[2:39] It's working. Okay, so let's get

[2:43] started. Good evening everyone and welcome. We really appreciate

[2:47] you being here and taking the time to be part of this session on the

[2:50] community design guidelines. My name is Diksha Marwaha

[2:54] and I'm a planner with the town. On behalf of myself and the team,

[2:58] I would like to say that we are really excited to be kicking off this

[3:01] first engagement session and to hear from you as the people who live

[3:05] and work in the Town of the Blue Mountains, your input will play an important

[3:09] role in shaping the community design guidelines. The Town has

[3:12] engaged SGL Planning to update the community design guidelines.

[3:16] We have Catherine and Sierra here with us this evening.

[3:19] They have been working closely with the Town staff throughout this process.

[3:23] We also have member Jim Oliver and Councillor Hope

[3:28] with us tonight, so thank you for joining us. Tonight's session will take

[3:32] place in two parts. First, we will have a formal presentation

[3:36] followed by a question and answer period. For the question

[3:40] and answers, we will be using the lectern, and anyone with a question is welcome

[3:43] to come up and speak. Both the presentation and the question and answers will be

[3:47] recorded so that those who were unable to attend can watch the session later.

[3:51] Following the presentation and question and answers, we will move into a

[3:55] more informal portion of the evening where you are welcome to speak directly

[3:59] with the staff or the consultants. I'd also like

[4:02] to note that these are the draft guidelines and nothing is final at

[4:07] this stage. We are still in the process of developing them, so your feedback is

[4:10] really important to us. If there's something you like

[4:14] or something you feel could be improved, we encourage you to share your

[4:18] thoughts. And with that, I will hand it over to our

[4:22] consultants to begin the presentation.

[4:27] So hi everyone, my name is Sierra Horton. I'm a senior planner and urban

[4:31] designer at SGL. You might have seen me before, really involved in the Official

[4:35] Plan project as well. And this is Catherine Jay, Principal and Head

[4:39] of Urban Design at SGL. So we've been working on the guidelines, excited to finally

[4:43] get them back rolling after the OP. So I'll just

[4:47] give a brief overview of what we've done to date.

[4:52] So, just an overview of the open house tonight.

[4:56] The presentation, I'll just give an update on why, why we're

[5:00] updating the urban design guidelines. What's the purpose of the guidelines?

[5:05] What is the structure that we've changed in the guidelines? Where do they apply

[5:09] specifically in the town? And then an overview of the

[5:13] community design principles and a bit of a discussion of character.

[5:17] And then just an overview of the main sections of the design guidelines.

[5:21] And as mentioned, we'll do a quick Q&A and then we'll keep

[5:25] it, keep it informal tonight with our small group.

[5:31] So why update the community design guidelines? So the town's current

[5:35] existing guidelines were developed over a decade ago and they're

[5:38] from 2012. So as we all know, the town has experienced

[5:43] significant change and growth since then, and an update to the design guidelines

[5:47] is being undertaken to align with and implement the new official plan

[5:51] policies that we have. Allow us to reflect

[5:55] the town's vision and evolution as it's been evolving over the years,

[6:00] incorporate new best practices in community design such as sustainability,

[6:05] current building standards, pedestrian-friendly design, streetscape design,

[6:11] incorporating accessibility, and then really just looking at what standards are

[6:15] outdated or obsolete sections and figuring out is there a better

[6:19] location for some of those guidelines, so we have moved some more

[6:23] specific guidelines into documents such as the engineering

[6:26] standards instead of the design guidelines. But overall,

[6:29] just taking a better look at the existing guidelines

[6:33] and modernizing the document.

[6:42] So just as a framework, it's helpful to understand how

[6:46] the design guidelines fit within the broader planning realm.

[6:50] So we have the official plan at the top and then zoning and then the

[6:53] urban design guidelines. So really we know that the official

[6:57] plan establishes the town's long-term vision for growth and policy direction for

[7:01] how the community will grow. Then the zoning bylaw has those specific standards

[7:05] and rules for land uses, built form. You have things such

[7:09] as height, density, and setbacks in your zoning.

