Centralized Planning Service Delivery Model

There have been several changes to provincial planning legislation changes in recent years. County and Municipal staff have been working to make the planning process more efficient. Grey County and local municipalities have an ongoing goal of optimizing service delivery for all parties involved in supporting the development of new homes and new or expanded businesses. The County has also explored how other counties and municipalities deliver their planning services. Some other service delivery models include planning services delivered by:  

1. the county only,  

2. the county and municipalities, or  

3. the county and some municipalities, and for those municipalities without planning, it would be delivered by the county. 

There is a shortage of planners across the province making it difficult at times to recruit planning staff. With a central team, new planners can join a larger group, gain experience, learn from one another, and hopefully advance their careers under one organization. The team approach also allows for greater resiliency and the retention of institutional knowledge when it comes to staffing changes or departures. Additional benefits from moving to the centralized planning service delivery model include:

• the ability to provide specialized skillsets,

• improved customer service,

• reducing duplication of efforts,

• enhanced consistency in the planning process across Grey County,

• knowledge sharing between municipalities, and

• potential cost savings.

Yes, municipalities will still be required to have their own zoning by-laws. Municipalities will also have the option of maintaining their own municipal official plans, just as they do today (i.e., 8 of 9 Grey County municipalities have their own official plans). All existing municipal official plans and zoning by-laws will remain in force and effect, should the centralized planning service delivery model be implemented. 

All approval authorities will remain the same under the new model. Member municipalities will continue to approve consents, minor variances, site plans, zoning by-laws, and zoning by-law amendments. Owen Sound will retain the authority to approve subdivisions and condominiums, as well as some municipal official plan amendments. The County will continue to approve subdivisions and condominiums (expect in Owen Sound), County official plan amendments, municipal official plans, and municipal official plan amendments. Staff will continue to seek opportunities for greater planning efficiency, which may come with requests for further delegation to staff. However, any such delegations would be required to be approved by either County or municipal councils.

As per above, municipalities will retain (a) their municipal official plans and zoning by-laws, which will still contain municipal-specific policies, and (b) municipalities will retain their existing approval authority roles under the new model.

All development applications would be submitted directly to the County. The County will collect fees for all applications submitted.

The final costs of the new model are not yet known at this stage. As part of the future follow-up staff report, additional cost and financial analysis would be included for Council’s consideration. The goal is to make this model (a) cost efficient, and (b) to recoup as much of the development planning fees as possible, after the fees and services by-laws are updated.

All application fees will be paid directly to the County. Some municipalities may choose to require a municipal application review fee to cover off some non-planning staff expenses, e.g., expenses related to having their engineers or operations staff review an application. These municipal fees could function like the County’s municipal application review fee.

At this stage there is no firm timeframe for when implementation will happen, if supported by County and municipal councils. Implementation will not happen in 2024 but may happen later in 2025 or in 2026. Prior to any implementation, it will first require discussions at each of the nine municipal councils, and Grey County Council, after the follow-up staff report.

Should this new centralized service model be implemented, it would be done with an accompanying memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the County and member municipalities. Amongst other things, this MOU would define the reporting relationship between County Planning staff and municipal staff, as well as the location of planning staff across the County.

Further details on office locations will still need to be sorted out. The goal is to have in-person customer service available at all nine member municipalities and the County on a regularly scheduled basis. Staff will also be able to respond to emails, or virtual meeting requests even when not fulfilling customer service in person.

The new model will not completely eliminate the need for consultants, but the goal is to significantly reduce the time and money spent on consultants, particularly as it applies to development planning (i.e., processing planning applications). There will still be the need for some specialized knowledge, e.g., for peer reviews or specialized studies such as development charges background study, or an archaeological management plan. However, the goal is to pursue a lot of the research and policy work for official plan and zoning by-law updates ‘in house’ through the policy planning division.

Yes, under the new model rather than having a County and municipal planner both writing reports or comments for the same planning application(s), it will only be one County Planner writing the report for the application(s).

The details of existing applications will still need to be sorted out as part of future discussions should this model move forward.

Existing municipal appeals that were in process prior to the implementation of the new model are likely to remain with the municipalities. For new appeals received after the implementation of the new model, this will need to be addressed as part of the future MOU between the County and member municipalities.

Staff are seeking initial feedback by October 25, 2024. Following the receipt of this feedback, staff will prepare a follow-up report with additional information.  The follow-up report is anticipated to be presented in late 2024 or early 2025.