Bruce County Releases Draft of New Official Plan for 2024-2046

On September 5, 2024, Bruce County Council directed staff to begin engagement on a draft of the new Official Plan that includes draft policies and mapping schedules which are now available for public review. 

The new Official Plan will set out broadly the land use planning direction for the County to the year 2046. It also functions as the detailed land use plan in areas not covered by a local Official Plan, such as Hamlets, Rural, and Agricultural areas outside of settlement areas.

Plan the Bruce was started in 2018 by Bruce County’s Planning and Development department, with the goal of creating a new Official Plan for the County. The current Bruce County Official Plan was adopted in 1997, and its last comprehensive update was in 2010. 

The Plan the Bruce project has been a coordinated effort to establish a new community vision and develop a new Official Plan for Bruce County. Over 1,800 community members were engaged through the Plan the Bruce GPS project which resulted in 8 Guiding Principles with the vision “To Navigate Bruce County towards a healthy, diverse, and thriving future.” 

The eight Guiding Principles developed in consultation with community members are:

• Good Growth: Put growth in the right locations with the right services.  
• Homes: Increase the supply and mix of homes.  
• Agriculture: Support our key economies, including a thriving agriculture community. 
• Business: Create opportunities for a diversity of businesses, jobs and employers. 
• Connecting: Improve our ability to move people, goods, and information between communities.  
• Communities: Create wellbeing through access to complete and healthy communities. 
• Heritage: Identify and manage cultural heritage resources. 
• Natural Legacy: Manage natural resources wisely for future generations. 

Several of these policy directions have already been implemented through amendments to the current Official Plan previously approved by council and are carried over to the draft new Official Plan; these include:

• Additional Residential Units policies to allow individual property owners, including farmers, to add additional housing on their property.
• Agricultural policy updates to better support the agricultural system.
• Vision, Guiding Principles, and Growth Forecasts.
• Section 5 - General Implementation policies.

The draft of the new Official Plan, now available for public review, builds on this previous work to provide a complete Plan that implements the eight guiding principles. 

“Staff and our consulting team put in a great effort to prepare a plan that supports complete communities in a thriving region, and we look forward to engaging with the public on the draft plan,” says Jack Van Dorp, Director of Planning and Development. 

To learn more and view a copy of the draft plan, mapping schedules and public open houses schedule visit planthebruce.ca.