[7:12] And then the design guidelines kind of fit within these

[7:15] documents and focus on design, really focusing on how development

[7:19] should integrate with its surrounding context. So really

[7:24] the guidelines help implement what is already in the Official Plan and what's already in

[7:27] the zoning bylaw, and really providing visuals,

[7:31] examples of how these more specific policies

[7:35] and zoning standards would look like in real life and

[7:38] what we'd like development to look like.

[7:44] So this is a section in the design guidelines, just an overview of what the

[7:47] design— or who the design guidelines are for. I'm really

[7:51] just saying that they're for a large group of different people to use in

[7:55] different ways. So For council, we know this is an

[7:59] important document to get updated for council, but really just

[8:02] the intent for council is to confirm whether the application meets

[8:06] the town's design vision, which is established, as well

[8:09] as any specific guidelines for unique communities in the town.

[8:14] It's also for town staff and agencies to use as a reference when

[8:18] they're reviewing documents, really just as a guide to making sure

[8:21] that the official plan and zoning bylaw are being implemented, as well as

[8:25] what the town wants to see through the guidelines. So it's

[8:29] just a helpful tool for town staff to use.

[8:32] And then as well, we really want our developers,

[8:35] consultants, and planners, and landowners, and businesses

[8:38] to look at the guidelines and utilize them,

[8:42] because they say what we'd like the town to look like.

[8:45] And the public, it's also very important to understand how the town will

[8:49] evolve over time, and we'd like your feedback on what

[8:53] should be in the guidelines. So that's

[8:57] what the guidelines are for.

[9:01] So the primary purpose, and I've kind of already discussed this,

[9:04] but to provide detailed direction that supports the official planning zoning bylaw.

[9:08] The vision for the town is already really set out in those documents.

[9:12] So the design guidelines address both. They express design

[9:17] expectations and promote good design of both the public and private realm.

[9:20] So the public realm would be things like streets and parks and

[9:24] open spaces. Streetscapes, and then private realm involving

[9:29] building design, site design, things like that. So providing

[9:34] direction for those two different elements of the town.

[9:38] And it's really important to emphasize that the guidelines aren't intended to

[9:41] act as a rigid set of rules, but really

[9:45] just as a tool to help ensure compatibility,

[9:49] and they're to be applied on a site-specific basis.

[9:53] So we want developers and planners and consultants to be

[9:56] able to use the guidelines but apply them as they

[10:00] apply specifically to that site.

[10:08] So the concepts of character and compatibility and sense of place and

[10:12] these words that are thrown around a lot are really

[10:16] important in the guidelines, actually. And we know that—

[10:20] I have a few definitions on the side there. From the official plan,

[10:23] so character, compatible, and enhance are actually defined

[10:27] in your official plan. But we kind of know character as this term

[10:31] that's generally determined by the look and feel of an area.

[10:35] Sometimes you can define character instead using the term sense of place,

[10:40] and this is really just all the qualities that are positive

[10:44] in an area. So the intent and key message is really to make

[10:47] sure that new development supports high-quality

[10:51] and context-sensitive design and not specifically describing

[10:55] a singular design style, but we really want applicants to consider

[11:00] surrounding context and the area-specific objectives

[11:04] of, say, downtown Thornbury and

[11:08] kind of working with the town to follow that sense

[11:12] of place that's created. So, making sure that the development positively

[11:17] integrates in with its surroundings. Generally,

[11:21] the approach is to allow for flexibility and innovation and diversity

[11:26] while still allowing— or still creating that sense of place.

[11:34] So the guidelines apply across the town settlement areas.

[11:39] You can see the map here, so they apply to

[11:43] all those boxes. Generally, they're focused on town-wide

[11:48] and area-specific area-specific direction. So, there are specific

[11:52] areas where area-specific direction is given in the

[11:56] guidelines, and other places where it applies more generally.

[12:00] So, a big focus is Thornbury and Clarksburg, and it

[12:04] applies to neighborhoods. There's specific guidelines for neighborhoods in Thornbury,

[12:07] downtown Thornbury and Clarksburg, and then Highway 26 in

[12:13] Thornbury, as well as Craigleith. So, the residential

[12:17] areas of Craigleith and Craigleith Village, and then Laura Bay and Camperdown.

