City Council approves new neighbourhood and area plans, rezonings, and some road closures, as well changes to existing plans.
Provincial legislation (the Municipal Government Act) requires Council to have a public hearing before approving them and any person interested in an application can speak at these hearings.
Urban Planning and Economy gives interested residents opportunities to receive information and provide input earlier, because public hearings occur late in the planning process.
When planners in Urban Planning and Economy receive an application, they mail notification postcards to property owners in the area and to the affected community league(s) and business association(s). Planners get more information about the application and can include an initial technical review. Planners will sometimes hold a public information and feedback event and might take other steps to ask the public what it thinks about the application while they review it based on City policy, guiding legislation and professional standards.
Planners consult with the public while reviewing planning applications for three main reasons:
- To inform conversations with the applicant about concerns and making changes;
- To collect local knowledge and help make sure that the technical review is taking into consideration all the factors that it needs to; and
- To let Council know the opinions of residents before they make their decision.
After any engagement and the technical review, the planners provide a recommendation of support or nonsupport as part of a report to Council. City Council, as the elected decision makers, then factor in public perspectives as makes sense to them.
