Council defers recommendation on boundary expansion committee

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Tillsonburg council took a wait-and-see approach to a suggestion from its Economic Development Advisory Committee to establish a separate committee to look at boundary adjustments.

The committee earlier commented last fall on an Oxford County land needs study which recommended the long-term planning goal for Tillsonburg’s institutional/commercial lands be set at 15 per cent. Its recommendation was there was a shortage of institutional/commercial lands, this number should be bumped to 30 per cent and a town boundary expansion would be needed to facilitate it as most remaining developable land is already slotted for residential.

At the Feb. 9 meeting, a resolution from the committee suggested a committee be struck solely to look at the boundary adjustment issue. The town had a separate boundary adjustment committee until 2023, when its responsibilities were folded into the Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) as it was largely inactive.

“The committee is suggesting more expertise is needed, and there are four options in the report,” said Development Commissioner Cephas Panschow, who wrote a report based on the recommendations.

The committee also suggested members of a potential boundary review committee be: “ respected, even-tempered individuals with strong relation-building skills, a long-term perspective on growth and municipal finance, and the ability to engage constructively with neighboring municipalities. Members must be credible advocates for the town while remaining collaborative, discreet, and focused on mutually beneficial regional outcomes.

The options were: establish a new boundary review committee, maintain the current structure and assign boundary-related issues to EDAC, defer the request until a broader review of all the town’s committees is complete, or create a group with representation from staff, council, and county staff.

Deputy Mayor Dave Beres favoured waiting until the review of the town’s committees is complete.

“They’ve been doing great work helping council make decisions,” he added.

Beres explained these are advisory committees, not committees council must take direction from. He wanted to see the review and let staff come back with recommendations on what is best for Tillsonburg.

Coun. Bob Parsons also favoured three, but would have preferred to see the first option move the process along quicker.

“I only became aware today the County of Oxford did not approve the Land Needs Analysis Study, which is a little troubling,” he said, adding another concern is Tillsonburg only has one representative on county council.

Mayor Deb Gilvesy, Tillsonburg’s representative on Oxford County council, explained the vote on the study was 5-5, meaning the study, which did see Tillsonburg’s institutional/commercial percentage increased, was defeated.

“It’s not done yet; it will be coming back,” she said, explaining she is also in support of deferring the request. “Currently, without county support, it’s difficult.”

Coun. Kelly Spencer was also in favour of the third option, but would have liked to see the issue move forward quicker.

The motion to wait and see was approved by council.