[12:21] So that's— these are the settlement areas that the guidelines focus

[12:24] on. And I'll explain, there's two volumes

[12:28] to the guidelines, but Volume 2 really describes the character

[12:32] of each settlement area and design objectives for each of these areas.

[12:39] There's a lot of information on this slide,

[12:42] but really just to show, these are screen captures from the document

[12:47] itself. So the overall structure, Originally,

[12:50] we had it as just one big guideline document, and then we decided

[12:55] to split it into two volumes,

[12:58] mostly to make it easy for development review,

[13:01] making sure that applicants know where to go to get their information that they need.

[13:05] So we split it up into Volume 1, which is the actual community design guidelines,

[13:10] and Volume 2, which speaks to more of the background

[13:14] envisioning and sense of place for each of these settlement

[13:18] areas. So Volume 1 is the main guideline

[13:22] document, so it has an introduction and then there are specific

[13:26] sections. So there's— it speaks to the environment, parks, public spaces,

[13:30] and culture. And then there's a section on neighborhood design and residential built

[13:34] form, a section for downtown and commercial areas,

[13:38] and then there's a section on urban employment areas.

[13:41] And then, as I mentioned, Volume 2 is really just There's

[13:45] a section for each different settlement area, and there's some design principles

[13:50] for how we'd like design to proceed

[13:54] in those areas. So the intent is the applicants look at both volumes,

[13:59] use Volume 1 for the main guidelines, and then

[14:02] making sure that you look at Volume 2, look at where your

[14:06] specific development site is located, and making sure that, okay, what is

[14:10] the vision, what are the principles for that area, And you want to make

[14:13] sure that whatever you're proposing aligns with both of those.

[14:20] So these are all located in Section 2, just some of the community

[14:24] design principles, a lot of them stemming from the OPR.

[14:28] So the main themes are sustainable design, natural character, community character,

[14:33] tourism and recreation, and cultural heritage.

[14:41] I will just give a brief overview of what has changed from the previous guidelines.

[14:46] It is important to note that a lot of the foundation has been carried forward

[14:49] and that we have mostly been working on refining and updating

[14:53] and reorganizing the current guidelines to reflect best practices

[14:57] in the town's evolving context. So, really overall,

[15:00] we have been focusing on modernizing the content, making sure that

[15:04] it is clear and usable. and then ensuring alignment with the new Official Plan.

[15:08] So, just to emphasize the sections

[15:12] that we've kind of moved around and kept and added to, each of these bullets

[15:16] relates to the sections of the previous design guidelines. So, I'll just

[15:21] quickly go through 2 slides to show you where information has

[15:24] been moved around. So, the commercial design section of

[15:29] the previous guidelines, we've kind of kept all the good building design,

[15:32] streetscape, and site design information that was already in there,

[15:35] updated it where applicable, and then we specifically added new

[15:39] guidelines that relate to downtown Thornbury,

[15:42] Clarksburg, and Highway 26 through Thornbury. So that's one of

[15:46] the, the main updates that we made to commercial design.

[15:50] For industrial design, it's been

[15:54] put into Section 5, Employment Areas, so just a different name.

[15:57] A lot of the built form and site design stuff that was already there has

[16:01] been carried forward and then just updated for best

[16:05] practice site design and compatibility considerations.

[16:09] And then as well, there was a section on greenfield design. We've incorporated

[16:12] that, a lot of that information,

[16:16] which speaks to the layout of lots

[16:19] and designing new neighborhoods. We've incorporated that

[16:23] in Section 3, Neighborhood Design.

[16:26] And then just the last two, what has changed, there was a previous section on

[16:30] streetscape design. So, we've incorporated that into both neighborhood

[16:34] design and downtown area and commercial areas.

[16:37] And then, as I mentioned previously, we looked at any specific standards

[16:42] that were very technical. We've removed those,

[16:45] but just— we haven't removed them, but kind of shifted them into

[16:49] different documents, such as the engineering standards.

[16:53] In terms of sustainable design, the previous document had

[16:57] Section 5 was just this Sustainable design.

[17:01] Instead, we've removed just having one sustainable design

[17:05] section and integrating it throughout the document.

