Norfolk County's Lakeshore

The County's lakeshore is an invaluable resource and a significant component of "Ontario's South Coast", which provides excellent tourism and recreational opportunities. The County recognizes that development pressures along the lakeshore need to be carefully managed to protect the area's key attributes and ecological significance. Given that the County's lakeshore offers many different uses and environments in proximity, it is imperative that waterfronts are planned as special places and designed to achieve a balance between lakeshore resources and the use of those resources.

Study Purpose

The purpose of this study is to prepare the Lakeshore Secondary Plan, which will address the special waterfront attributes and the unique land use arrangements to ensure the community, environmental, and economic sustainability of the lakeshore. The Secondary Plan will complement the general policies and land use designations of the adopted Norfolk County Official Plan while providing more detailed planning and land use guidance for the waterfront. The County has retained MMM Group Limited (formerly Marshall Macklin Monaghan Limited) and a diverse team of professionals, including du Toit Allsopp Hillier (DTAH), N. Barry Lyon Consultants Limited (NBLC), Unterman McPhail Associates and Conna Consulting Inc. to study the unique issues relating to the lakeshore and to prepare the Lakeshore Secondary Plan.

Study Background

As part of the development of the Norfolk County Official Plan, it was concluded that the lakeshore area required further study through a comprehensive secondary plan process. For this significant part of the lakeshore there is an important opportunity to ensure that the County can respond to development pressures while protecting the lakeshore's unique ecological and natural heritage features, prime agricultural lands, community character and recreational amenities. The Lakeshore Secondary Plan will address the interrelated matters outlined in the new Official Plan (S.3.8.1 and S.9.5.1, for example), including growth and settlement, agriculture, servicing, traffic, trails, community design, environmental hazards, and cultural and built heritage. These matters will be explored through a variety of technical studies.

Work Program

The work program has been divided into three phases, which include:

• Phase I - Lakeshore Framework - the objective of Phase I is to develop a detailed technical understanding of the numerous, interrelated issues affecting the lakeshore area, and to identify opportunities for the study area. The Lakeshore Profile Report will present and summarize the conclusions of the technical study findings and define issues and principles to guide land use planning policy. This phase will form the basis for the development of the Waterfront Options in Phase II.
• Phase II - Lakeshore Options - the objective of Phase II is to develop options for the policy and community design direction for the lakeshore area. The outcomes of Phase II will form the basis for the development of the preferred policy and community design direction in the Secondary Plan.. The Final Lakeshore Options and Directions Report summarizes the key issues and existing policy directions, and identifies the preliminary planning options and recommended directions to address the issues.
• Phase III - Secondary Plan and Community Design Guidelines - the objective of Phase III is to prepare the Secondary Plan and Community Design Guidelines based on the preferred policy and community design direction.

Secondary Plan Credits