Funding for policies to implement OP update questioned

A collection of policy updates that would help implement an Official Plan update and the funding thereof were the topic of debate during budget deliberations.

Town council agreed on a 2.86 per cent tax increase when the budget deliberations were complete, including $44,000 for policy matters. A breakdown of that is $10,000 for environmental impact assessment guidelines, $10,000 for drive-thru restaurant and drive-thru business guidelines, $10,000 for noise and vibration study guidelines, $10000 for agricultural impact assessment guidelines and a requested ten per cent contingency of $4,000.

Councillor Diane Pouget questioned some of the numbers, with the $10,000 for drive-thru restaurant guidelines being a focus.

“Why do we need that when we already have so many drive-thrus?” she asked. “Wouldn’t we already have guidelines for that?”

Deputy CAO/director of development services Melissa Osborne said the town does not have specific guidelines for what is required for a drive-thru. She said currently, the town’s Official Plan have to go through an OP update and a zoning bylaw.

“This would give specifics around if they want a drive-thru, how it must be built to accommodate the community,” said Osborne. “There are some drive-thrus that, had we had such policies in place, would have had to be designed differently.”

Pouget stated five new drive-thru restaurants have been added in recent years, and no question came before council. She recalled one plaza where there were concerns over how busy it could be with a traffic engineer saying “everything is fine.”

“If it’s a concern now, why wasn’t it brought forward to council then as a concern?” she asked.

Aspila said there have been some Official Plan and zoning bylaw amendments regarding drive-thru proposals. He said as part of those developments, traffic impact studies were required and they were deemed by a professional to address legislative requirements on the town.

The guidelines would allow for more formalized detail about what council is seeking for the primary corridor of Sandwich St.

“Right now, we have no ability to push back on any studies that come from another professional designation saying this is sufficient for what the developer is bringing forth their application,” added Osborne. “These guidelines are going to help this town push back where we feel we need to push back.”

Councillor Peter Courtney said guidelines should be standardized either regionally or in the province.

“To have our own specific guidelines, to me it’s going to be project-specific. It’s going to be based on size of the land, it’s going to be based on location, it’s going to be based on whether it’s next to residential,” said Courtney.

Courtney added other municipalities would have come up with similar guidelines, citing noise and vibration as an example, and why is Amherstburg going to “recreate the wheel” coming up with studies of its own.

“Why can we not grab these guidelines from another source?” he asked.

Osborne said there are provincial guidelines, but that doesn’t stop municipalities from creating their own guidelines specific to what the town wants.

“These guidelines are required at the local level to inform how this community how they want these things to happen,” she said. “If we don’t want to be specific about it and allow just the high-level guidelines, we can. But project-specific is informed by these guidelines. If these guidelines are not in place, then at best, it’s whatever exists out there or they can pretty much do what they want if we can’t give them a specific answer.”

Manager of planning services Chris Aspila added if there are no policies calling for what Amherstburg specifically wants, proponents of drive-thrus will be put through Official Plan and zoning bylaw amendments “at pretty substantial costs.”

Courtney wanted to know who does the policy updates and wondered how it makes Amherstburg better. He wanted to know if other municipalities do this.

Aspila said many other municipalities across Ontario have guidelines and policies specific to their municipality, adding he recommends it would be in the town’s interest to prescribe what the town is looking for so there is a policy calling for a design for the town’s main street.

“It will set the bar for what proponents are bringing forward for Sandwich St. in Amherstburg and remove uncertainty on what the town is looking for,” he said. “The work would be prepared by a consultant in consultation with myself and our heritage planner.”

In response to further questioning from Courtney, Aspila said individual firms would be engaged to provide specific consulting services.

“Is this truly a need and is this truly going to be compromising to the municipality if we don’t do this, or is this a want?” Courtney asked.

Osborne said that question is best answered by council, stating when a planning file is brought forward, without guidelines, the proponent may bring forth a proposal council doesn’t like, there is no way for the town to refuse or ask for changes.

“It is up to this council to decide whether or not you want that that level of guidance provided when these sorts of investment are made in this community or not,” she said.

Councillor Don McArthur wanted to know if there is a one-time cost that would have an impact on the tax levy. Osborne said there is no impact on the tax levy as the funds would come from a planning studies reserve.

McArthur asked why it came up as a capital budget item and not operations, Osborne said because the money comes from the planning studies reserve, this is a “strategic” approach that includes other studies that can be classified as capital investment.

Mayor Michael Prue had issues with the noise and vibration study, recalling the issue with Royal Canadian Legion Fort Malden Br. 157 regarding noise. He didn’t believe that report was effective, and wanted to know why the town would go that route again.

Osborne said this issue is different, as it has to do with industrial development that is suggested for sensitive areas. She said those guidelines would set policies around locating industrial sites in town, as the town has no policies right now around that. She used an example of an industrial site wanting to locate near a residential area.

Pouget asked why the town wouldn’t use its own people to develop its own guidelines and use other municipalities as a resource, instead of paying $10,000 for each guideline.

“Although there may not be any financial impact on our budget for 2026, if we don’t we use $20,000 in our reserves, can we not use that for something else?” she asked.

Osborne said the town needs specialized skills they currently don’t have, adding the town is already using “significant hours, including overtime” to keep up with planning files.

Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb supported the administrative budget request, stating he doesn’t want to rely on the province to make decisions for Amherstburg.

“It’s our responsibility to make decisions for Amherstburg,” he said. “I certainly don’t want to see more congestion on Sandwich St. because we already hear enough about that. We do have to have an Amherstburg solution to an Amherstburg issue.”

Gibb believed the town would save more in costs than “future battles with developers.”

McArthur said he was sold when Osborne stated the town would be able to push back where needed. He said Amherstburg is a “special historic place” and council has voiced concern when powers were taken from them.

“We need to avail ourselves of every opportunity to protect this town and its heritage and things we agree we value,” he said. “This is a reserve that is specifically set up for this purpose. It will have no tax impact.”

On the issue of congestion, Pouget alluded to the issue of Open Air Weekends.

“If council is so concerned about the issue of congestion on Sandwich St., why do we shut down our streets for three days a week for 14 weeks and cause nothing but traffic jams on Sandwich St. during that time?” she asked.

Councillor Linden Crain said current policies are “outdated and ineffective,” and new guidelines would be cheaper than having to defend the town in appeals to bodies like the Ontario Land Tribunal.

By Ron Giofu