[17:09] So you'll see, like, in the residential section, there will

[17:13] speak to, like, how you should be designing lots

[17:17] that are in a sustainable manner, sustainable, you know,

[17:21] residential built form. So really just integrating it instead of

[17:24] having it as its own last section that's standalone.

[17:32] And then just the last section, I'll just go over

[17:36] the updated guidelines and what they address.

[17:39] So Section 2 of the guidelines talks about environment, parks,

[17:43] public spaces, and culture. So it has a section on natural

[17:47] environment. A few of these talk about how development should address woodlots,

[17:51] watercourses, trees, and hedgerows, and just designing development

[17:55] appropriately around those elements. Parks and waterfronts,

[17:58] so just how you should be designing different types of parks.

[18:02] Trails, it talks about stormwater management and how facilities should

[18:06] be designed, as well as ponds. Community spaces and public buildings,

[18:10] so both the building as well as the site

[18:15] around the building. Public art, cultural heritage

[18:18] buildings, and gateway features.

[18:24] So Section 3, which is Neighborhood Design and Residential Built Form,

[18:29] it talks about streets and blocks as well as lot configuration and building

[18:33] orientation. And a lot of this is how we should be orienting

[18:36] new streets, talks about street length, pedestrian connections,

[18:40] access, really at a high level how

[18:44] we want new neighborhoods to be laid out. And then also talking about

[18:48] all the different types of built form, really focusing

[18:52] on compatibility and variety and overall good

[18:55] built form principles for single and semi-detached dwellings,

[18:59] infill and replacement housing, making sure it's compatible with adjacent dwellings,

[19:04] additional residential units on a lot. There's guidelines

[19:08] for townhouses, and there's guidelines for low-rise residential buildings.

[19:14] And then finally, for downtown and commercial areas,

[19:17] There's a lot of information about streetscapes, which is kind of a town-initiated

[19:25] element of the guidelines. So this includes sidewalks, transition areas,

[19:28] and patios, discusses street trees and plantings,

[19:33] street furniture, lighting, and wayfinding. And then it also

[19:37] talks about building design. So within downtown areas,

[19:42] there's a section on commercial buildings, so just your standalone commercial

[19:46] as well as mixed-use buildings. So that would be with a

[19:50] commercial component or non-residential component at the bottom and

[19:54] then residential above. So how those types of buildings should be designed.

[19:58] And then, as I mentioned previously, specific guidelines for

[20:01] how buildings should look in downtown Thornbury and Clarksburg from

[20:06] a compatibility perspective and how they should address the street and

[20:11] height And then specific guidelines as well we've introduced for

[20:15] buildings along Highway 26 in Thornbury. And then

[20:19] there's also just some guidelines that we've carried forward for site design for

[20:23] commercial, commercial sites.

[20:28] So that is through the main sections of the guidelines.

[20:31] And I've just left where the guidelines are posted at the link

[20:35] here. I know there's a dedicated project page on

[20:39] the town's website. Many staff reports and council decisions

[20:43] will be posted on this website as well, and I know subscribers

[20:48] will receive email notifications whenever we have posted

[20:51] new information. This presentation, I believe, will be on there,

[20:56] so that link is useful.

[20:59] I think we can proceed to the Q&A.

[21:04] Yeah, and if anyone has a question, you are welcome to come up front to

[21:07] the lectern here, and chances are if you are thinking it,

[21:11] someone else is probably probably thinking the same. So please come forward and share your

[21:15] feedback and comments with us.

[21:34] There we go. I guess I'm here more as an interested

[21:38] citizen tonight than I am as a member of the Committee of Adjustment.

[21:41] A lot of my questions will relate to that as well.

[21:45] You talked briefly about building design and

[21:49] the configurations. A couple of the things we've talked about at Committee

[21:54] of Adjustment, and from an environmental perspective, things that are

[21:58] important to me are things like lot occupancy,

[22:01] lot size, and building heights.

[22:05] And To what extent are

[22:09] those kinds of criteria— this is a guideline,

[22:13] and I think I've been told by staff before that things like lot

[22:18] coverage percentages are a bylaw issue rather than

[22:21] a guideline issue, and I'd appreciate an explanation of to what

[22:25] extent those things are detailed in the new community design guidelines,

[22:29] specifically around lot occupancy for residential and

[22:34] building height for residential as well as mixed-use and commercial.

