Sally Stull has been released as planner for the Town of Erin.
Mayor Allan Alls said Wellington County has agreed to manage planning functions for the town.
When asked how council came to that decision Alls said, “At this stage of the game, I don’t want to say. But it was a decision that was universal with the council – and potential savings.”
At the March 11 budget meeting, town chief administrative officer Kathryn Ironmonger said, the County of Wellington is not “going to be basically charging us any fees other than processing applications that we receive, a benefit or a fee from the proponent and that would be offsetting the cost that the county would be charging us for processing zoning amendments, official plans, etc.”
According to county planning director Gary Cousins, Erin will be charged on a per-application basis for a limited number of services where the municipality receives revenue and the work requires new and more detailed effort from the county planners. He said the tax levy every municipality pays the county to support planning services might change for Erin now that it no longer has its own planner, but, “I don’t think that the average member of the public … will see a significant difference in the service.”
Alls said if the town anticipated more growth “with more subdivisions … coming in,” the decision might have been different.
“At this stage we’re pretty well flat, but that was the decision of the council.”
Council had two scheduled planning meetings this month, one regarding Angelstone on Tuesday night, and one for the official plan amendment for CBM’s gravel pit. At the budget meeting, Ironmonger made it clear the county planner would be taking over those files and assisting council in those meetings. The county planning department will also have to get up to speed on the Settlement Servicing Master Plan (SSMP) that has been in the works going back two council terms.
Cousins said the two county employees likely to work with Erin on planning are Aldo Salis and Sarah Wilhelm.
