The Town of Halton Hills drew criticism for not keeping the residents informed of planning changes at its third public open house regarding the Georgetown GO Station/Mill Street Corridor Secondary Plan Review.
Resident Susan Robertson said the changes to the plan are significant to what was presented at the last public open house a year ago.
“It feels like we’re giving you a lot of information, you’ve been polling us, walking around the neighbourhood, developing guiding principles for us, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot coming back to us,” she said at last night's (Nov. 27) meeting. “A whole year has gone by and this whole concept plan has been approved at general committee and we haven’t heard anything in a year.”
Town senior planner Keith Hamilton said the Town did meet twice with community groups since June 2023 to get feedback on the preferred land use plan council adopted at its last meeting.
David Sajecki of Sajecki Planning, which is working with the Town on the secondary plan, said part of the reason it has taken a year to present new information is that technical studies had to be completed to assess the impact proposed density increases would have on things such as traffic.
Other residents called for the creation of a steering committee, which would include councillors, Town staff and residents, as there have been for other secondary plans reviews.
“Given the significant changes in our neighbourhood, our community deserves that as well,” one resident said.
“We will await direction, but that’s come from three different people now, so we will take that back with us,” Hamilton said.
The Town has been updating the project on Let's Talk Halton Hills. It also held two drop-in sessions with staff and two previous public open houses, the last one attended by
While residents were concerned that council had endorsed a preferred land use plan, Hamilton told the more than 125 people in attendance at the Mold-Masters SportsPlex that there is still time for public input to shape the finalized plan.
“This does not represent a finalized secondary plan. It guides revisions based on feedback to determine a finalized plan,” Hamilton said. “What was approved (Nov. 18) serves as a guide for the policies we want to develop. They could be the same policies that are there because they are working. They could be revised ones to reflect growth pressures or the need for community assets, or they could be entirely newly created policies of things that weren’t considered previously.”
The plan covers a 187-hectare area bordered roughly by Guelph Street to the south, Maple Avenue, with the residential part of Dominion Gardens included, to the east, Lynden Circle and John Street to the north and Main Street North and the railroad track to the west.
The province has set a target of 150 people and jobs per hectare around transit hubs like the Georgetown GO Station. Municipalities can request lower targets based on their ability to develop existing neighbourhoods and the Town of Halton Hills intends to ask for a target of 100 people and jobs per hectare.
Sajecki said under the plan endorsed by council earlier this month, the area would add 1,142 new residents and jobs before 2031. The previous plan, adopted in 2011, would have allowed for 972.
Looking out 25 years to 2051, the endorsed plan projects 6,186 new residents and jobs in the area, approximately 1,840 more than previous plan if all building opportunities are realized.
“Since 2011, there have been a significant amount of new provincial plans and legislation and the secondary plan is required to conform to those directions,” Sajecki said. “It also has to consider new population and job targets that are outlined by the region. We’re looking at how do you accommodate those new population targets?”
Traffic, including truck traffic routes, was one of the biggest concerns cited at the meeting.
“Traffic in and out of town, it’s gotten way too busy and there’s no infrastructure to support it,” said Janice Ellery. “Some days it can take 10 minutes just to get out of my driveway. And now we’re talking about bringing in more people.”
One resident said with 659 units proposed in the condo development at 1 Rosetta Street, even a very conservative estimate would add 700 cars to an established neighbourhood not designed to accommodate that much traffic.
Another resident wondered if the area boundaries could be expanded to include the south side of Guelph Street saying there is potential for increasing density on the lands currently occupied by strip malls that could help the Town reach its targets. That stretch of Guelph Street sits just east of the boundary of the area covered by the plan.
Residents also asked about the Town’s plans to add recreational opportunities, schools and other neighbourhood amenities such as parks.
Town staff said recreation facilities are not part of the study, but they do base the addition of facilities on population, so the growth in the area would be taken into account when planning future facilities. Schools would be determined by the local school boards, but they also use population projections to determine whether to build new schools.
