieces of municipal policy that ensures it can work towards specific goals for both the town and residents.
The scope for an Official Plan and Zoning By-law are meant to accommodate the town's growth for a period of up to 25 years, as per the Provincial Policy Statement, 2020 under the Ontario Planning Act.
The current Official Plan was approved by council in 2012, with the current Zoning By-law getting approval in 2014. As each document is approaching, or more than, a decade old, and considering much has changed both in Fort Frances and the wider world, council has chosen to update the plans well ahead of the 25-year period.
The most recent step of the process to adopt the new policies happened on Thursday, August 8, 2024, when town staff and members of WSP, the consulting firm that is working with the town to create the new plans, held a combined Statutory Public Open House at La Place Rendez-Vous.
The open house is a requirement under sections 26(16) and 34(12) of the Ontario Planning Act, which allowed for members of the public to learn more about the policies, process and changes made to the documents.
The open house was led by WSP senior planner Jill MacDonald and WSP practice lead Matt Alexander, who walked the few members of the public who attended through an overview of the proposed new documents, as well as a chance for those members of the public to ask questions of and provide input on the draft policies.
Alexander noted that a municipal official plan and zoning by-law are both requirements under the province's Planning Act, where the Official Plan takes the policies and requirements of the Provincial Policy Statement, which he said are rather broad, and implements them at the local level.
“So the Town of Fort Frances Official Plan takes those policies and makes them specific to Fort Frances,” he explained.
“It identifies where natural features are and what the boundary of the settlement area would be. And then the next step is the Zoning By-Law, which is the second document that we're talking about today.
The Zoning By-law takes all the directions from the Official Plan and turns it into more specific provisions for things like setbacks or specific land uses that are permitted on properties. This is the general framework that we have to work in, that planners have to interpret and develop in order to regulate, manage and plan for growth and development in the communities.”
Beginning with the Official Plan, Alexander noted the key proposed changes to the existing document include updating and improving the format and structure to make it easier to read and be understood by those who need to make use of it, a new section for growth management as well as new subsections for natural heritage policies Indigenous engagement, along with new maps and schedules.
The draft Official Plan also contains a new vision for the town, helping to guide future decision making.
“The idea is that any planning decisions, so new development approvals or anything else, should contribute to this vision for the future of Fort Frances,” Alexander said.
“This is the type of statement that you see in a lot of communities, but they're always unique, and the idea is to really focus in on what makes the community unique and different from other municipalities in the province. It's a statement of priorities and objectives, basically.”
Taken from the draft Official Plan from the Town of Fort Frances' website, the new vision statement reads:
“Fort Frances will be a complete, sustainable, and accessible Northern community that is home to a range of housing options, services, and opportunities for residents of all ages. As the hub of Rainy River District, Fort Frances will grow and evolve as a welcoming, family-oriented town, providing a promising place to live and work.
"The Town will continue to celebrate its scenic location along the Rainy River and Rainy Lake and will maintain and enhance its natural areas and recreational resources.”
The draft Official Plan changes some terms and designations, such as “neighbourhoods” over “living areas” and adds new ones like “mixed use” which is mostly reserved for the downtown core area and allows for small and medium-scale commercial and residential uses like grocery stores, restaurants and different kinds of shops with residential uses permitted on the second floor.
Another new addition is the Future Development designation, which on maps provided by the town for the open house, were mainly restricted to the site of the former Fort Frances Mill and the Shevlin wood yard, both areas the town has stated will be heavily developed in the future.
Alexander said the idea behind the Future Development designation is for properties where “we don't necessarily know exactly what's going to happen there at this time, but we know that this land is going to be needed for mix of land uses in the future, and so we want to make sure that it's identified for that.”
It also aims to prevent confusion or chaos in the future by limiting uses to the existing uses on the property.
When discussion turned to the second document of the evening, the draft Zoning By-law, MacDonald noted that the team made similar changes in terms or readability and usability to the document, as well as adding additional illustrations to better demonstrate some of the terms, concepts and policies outlined in the document.
“We really want the document, both documents, to be a bit more easier to read and understand for use by yourselves, by town staff at the counter,” she said.
“In terms of the general provisions and definitions, we've reviewed both, and then have refreshed to add new permitted uses that are more contemporary, added definitions, we'll touch on specific general provisions in the presentation, additional residential units.
There's a couple new zones that are proposed to be added... As part of the zoning by law review, we've also undertaken a review of the site-specific exception zones, and then, of course, developed the new and updated mapping.”
One significant update the WSP team wanted to communicate to the public was changes around additional residential units within town limits, noting that the new Zoning By-Law will allow for additional residential units in all zones where single, detached, semi-detached and townhouse dwellings are permitted for a maximum of three dwelling units on a lot.
The additional residential unit could take up a basement or attic/loft space in a home, or even in a detached structure like a upper level of a garage. In order to realize the additional units, each additional residential unit must have one parking space available, thus limiting the total number of properties in town that may be able to add such units.
Thursday's meeting marks only another step in the process of finalizing and approving a new Official Plan and Zoning By-law for the Town of Fort Frances. There will be another opportunity for the public to provide input on the proposed plans in the future during a council meeting where the final draft versions of both documents will be presented.
The final Official Plan will then be brought before council for approval, at which point it will be sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) for their review and potential changes. Once the ministry approves the plan, then the town can move to adopt the new Zoning By-law.
To read more about the town's Official Plan and Zoning By-law process, or to read the draft versions of both documents, visit the town website at fortfrances.ca/town/planning-development/new-official-plan-and-zoning-by-law.
