The final deliberation on Lambton County's draft official plan has been delayed until June.
The document outlines county policy for land use as well as environmental, social and economic matters.
Sarnia City/Councillor Bev MacDougall says county council needs time to review a report that was presented to them Wednesday talking about the allocation of future growth areas in each of the lower tier municipalities.
"Council decided that what we needed to do was take that report and circulate it back to all of the lower tiers for their councils and staff to look at their growth capacity, relative to what is held by others," says MacDougall. "The very firm resolve by all of the council was that come June, we will debate it. We will make our decision on the draft as it's come to us to date, recognizing that there are some people in the community that are not accepting of some parts of it and it's almost a destiny that somebody is likely to appeal it to the Ontario Municipal Board."
MacDougall says council has also asked that the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing look over the document and provide feedback on the extra growth areas proposed, particularly in Plympton-Wyoming.
Over 600 people have signed a legal letter identifying specific sections of the draft official plan they believe need to be changed before being passed.
Concerned Landowners Legal Defence spokesperson Elizabeth Davis-Dagg said last month that only three of 39 points in the legal letter had been addressed by the official plan committee.
The final version of the official plan will be presented to Lambton County Council at its June 7 regular meeting.
