FAQs

The Official Plan guides all land use planning decisions in the County. It establishes:

• where residential, commercial, industrial, and other land uses are permitted; 
• how dense development should be; and,
• how communities are structured. 

It also provides direction on how infrastructure such as roads, water, and wastewater services are coordinated with growth. 

In addition, the Plan includes policies to protect agricultural lands, natural heritage systems, and cultural heritage resources, while supporting the development of complete, connected, and sustainable communities.

Oxford’s Official Plan is from 1995. While the document has been very effective at positively shaping growth and development in the County over the past 30 years, it has well surpassed the original planning horizon it was intended to serve and is now in need of review and update to ensure it remains current and effective.

Provincial legislation (i.e., the Planning Act) requires that Official Plans be updated every 10 years or sooner. This is to ensure conformity with provincial plans, policies, and legislation, as such we are do to review the Official Plan.

Preparation of a new Official Plan will provide opportunities to look at:

• Where growth and intensification of existing uses should happen (and where it shouldn’t);
• What types of uses go where (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, parks, etc.);
• How dense development can/should be, which also influences walkability, suitability, and infrastructure needs;
• How planning for infrastructure such as roads, transit, water, and sewers is coordinated with planning for growth;
• How agricultural areas, natural heritage systems, and cultural heritage resources are protected; and,
• How communities are structured with well connected uses and a mix of uses and housing unit types to promote objectives, such as the creation of complete communities, intensification and efficient use of land and services, increased housing choice and affordability, etc.
• How to better communicate the technical information that is contained within the Official Plan, improve accessibility and readability of the document, as well as consider options to make the document easier to maintain and administer. 

The Official Plan is the County's long-term roadmap for how and where we will grow. It will be used every time the County reviews new development applications, prepares area-specific plans, or updates land use tools like the Zoning By-law.

The Official Plan is only the first step in achieving our Shared Vision, Values, and Future. The County can use a range of implementation tools to implement the Official Plan, helping bring its aspirations to reality. These tools include:

• Area municipal zoning by-laws;
• County and/or area municipal guidelines and standards;
• Community Improvement Plans (CIPs);
• Community planning permit systems; and,
• Topic-specific plans and strategies

A new Official Plan does not immediately change your zoning—it sets the County's long-term vision for how land should be used, while zoning bylaws are the rules you must follow today. 

Your current zoning stays the same until the zoning by-law is reviewed and updated later to match the new plan. In practical terms:

• The Official Plan guides future growth and decisions. 
• Zoning controls what you can do on your property right now.
• Any actual zoning changes would happen through a separate process.

While an Official Plan review process can be a good time to consider adjustments to settlement boundaries, this is not anticipated to be part of the development of a new Official Plan for Oxford.

Under provincial policy, a settlement area boundary review must involve consideration of impacts to agricultural lands and nearby farm operations, natural hazards and natural heritage, aggregate resources, efficient provision of services, etc. and should evaluate alternative directions for growth to determine the most appropriate location/direction for a settlement area expansion.  

Accordingly, specific studies are required to demonstrate that the requirements of provincial policy have been met, and these studies/processes could be undertaken for individual municipalities/settlement areas at the same time as the development of a new Official Plan for Oxford. More information regarding growth projections and land need related information is available online.

If there is a need for additional lands for settlement area purposes (residential or employment), it is typical practice in Oxford County to undertake a settlement area boundary review in conjunction with a secondary plan process. This combined approach allows for a comprehensive assessment of the lands and their best use, mitigation of impacts, and the development of a plan that lays out the land uses and specific policies for development of the area. Once the studies are complete, and provided that the preferred lands are within the corporate boundary of the municipality, an Official Plan amendment to adjust the settlement boundary can be considered for approval by County Council. 

Note that a settlement boundary and a municipal boundary are legally different matters and are subject to different processes. The settlement area boundary is established by the Official Plan for lands that are with the municipal boundary (i.e. we can only plan for lands that are within the municipality). A municipal boundary is established through an annexation process under the Municipal Act and involves an agreement between two (or more) municipalities and approval from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Surplus farm dwellings to be severed must have been constructed before 1995 because this date reflects the date that the current surplus farm dwelling severance policies were originally established in the County Official Plan (which also restricted other forms of residential severances). Therefore, any new dwelling on a farm constructed after that 1995 date should have been constructed with the understanding that a future severance would not be permitted. 

This policy is also intended to support goals such as:

• new farm dwellings are only being constructed with the understanding that they are accessory to, and must remain on, the farm (i.e., are not being constructed with the intent/expectation of future severance);
• new farm dwellings cannot continue to be built and declared surplus through successive farm consolidations over time; 
• establishing a clear limit to when new non-farm rural residential parcels can be created; and,
• protecting agricultural land over the long-term (e.g., combatting fragmentation, supporting Minimum Distance Separation requirements), in accordance with provincial policy. 

The agricultural policies (including for surplus farm dwelling severances) were reviewed, updated and approved by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing in February of 2024. That said, staff anticipate sharing additional information regarding the severance requirements as the project proceeds, and we also welcome all feedback concerning any topic affected by the Official Plan.