Committee approves new rural lot division concept

 If the city's planning committee has its way, rural landowners will have an easier time splitting their property in the future.

Currently, rural residential lots must be five acres in size, but the planning committee approved a decrease in lot size Feb. 16 to allow for lots to be divided into two-acre sections, instead of a minimum of five acres.

Ward 6 Coun. André Rivest, who chairs the committee, warned the province will likely not allow the change, and that's if city council even lets it go to the province for a decision.

Council will have the option of overruling the planning committee's decision next Wednesday.

For landowners, the changes will bring an easier way to divide land for sale, or for use by another person.

If a parent has 10 acres of land, they would then be able to divide it into five two-acre sections, and donate the unused four sections to their children or grandchildren.

That is, of course, if the changes are approved by council and the province.
The planning committee is looking to change the guidelines on lot size by way of a council-initiated official plan amendment.

Planning staff is not in favour of the idea.

The change “could increase the potential for residential and resource-based land use conflicts, increase rural service pressures, continue to transform the rural character and have unknown cumulative environmental consequences,” states a planning staff report.

The report also stated that the change would be inconsistent with the guidelines set by the province, which requires municipalities to direct the majority of new residential development to settlement areas and limit residential development in rural areas.

Looking ahead, it is anticipated that the City of Greater Sudbury will see demand for roughly 550 new, non-waterfront rural residential building lots by 2021, planning staff estimate. It is also estimated that there are 475 existing, vacant and legal lots of record that can be developed in rural areas.

Allowing for easier lot division would increase that number, allowing for more lots on less land.

Council may choose to overrule the planning committee's decision because it doesn't fit with the intent and direction of the city's official plan, according to the planning staff report, and would make it difficult to achieve other city objectives, such as urban residential intensification.

The official plan for Greater Sudbury, adopted in June 2006 by council, contains the objectives and policies of the city, and manages long-term physical change across the city.

Between 1978 and 2003, the city used a two-part growth management strategy, which directed 80 per cent of all new residential lots to serviced areas across Greater Sudbury.