[22:40] What do you mean by lot occupancy? Well, in the town

[22:44] of the Blue Mountains now, residential buildings are only supposed to

[22:48] occupy a maximum of 30% of the square footage

[22:52] of the lot. I see what you mean. And we're continuously at committee of adjustment

[22:57] having applicants coming and requesting relief. From that criterion.

[23:01] If anything, I as a citizen, as an environmentalist,

[23:05] would like to see the percentage reduced, not increased,

[23:09] in terms of the environmental impacts of larger structures,

[23:13] more roofs, more runoff, et cetera, less grass, less green space,

[23:16] et cetera. So that's what I'm talking about. Right.

[23:23] So with regards to Those specific

[23:27] elements that you identified, it is

[23:31] correct that the specifics of those are in

[23:34] the zoning bylaw. Where the guidelines can assist

[23:39] really comes with that compatibility piece.

[23:43] And so, more likely you're

[23:46] talking about infill type development, I would presume.

[23:52] And so, what we try and do through the guidelines

[23:56] is emphasize that context and compatibility

[24:00] piece so that people understand lot

[24:07] frontage, setback,

[24:10] space between existing buildings. So,

[24:13] if you're coming in for a committee of adjustment, that means you

[24:17] are varying the existing permission, so you want to do something different.

[24:21] So if they want to do something different, then they

[24:25] should be looking at how they respect the existing building

[24:31] setback along the street, what that streetscape looks like,

[24:35] the spaces in between, the building mass. So often

[24:40] you probably see through Committee of Adjustment an

[24:45] addition on the back that would then change the mass of that building.

[24:49] And so, you're trying to encourage developers

[24:54] or builders to look through the lens of that compatibility

[24:58] to maintain a rear yard setback,

[25:03] a similar type of maybe roof or design.

[25:07] It doesn't mean that the buildings have to be designed the same,

[25:10] But those are the things that the guidelines are pointing to,

[25:14] to make people think about how they should be designing the

[25:19] framework for their lot and how it can be compatible

[25:23] within that context. I don't know

[25:26] if that helps.

[25:39] Hi there. I will— Pamela Spence,

[25:42] and I mentioned a couple of things to you, and I will put other more

[25:46] detailed comments in the submission.

[25:50] But I did see that in the guidelines there is context

[25:55] where it references the zoning bylaw and some things and engineering standards

[25:58] on other things. One of my concerns under

[26:03] the category of sustainable sustainable design is

[26:06] low impact design solutions. The town doesn't

[26:10] have— correct me if I'm wrong, Shawn— but I haven't

[26:13] seen them, seen low impact design solutions

[26:17] in the engineering standards. I've asked the engineering department about

[26:21] it and they say, well, there's too many to choose from or something like that.

[26:26] And I think

[26:30] it I would appreciate under sustainable design there a

[26:33] little bit more emphasis and maybe some descriptions of things in certain contexts

[26:38] where they would work here. Because of the escarpment and the

[26:42] bay, we have a huge drainage issue. So any ability to

[26:46] keep your moisture on your soil in your own property

[26:49] and, you know, increase the permeability or

[26:53] the retention of it and stop the bed load getting into the bay is

[26:59] something that I look for in these design solutions. So if

[27:02] you'd consider that, thank you.

[27:12] Thanks very much for doing this. And just,

[27:16] I wonder if you could walk us through an example

[27:20] of a developer comes forward with a

[27:23] proposal where and how are

[27:27] these integrated into the process? Like, you know,

[27:31] especially given the current environment where we keep hearing from the

[27:35] province how a municipality's ability to

[27:39] regulate certain things is being reduced and changed,

[27:42] and it's kind of a dynamic environment we're in now. And I'm just wondering,

[27:46] like, we understand these are guidelines, they're not regulations, they're not policies,

[27:51] but How would this come forward

[27:55] to a developer with a proposal? Just a

[27:59] little bit on the process.

