Council adopts new official plan

Grey County’s new official plan is headed to the province for final approval.  On October 25, County Council supported the final draft of the plan which has been more than two years in the making.

“Creating a new official plan is a tremendous undertaking but vitally important to the long-term planning of a municipality,” said Grey County Warden Stewart Halliday. “After years of consultations with the public and stakeholders, we believe we have a finely tuned plan that will guide Grey County’s growth for the next 20 years.”

Called Recolour Grey, the official plan project began in the spring of 2016. An initial kick-off meeting was held followed by plenty of public engagement at community events throughout the County. In the summer of 2017, all comments and feedback were summarized into discussion papers which focused on key themes: Move Grey, focusing on transportation; Cultivate Grey, focusing on agriculture; Develop Grey, focusing on growth and development; Live Grey, focusing on living standards and quality of life; and Natural Grey, focusing on the natural environment. Public meetings to talk about the discussion papers were held in all nine local municipalities.

Throughout 2018, the draft plan has been discussed and adjusted including drafting maps to show where changes were being proposed and holding a second public meeting in March 2018. Further comments and updates were completed culminating with the final draft being presented to County Council in October.

“The level of engagement on Recolour Grey has set the bar for future projects,” commented Warden Halliday. “It’s been a long road, but we know the effort has been worthwhile because we have a plan that considers the needs of people in every corner of the County. We thank everyone who participated along the way.”

It is unknown how long it will take the Province to review the new official plan, or if they will be recommending any changes. You can find a copy of the final draft on the Grey County website www.grey.ca. You can also contact the Grey County Planning Department at recolour [at] grey.ca (recolour[at]grey[dot]ca) or 1-800-567-4739.

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For media inquiries contact Rob Hatten, communications manager, at rob.hatten [at] grey.ca (rob[dot]hatten[at]grey[dot]ca) or call 519-372-0219 ext.1235 or 519-373-1592.