The Municipality of Brockton is seeking to expand the urban boundaries for Walkerton, and it's grown impatient waiting for Bruce County.
Mayor Chris Peabody says there's been an offer to sell to the Municipality agricultural lands south of Bruce Road 4 and that currently, the Walkerton application is one of 23 proposed boundary expansions Bruce County will examine as part of an update to its Official Plan.
But Mayor Peabody says considering how long that could take, staff suggested applying to the Planning Department next month, when Ontario's new Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) goes into effect.
"We decided just to not wait for the County to deal with, first their OP, then their package of boundary expansions and just go do it our own," he said. "Basically we're just going to get out ahead of it and test the province if they will accept it. It's a bit of an ironic situation where in Walkerton, we've got a farmer willing to sell and down in Waterloo region, they've got farmers not willing to sell but they're taking their land."
Peabody also noted that the County's Growth Management Strategy that was formed a few years ago only identified Saugeen Shores as needing boundary expansion.
However, the Mayor and Bruce County Warden says without expansion, the town has no new commercial land available.
"This is supposed to be for several decades if Walkerton grows, we don't have any room for commercial expansion anywhere now. Say the current owner of one of the grocery stores wanted to expand, that option isn't available. Walkerton's not big enough right now, but the purpose of the Official Plan is to plan several decades down the road," he said.
Peabody says the agricultural land that's been offered to Walkerton would be the cheapest to develop, as it would not need a booster station for sewer and water hookups. He also says while the town could purchase the land without the boundary expansion, it's not in their best interest to hold farmland with no possibility of development.
In a report to council, municipal staff said they reviewed the new PPS and in their opinion, this boundary expansion application would meet the criteria to support a Settlement Boundary Expansion.
Council received the report for information.