[28:05] I'll answer that one. Yeah, thank you,

[28:07] Brian. So I think you've hit the nail on the head.

[28:11] I mean, these are design guidelines. We don't have the

[28:14] teeth through regulatory tools to be able to require anything

[28:19] when it comes to the urban design side of things. But what we do do

[28:22] is early in the process, we encourage developers to meet with the town through

[28:27] pre-consultation meetings. So there,

[28:32] even the requirement for pre-consultation is no longer mandatory.

[28:35] So you're right, the rules keep changing. We do find though that most

[28:40] developers still choose to go through that process. It comes with a small

[28:43] fee, but it really flushes out issues,

[28:46] concerns, comments early in that process.

[28:50] And part of that review, we do take a look at our community design guidelines

[28:54] and take a look at opportunities for, you know, how could a concept

[28:58] plan, before we get too deep into the engineering design and commitments

[29:02] on certain matters, that the community design guidelines have been looked at.

[29:07] And in some recent pre-consultations, it's actually led

[29:10] to some significant some significant improvements, you know, whether it's being able

[29:14] to relocate park features, a lot of the gateway features that

[29:18] are in the proposed guidelines, things like that. You know,

[29:22] developers look at it and they're like, yeah, that's a great idea, we can do

[29:25] that. So we're going to continue to have those conversations,

[29:28] and again, it's trying to get in as early as possible before,

[29:32] you know, too much engineering design work gets done, and it's like, at that point,

[29:36] changes are much more difficult. So definitely as early as we

[29:50] Another related question, you've touched on it and Brian's question

[29:54] sort of dealt with it in part as well. The province's

[29:58] changes to the Planning Act that is encouraging additional

[30:02] residential units on residential lots,

[30:06] The earlier version of the guidelines didn't address that particularly because

[30:10] that was 15, 14 years ago, and we now have this new directive

[30:14] from the province. Are there specifics in

[30:18] the new guidelines that address the fact that both

[30:22] infill situations and structure conversions, I guess,

[30:26] for individual lots rather than subdivisions or neighborhoods,

[30:31] So somehow that's going to change, the guidelines will change to reflect

[30:35] the fact that the province is encouraging this more higher

[30:39] density, if you like, infill with the additional residential units.

[30:45] Yes. So a lot of this was making sure, because we worked

[30:49] on the official plan, so making sure that the housing types that were introduced through

[30:53] the official plan policies were captured in the guidelines.

[30:56] So under the residential section, there's new sections

[31:00] that we added. So there's a section on infill development and replacement housing,

[31:04] and then there's also a section on ADUs, so additional

[31:08] dwelling units. And a lot of it speaks to—

[31:12] I know the zoning bylaw has specific regulations for that as well,

[31:16] but there are specific guidelines that we've added that speak to the

[31:21] compatibility with the original dwelling. And whether it's included

[31:25] within the building itself or as a separate unit. So that we have

[31:30] added new sections to address those built forms.

[31:38] Another process question would just

[31:41] be, during the official plan process, we talked a lot about

[31:46] the possibility of CPPS, the community Planning Permit

[31:49] System. How would this work

[31:54] with that if that were to be implemented?

[32:02] Yeah, you never give up an opportunity

[32:05] to bring it up, right, the CPP? So it's good, it's great.

[32:11] So yeah, as part of usually the CPP

[32:14] bylaws we work on, there's a guideline component that

[32:18] goes along with it. So, I think through

[32:22] the CPP process, there are more opportunities to actually

[32:26] apply the guidelines. So, we know

[32:30] that site plan opportunities, we can't really apply the guidelines

[32:34] in certain elements. So, with— through the CPP process,

[32:39] you have more teeth essentially to use the guidelines for wherever a CPP

[32:44] is. Is implemented.

[32:50] Any more questions? No? Okay.

[32:54] I was just going to say that it's important to note that

[32:58] the document will be endorsed by Council, so they support

[33:02] what's in there, and that's important regardless of

[33:07] what the province is doing. Most most

[33:11] developers or people that are coming to do work respect

[33:15] that and they want to follow the process,

[33:19] right? It's those outliers that— Yeah.

