Planning Department

Public Notice: Under the Planning Act, information and material required respecting planning applications shall be made available to the public. For more information, please refer to the Township's Routine Disclosure - Planning Applications Guidelines.

Also be advised that the minutes of public meetings (hearings) are made available on the municipal website for public viewing and may be circulated throughout the Township and/or to parties requesting a copy of the minutes. Anyone who attends a public meeting of the Township and enters their name on the attendance list or speaks publicly at the meeting may have their name and any opinions they may express recorded in the minutes of that specific meeting.

If an individual has a concern with respect to information being made available to the public, please advise the Clerk, at 705-656-4445 Ext. 234.

Processing of your application will take a minimum of 90 days upon receipt of a complete application, including all information that is required and assuming no complications arise. 

Archaeological Assessments

 Please note that through recent consultation with Curve Lake First Nation (CLFN), it has been suggested that archaeological assessments may be required for development on waterfront properties. You will need to complete the attached checklist from the Province for evaluating archaeological potential to determine whether an archaeological assessment is required. This checklist needs to be submitted with any application submitted. Should you determine that an archaeological assessment is required, we would encourage follow up discussion with the Township and Curve Lake to confirm specific requirements.

 https://forms.mgcs.gov.on.ca/en/dataset/021-0478

Upon submitting an Application for a Zoning By-law Amendment, the township suggests that the Applicant contact all neighbours of the subject land, relevant Ministries and other agencies to inform them of your plans.

Upon receipt of a complete Application for an Amendment to the Zoning By-law, your application will be forwarded to the Township Planner for processing.

A Public Meeting shall be scheduled, under the regulations of the Planning Act, after the application has been deemed complete by the Township Planner and Township Planning Department.

The Planning Act prescribes that a Notice of the Public Meeting shall be given at least 20 days before the day of the Meeting by prepaid first class mail to all property owners within 120 metres of the subject property and to the appropriate agencies. It is also required to post a Notice of Public Meeting on the subject property.

Public Meetings are currently being held in a Hybrid format.   You may attend in person, electronically or by phone (using the zoom invitation available on the agenda) It is recommended that the applicant attend the meeting or have someone else represent you.    Meetings are audio and video recorded and posted on the Township YouTube channel as soon as possible after the meeting for public viewing.  

All written submissions will be presented at the Public Meeting. Anyone in attendance will be given the opportunity to speak in support of or in opposition to the proposed Zoning By-law Amendment. If there is no opposition to the Zoning By-law Amendment submitted at the time of the Public Meeting then Council may pass the By-law later in the meeting or at a subsequent meeting of Council.

There is a 20 day appeal period from the date of the Notice of Passing being mailed. Only the applicant or a person or public body who, before the By-law was passed, made oral submissions at a public meeting or written submissions to council may appeal the By-law to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.

If Council refuses or neglects to make a decision on the By-law within 120 days the applicant may appeal to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.

If no appeal is received within the 20 day appeal period, the By-law becomes effective on the date of passage.

• Comprehensive Zoning By-Law 2013-0026 (Consolidated July 2020)
  • Housekeeping By-Law 2023-0001
  • Housekeeping By-Law 2019-0057
• Boathouse By-Law 2019-0095
• Dock By-Law 2019-0078
• Second Dwelling Unit By-law 2019-0016
  • Application to License a Secondary Dwelling
• Shipping Container By-Law 2021-0096
• Tourist Trailer By-Law 2021-0097

Peterborough County Official Plan

An Official Plan sets policies for guiding proper land use and development in the community. The Official Plan outlines where residential, industrial and commercial areas are contemplated. The County of Peterborough Official Plan functions as the lower tier Official Plan for the Township as well as two other municipalities in the County. When Peterborough County undertakes the preparation of the Official Plan, they utilize input from the Township Councils, the public, ministries and other agencies and the Official Plan shall be consistent with the Provincial Policy Statement. A copy of the Official Plan is available on the Peterborough County Website.

Fees for planning applications are set in By-Law 2023-0079

Sometimes Council imposes a Holding Provision on a parcel of land to prevent or limit the use of the land. This is done to allow for the orderly phasing of development of the land, to ensure and to allow for the implementation of special design features.

A Holding Provision will not be removed from the parcel of land until all necessary agreements have been registered on title, the conditions of the draft plan approval have been met and all the objectives of the Holding Provision have been met.

When a property owner wishes to remove the Holding Provision from a parcel of land, he must make application to do so, using the same application form that is required for a Zone Amendment. The fee for removal is $500.00. While legislation is silent on the number of days and the area required for notification, the Township utilizes a process similar to Zone Amendments to determine a circulation list and provides reasonable notice. Also a number of Public Agencies are notified. A Public Meeting will be held as soon as is reasonably possible and at Council's discretion anyone in attendance will be given the opportunity to speak in support of or in opposition to the application. All written submissions will also be heard at this meeting. If there is no opposition submitted at the time of the Public Meeting, Council may pass the By-Law to remove the Holding Provision later in the meeting or at a subsequent meeting. There is no appeal period for this by-law and the property owner, applicant and agent will be notified in writing of Council's decision.

A Temporary Use is a By-law passed by the Council to allow a temporary use of land, buildings or structure for a limited time, which is otherwise prohibited by the Zoning Bylaw.

The time period that the Temporary Use is allotted will be set out in the Temporary Use By-law but will not exceed 3 years. Additional 3 year extensions may be granted by Council upon the receipt and processing of a further application. When the Temporary Use By-law expires the continued use of the land; building or structure must conform to the original By-laws of the Township and may not be used for what the Temporary Use By-law permitted.