It is refreshing to see Loyalist Township approve the MacKinnon Brothers Brewing Company rezoning despite a negative report from it’s planner. Their planner cited dated and ambiguous provincial policy statements.
I’m amazed that land use planners still follow the PPS blindly. The guidelines are vague, often self-contradictory and always open to different interpretations. Land use planners need to think outside the box and exercising some creativity. If they don’t, council should not hesitate to overrule them.
So, kudos to Loyalist council for doing what voters elect councillors to do – decide things based on common sense and good judgment.
Prince Edward County seems to get this and they have developed a sophisticated winery tourism business, despite all the provincial dictats. Seems that Loyalist council gets this too.
In Greater Napanee, I do not recall a single instance where a past council overruled our fee-for-service, out-of-town planner at IBI. In the past, our planning process has resulted in numerous stalled and abandoned projects and a lot of frustration by local builders and developers.
If projects like the Gibbard District are ever to get off the ground and if we are to achieve the growth that Prince Edward and Loyalist enjoy, this needs to change. There’s no sense in saying we’re open for business if we aren’t.
I am hopeful that our new council will follow Loyalist’s lead and exercise their independent judgment and common sense on future planning applications. We voted for them, not the folks at IBI.
Kudos to MacKinnon Brothers for persistence in the face of bureaucratic nonsense. We should all wish them good luck with this venture.
Hubert Hogle
Napanee