[33:22] The pre-consultation, speaking through it,

[33:28] it's so important. And most people,

[33:31] like Sean said, and you see that in other municipalities, most people,

[33:35] they want to go through that process because They want a smooth

[33:38] application, so they want to know upfront what they're required

[33:43] to do. And so, from that perspective,

[33:46] I don't think there's been that much of a change.

[33:50] It's just that those that would have pushed back before

[33:54] push back even more on certain things nowadays, but so.

[34:08] Still on that same theme, you talked about, and this is sort of directed to

[34:12] you also, Shawn, with major developments like a new subdivision,

[34:15] I understand they are given the guidelines and almost not directed

[34:19] to, but really encouraged to examine them and to develop

[34:23] their proposal in compatibility with them. Does that apply equally

[34:27] to someone that's bought a lot with a little cottage on it and they're going

[34:30] to do a teardown and build a new a new house, are individual lot applicants

[34:35] encouraged in the same way, or will they be with the new guidelines,

[34:39] to consider compatibility and all those other things in their design?

[34:44] And if not, shouldn't that be the case for infill and

[34:48] teardown replacements as well?

[34:53] I think there's two components to that.

[34:57] If they're coming in and they meet the zoning building

[35:01] requirements,

[35:04] they have no requirement to follow the guidelines, although staff

[35:09] would definitely direct them to the guidelines.

[35:13] It's where that infill then is

[35:16] triggering other matters like a minor variance,

[35:21] that type of thing, where staff then have a stronger

[35:25] ability to say, "You know, you're varying from what you're permitted

[35:30] to do, so here are the guidelines and please follow them." Yeah.

[35:37] Well, and just to add as well, I think, you know, when folks are coming

[35:40] in for an individual consent, for example, you know, they may not be aware of

[35:44] things like the additional dwelling units and how they're permitted as of right.

[35:49] And it may be of interest to some folks that are looking to do

[35:52] just sever a double lot, for example, for a future new home.

[35:56] So this document is great to be able to show them, you know, here's some

[36:00] design ideas in terms of how you design things like your entrance,

[36:03] you know, separate entrances and parking and just how you could

[36:07] lay out, you know, whatever it is you're looking to construct. And also how

[36:11] to work with the building department to make sure that, you know, the proper rough-ins

[36:14] and HVAC and all those other components are included with that design.

[36:19] Because yes, it's a slight increase in cost in terms of the initial construction

[36:23] cost to include something like an ADU, but it's substantially cheaper

[36:27] and more efficient to do it during the original construction process than to go

[36:30] back in afterwards and try to do that type of work. So, it's a

[36:34] great resource for those that also may not be aware of some enhancements

[36:39] that they can do to their own current plans.

[36:43] Maybe our applicants need awareness of it as a matter of course when they

[36:50] [Speaker:CHRIS] So applicants would be made aware of it if they're going through like a

[36:53] consent process or minor variance, yes. If they're just coming in

[36:58] for a building permit, they may not be made aware of it.

[37:02] Perhaps the designer or the architect

[37:06] may look to those types of things, but unless

[37:10] it's triggering a planning application and sort of discussion and

[37:14] back and forth with the planning department, It'll be a resource

[37:18] that's available. It's gonna be promoted throughout the town, but not everyone may

[37:22] be aware of it, but we'll try to make it available. I was gonna say,

[37:25] is that a missed opportunity for all we do need

[37:29] to be at a stage where they

[37:33] can't— some of the guidelines,

[37:36] if they were aware of it. Yeah.

[37:48] Okay, then thank you for your questions and the discussion this evening.

[37:53] If anyone was unable to tonight, there's still opportunity to provide

[37:57] feedback, and I would like to note that we also have

[38:00] a public meeting on April 21st, and this meeting will be

[38:04] another opportunity to hear more, more about the proposal and

[38:07] share your comments. And if anyone was unable

[38:10] to attend tonight, the meeting will be posted on the town's

[38:14] website. And with that, I would like to thank you everyone for

[38:18] joining tonight, and we really appreciate you taking the time to come out.

[38:22] And before you leave, please engage with staff and consultants, and to make

[38:26] sure your feedback is recorded, please write it on the sticky notes and

[38:30] paste it on any of the boards. Thank you.

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