Adam Smith
Director of Planning and Development Services
Town of The Blue Mountains, 32 Mill Street, P.O.
Box 310, Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0
Tel: 519-599-3131 ext. 246| Fax: 519-599-2093
Dear Mr. Smith,
RE: Town of The Blue Mountains – 5 Year Review Comments

Incorporated in 1992, the Georgian Triangle Development Institute (GTDI) is a private sector non-profit
organization which represents the Development Industry within the South Georgian Bay Region. Our
members include developers, builders, contractors, suppliers, planners, engineers, real estate firms, and
related industry businesses within the Georgian Bay Area.
Please accept this letter as our initial comments on the September 2024 Draft Official Plan. This draft
was made available through the Town’s web site in early September. We are submitting this letter at the
October 1, Public Meeting to advise the Town of our preliminary comments. In the meantime, we are
continuing our review and anticipate a detailed review to be submitted to Town Planning Staff in the
near future. Our preliminary comments are as follows:
1. The GTDI supports the Town’s efforts to update it’s 2016 Official Plan and commends the
amount of effort that has resulted in the September 2024 Draft Official Plan.
2. The Planning Act (Section 17) is the enabling legislation governing municipal Official Plans:
purposes, contents, processes. This enabling legislation informs a significant context for the
industry commentary.
3. On the whole, the Draft Official Plan retains many of the existing Official Plan policies. However,
it is acknowledged there are several key revisions and updates that reflect the more recent
updates to Provincial planning legislation and policy direction. In addition, it is recognized that
many proposed policy and policy directions represent guidance from Council. The following is a
summary of the GTDI initial comments:
a. The introductory population and household context requires corrections and clarification on
some of the numbers and how they were arrived at.
b. Section A3 has several “Strategic Objectives” that are not objectives for the purposes of the
Plan, but generalized policy directions.
414-115 First Street, Collingwood, Ontario L9Y 4W3
www.gtdi.ca
c. Section D introduces several detailed policies addressing Affordable and Attainable Housing.
While the GTDI welcomes additional policy guidance on this important land use matter,
there are a few proposed directions that require clarification and, a few prescriptive
directions that represent significant implementation issues for both the Town and the
development community.
d. Section E1 introduces several new implementation directions and requirements. There is a
new direction seeking “streamlining” of process that warrants support and implementation.
There are other sections that may prove problematic with regards to the Planning Act and,
may counter any proposed measures to streamline process.
4. The GTDI continues its review and is preparing detailed comments that are both technical and
policy in nature and expand upon the above-noted areas.
The comments provided above are general in nature. We are in the process of preparing more detailed
feedback, which will be submitted to the Planning Department. Our goal is to offer constructive
feedback from the industry perspective and collaborate with the Town to develop an Official Plan that
benefits the entire community.
Yours Truly,
Georgian Triangle Development Institute (GTDI)