At the February 8, 2021 Clarington Council meeting, council heard from delegates and debated the merits of hosting a public meeting in April to determine if Special Study Area 2 should be deleted from the Clarington Official Plan.

Council heard from several delegates, some who were concerned that council was looking to recommend to the province that more land be included in the greenbelt.  Council assured delegates that there were no plans to expand the greenbelt in Clarington.

Other delegates expressed concern that staff would need to be taken off the secondary plans that are currently well under way to facilitate organizing the public meeting in April. 

As stated in the staff report COPA2021-0001:

"To undertake this Official Plan Amendment staff in the Community Planning and Design Branch would be diverted from the Brookhill, Southwest Courtice (SWC) and the Southeast Courtice (SEC) Secondary Plan projects.  For both the Brookhill and SWC Secondary Plan, this will mean the delay of bringing forward recommendation reports to adopt the Secondary Plans.  For the SEC Secondary Plan, this will mean staff will be delayed in responding to the Region of Durham as they process the approval of the Secondary Plan.  In addition, staff will be delayed in preparing the zoning by-law amendments needed to implement the Secondary Plans.  Delaying these projects will also have the consequence of constraining the housing supply and building activity within the next few years in Clarington."

DRHBA requested that council move the public meeting to a later date to allow staff to complete their work on the secondary plans before moving on to this project. 

Staff also recommended that the public meeting be postponed, as stated in file no. COPA2021-0001:

"Provided that Council acknowledges there will be delays in projects that Council have accepted funding from land-owner groups to advance; Staff would bring forward a Statutory Public Meeting Report at the April 26, 2021 Planning and Development Committee.

As outlined previously, our recommendation is that the Official Plan amendment be part of the Clarington Official Plan review to be initiated this year.  By being part of the OP review, Council will be able to comprehensively look at the whole municipality to the year 2051, the new planning horizon for official plans."

Ultimately, Council voted in favour of hosting the public meeting in April, despite the potential delays to the Secondary Plans.

Council voted unanimously to pass Resolution #C-058-21, which reads:

That staff issue the necessary notices for a public meeting under the Planning Act to be held on April 26, 2021, for the consideration of the deletion of Special Study Area 2 from the Clarington Official Plan.