On Sept. 26, 2014, we hosted a workshop in Port Perry with the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation and the Region of Durham: Streamlining Process and Approaches to Agricultural Applications in Municipalities and Conservation Authorities.
The workshop was intended for municipal planners, economic developers and building department staff in the Golden Horseshoe and Greenbelt Region (and beyond), where barriers to processing agricultural applications were addressed in detail – barriers such as: understanding proposals, communication barriers, frustrated landowners, interpretation of regulations, overregulation or contradictory regulations, just to name a few.
Among many streamlining solutions noted, there is a general theme for open, clear communication. Some streamlining solutions discussed included:
- Have staff that understand agriculture
- Actual site visits with farmer/planner who will be dealing with the application
- Clear, consistent rules specific to agriculture
- Consultation with agricultural community when changing regulations
- Business development can act as liaison with planning
- Agricultural knowledge/training for economic development staff
Why is this an important discussion to have?
As farm operations change and evolve within the Golden Horseshoe, growth is often necessary for the operation to expand or redevelop in order to continue to be viable. Municipal planning staff are dealing with Agricultural Applications on many levels, and Conservation Authorities add a layer of environmental oversight to the process if the application occurs in a watershed area.
While it is important that growth occurs according to Official Planning processes, flexibility and understanding must still prevail when these applications are processed. Thus it is very valuable to connect the different parties involved in the application process, so they can understand the other’s perspective in an effort to better support each other and have the entire process run more efficiently.
Our workshop on Sept. 26 aimed to showcase the best practices and processes of selected municipalities as well as the experience of farmers in order to enable municipal staff and conservation authority staff to implement more effective approaches to handling Agricultural Applications. We have uploaded here a summary of the workshop discussion.
We have also shared below 4 informative presentations from the workshop. Thank you to all of our presenters. Click on the following photos below to open up the respective presentation.
Agricultural Applications: How are they different from Commercial or Industrial Applications?
Hugh W. Fraser, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Food, Vineland, ON
Priority Path: A Streamlined Municipal Process Dedicated to Successful Business Expansion
Lisa Hausz, Economic Development & Tourism Manager, Town of Ajax
Kawartha Conservation: Strengthening Relationships between Conservation and Agriculture
Rob Messervey,
CAO, Kawartha Conservation & Kelly Maloney, City of Kawartha Lakes, Agriculture Development Officer
Town of Lincoln: Building a Centre of Excellence for Agriculture
Bill Hodgson, Mayor Town of Lincoln