Mapleton moves planning consulting services back to Wellington County
MAPLETON – Township planning consulting services here will no longer be sourced from directly within the lower-tier municipality.
Instead, Mapleton is transitioning these services back to Wellington County as of Jan. 1.
This follows Mapleton planner Linda Redmond’s retirement on Dec. 31.
“It’s no secret that we’ve had extremely great service from Linda; you will be tremendously missed,” said township CAO Manny Baron during an Oct. 13 Mapleton meeting.
During that meeting, council directed Mapleton staff to finalize a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the county, outlining service responsibilities, response expectations, coverage and the transition of active files.
Under the proposed framework, Mapleton staff will continue to be the local point of contact and coordinate applications and Mapleton council will maintain its decision-making role where applicable.
The township is working with Hemson Consulting and Wellington County to confirm a free structure for the services, which will be included in the 2027 fees and charges bylaw update.
This structure will continue to aim to ensure planing is a revenue neutral service delivery with no impact on taxes, a report from Baron states.
Councillor Amanda Reid asked if there would be a six-month follow-up back to council to discuss how the planning services are going, and Baron confirmed that would happen, and that council will be able to see how things are going throughout that period when county planners present planning applications to council.
According to Baron’s report, Mapleton staff reviewed all options for future planning service delivery and found the best approach is to move the services back to the county.
“The county would grant access to a larger more diverse team of professional planers, reliable backup, more help with new legislation and a steadier follow-up with applicants,” the report states.
For more information or to read the draft MOU, visit mapleton.covocweb.net/document/56385.
