What is Site Plan Control, and how to navigate your agritourism project through it smoothly?
Master planning an on-farm winery with a restaurant. Co-credit South2010 architects.
You may have heard your municipality mention Site Plan Approval when you go to them with a building permit or agritourism request. And you are probably wondering what the heck it is and why can’t you build a building. This article will explain site plan approval, how long it takes, what it costs, what it means for your project, and our best tips to get through it.
It is an optional tool under section 41 of the Planning Actthat allows the council of a local municipality to control certain matters on and around a site proposed for development.
This control over detailed site-specific matters ensures that a development proposal is well designed, fits in with the surrounding uses and minimizes any negative impacts.”
Excerpts taken from https://www.ontario.ca/page/site-plan-control-guide#section-5
Site plan control is a planning tool a municipality uses to evaluate public site elements, such as walkways, parking areas, landscaping, or exterior design on a parcel of land where development is proposed. It is used to protect public safety and rights, as well as enforce zoning by-laws and official plans which do not have other permit processes like a building permit does.
The site plan documents for the basis of a legal agreement with the municipality and the Property owner in the form of being registered on the deed of the property to be maintained by all future owners. This process was initially designed for subdivision and urban development. In the context of the subdivision development, they would be handing roads, sewers, lights, parks, etc. to the municipality after development for the City to maintain. Thus, there is a need for good standards to protect the municipality and the residents' public spaces. Some municipalities register this with their agritourism developments, and some don’t.
Site Plan Approval is the dotted line detour along the path to the building.
What are the requirements for Site Plan Applications?
The requirements vary from one municipality to another and can be unclear. To understand what it means for you and your situation, you need to obtain a clear checklist for the application. Here is a comprehensive list of possible documents that could be asked for:
- Application forms
- Fees
- Title Sheet
- General Site Plan (with a clear checklist of what is to be shown)
- Zoning Data
- Existing Conditions Plan
- Landscape Plan
- Building Elevations
- Site Servicing Plans
- Servicing Report
- Grading and Drainage Plans
- Planning justification report
- MDS
- Arborist report and tree inventory
- Stormwater management studies
- Traffic Study
- Deed / Legal Survey / Topographic survey
- Electrical lighting Plan
- Erosion and Sediment Control Plan
- Building Code and Fire Code Requirements
- Accessibility Standards
- Sun/Shadow Study
- Zoning Amendments / Planning Rationale
- Noise Impact Study
- Environmental Impact Study (particularly for Conservation Regulated Areas)
- Geological Study/Hydrogeological study
- Cultural Heritage Study/ Archaeological Assessment
- And more that typically don’t get applied in rural areas
This work can cost a farmer up to $200,000 or more in paperwork! Before a shovel even hits the ground!
This list shows why it would be necessary in urban cases, but many of these items are not applicable in rural agriculture. Sometimes, your municipality needs help seeing how some documents are not applicable and could be far more burdensome to a small farm or family business.
How long does Site Plan Approval take?
This is a relative scale of how long different processes take. Site Plan Approval can take anywhere from 2 months to 2 years!
Upon submission of a complete application, the Authority is required to approve it within 60 days. In all my experience, I have never had an application take less than 3 months ( but some take 6 months to 2 years)! Typically, the process is delayed by further requests, unclear submission requirements, and onerous concerns.
This is how the normal process of site plan approval works.
Start - Preliminary pre-pre-consultation meetings and conversations
1-2 months- Submit an official request for a pre-consultation meeting with preliminary drawings, and proposal details. Typically a cost of $500-2000
Official Pre-consultation Meeting booked for 6-12 weeks from request (book ahead!)
Initial comments and a preliminary checklist are received 1 week prior to the meeting.
6-12 weeks - A pre-consultation meeting occurs to discuss the checklist or requirements and clarify concerns over the proposal.
2 weeks later - meeting minutes are provided confirming the submission requirements and noting any discussions that occurred at the meeting.
2-4 months - The owner and consultant team hire any additional consultants for the submission requirements, and produce the necessary study drawings and documents.
Submit the Application as per the checklist from the Municipality and they circulate to all the departments for review.
8+ weeks later - Comments from the Municipality are sent to the Owner and consultant team outlining any concerns, questions, and further information required to “complete” the application.
2-8 weeks (depending) - The owner and Consultant team prepare the necessary response and resubmit the application.
8+ weeks later – In an ideal world the application would be deemed complete and an agreement would be drafted for the site. However more often than not a further round of comments from the Municipality are received and need to be addressed.
2-8 weeks (depending) - The owner and Consultant team prepare the necessary response and resubmit the application.
8+ weeks later – Hopefully this is the final round, but not always. However, in a good case, the application is deemed complete and the legal contract for the site plan is drafted for signing.
4 weeks later the contract is ready and both parties have their lawyers review.
4 weeks later the contracts are signed and…
21 months from the start a building permit can be granted!
In the end, the development charge is often not mentioned clearly by the municipality. The development charge to “improve” the property is charged to allow the municipality to improve services such as fire road maintenance to this property. In the case of subdivision development, it would also cover infrastructure, health, schools, etc. for the increased population. This charge likely will start around $10,000, so be sure to ask what it might be. A deposit is also taken to ensure the site plan is built and implemented as agreed.
The Site Plan Approval Process
Our best tips on navigating Site Plan Control
- Get a checklist as quickly as you can. This is the best form of written requirements you will get and the best way to hold them to it.
- Have lots of early talks to strategize the best way forward.
- It's all about semantics and interpretations of words. So use your words carefully!
- Play nice and be fair. Push back gently.
- Seek help from the council and economic development.
- Don’t believe their enthusiasm in the beginning.
- Ask what all the fees, including development charges, will be.
- Ask many dumb questions because the municipality doesn’t always know how to explain everything and often takes their knowledge for granted. So ask everything!
BEFORE: you running around collecting information and translating requirements.
AFTER: you relaxing (or farming) while the architect makes sure it runs as smoothly as it can!
Hire a good consultant team!
This may sound like a sales line, but it's a complicated process, and every department in the municipality speaks a different language. Architects are the best translators. They are uniquely knowledgeable about all the aspects of building, from planning to framing, where most other consultants live in their silos. So they know when to push, what's fair, and what everyone wants.
I equate it to a farm with multiple silos, and you mix feed for your animals. If you try to make feed, it's like running a tractor and TMR mixer around all day (yes, I'm a dairy farmer's daughter), back and forth, round and round. However, hiring a good consultant to manage the team is like upgrading to an elevator system and bringing on a nutritionist.
They know the right recipe and can save you time, energy, heartache, and disappointment. I often have clients come to me after they have hired a Planner to walk them through approvals, only to discover that what they asked for is out of budget, not really what they need, or not feasible.
While Planners are helpful, they rarely see the construction side of the industry, so they might miss the big picture, where architects are involved in all aspects.
Now that we have shared the facts, timelines, and resources, you should feel confident to start the process yourself. Or you may feel convinced you want to stick with farming, not deal with red tape!