Wilmot approves new official plan but not without opposition

By Lee Griffi

Wilmot Township council has passed its new official plan, which will come into effect in 2028 and will dictate growth and development in the township over the next 25 years.

The plan was approved in a 4-2 recorded vote, with councillors Lillianne Dunstall, Stewart Cressman and Steven Martin, and Mayor Natasha Salonen voting in favour and councillors Kris Wilkinson and Harvir Sidhu opposed.

Cressman initially voted against adopting the plan, but later said he had misunderstood the motion and believed he was voting on a deferral. A debate over procedure followed before council held a second recorded vote, resulting in the plan’s endorsement.

A deferral motion was made by Coun. Wilkinson so staff and members of council could take a second look, but it was voted down.

A total of 11 residents spoke at Monday evening’s meeting, and there was one common theme – take another look at the plan and delay its approval.

“I do believe council wants to do what’s best for our community, but by putting this plan through now the way it stands is a recipe for disaster,” said John Jordan from the Wilmot Civic Action Network. “We have over two years to submit this plan and get it right, so what’s the rush?”

Jordan also suggested the way councillors voted on the plan could affect their chances of being re-elected in October.

“Do the right thing as I believe there is this thing called an election in three months less a day, and this issue will be a big one if it’s put through in its present form. In fact, if I could be so bold to say, an elected-office ending decision for those seeking re-election.”

Mark Reusser, a Wilmot farmer and vice president of the Waterloo Federation of Agriculture, raised the group’s concerns about what is missing from the plan.

“The official plan does not prohibit the incineration of municipal waste on prime farmland. The premier has just suggested that energy from waste is renewable and our official plan allows that. It does not prohibit the establishment of wind turbines on farmland.”

Reusser said the township should be declaring itself an unwilling host, just like many other rural municipalities have done. He added the plan also doesn’t prohibit industrial ground-mount solar panels or the establishment of an industrial mega site on farmland.

“There is no mention of protecting the moraine, little of protecting the countryside, minimal mention of a comprehensive plan to protect source water.”

He added the farmers and the people of Wilmot want the most visionary, appropriate and most resilient economic official plan in Ontario.

“We ask you to take a stand. Push back. Be leaders, not followers. Support a motion to delay the vote on the draft until such time we can have the opportunity to get it right.”

Mayor Natasha Salonen said this council started the official plan process and has an obligation to finish it.

“If we push this off, I agree, it would not be us doing our duty and responsibility to make a decision on a process we started and was also initiated by the province in terms of downloaded planning. I think back to when we first started on council and some of the issues we got planted on us because of indecision from prior councils.”

Coun. Lillianne Dunstall defended her yes vote by mentioning the extensive public consultation involved.

“It has been more than a year in the making and has been in the public domain since August 2025. During that time, the township engaged the community, received extensive feedback, revised the document and brought it back with significant updates. I spent weeks reviewing all 215 pages, reading constituent submissions, speaking with residents, reviewing emails and following public discussion.”

Dunstall added she asked the consultants where the 22 substantive changes to the water and wastewater policies came from.

“They confirmed the majority resulted from public suggestions, with additional enhancements from technical review and lessons learned through the Wellesley official plan. That tells me the public consultation process worked. We incorporated every change we reasonably could, while recognizing that some requests simply fell outside the scope of an OP.”

Coun. Kris Wilkinson said delaying its approval by a few months or until next year would provide several benefits.

“It would allow the public additional time to review a very large and complicated document. Despite a comprehensive consultation process, many residents are only now beginning to understand how these policies may affect their properties and their communities.”

He added significant concerns remain around growth, infrastructure capacity, groundwater protection, agriculture and transportation.

The entire meeting is available on the township’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@WilmotTownshipChannel/featured. The official plan still needs to be approved by the province.