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Introduction
The Town of Fort Erie’s By-law 63-09 requires pre-consultion with Town Planning Staff prior to submitting an application for Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment, Draft Plan of Subdivision, Draft Plan of Condominium, Consents or Site Plan Approval. The Pre-consultation guide has been developed to provide assistance to the applicant during the pre-consultation process and provides information on what constitutes a complete application.

TO DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE PRE-CONSULTATION PACKAGE - CLICK HERE


Purpose of the Preconsultation Process
The purpose of pre-consultation is to provide an opportunity for the applicant to review their development proposal with Town Staff and other key agencies as applicable when the proposal is preliminary. This provides for early identification of issues, constraints and opportunities. Pre-consultation involves the applicant providing conceptual, descriptive and sometimes technical information on a development proposal to Town Staff and key agencies if applicable to assist them in assessing the completeness of the application and the merits of a proposal.

Topics for discussion may include land use policies and guidelines, zoning information, public consultation, engineering requirements, development review and application fees. The Pre-consultation Process will provide the applicant with the following:

- Information on what applications are required to permit their development proposal

- Information on what studies and documentation will be required in support of the required applications

- The application processing fees associated with the proposal

- The estimated timeframe to process the application once a complete application is received

- Reasonable certainty as to whether the development proposal would be supported by Planning Staff (i.e. whether they would recommend approval or denial).

Note that staff have the ability to waive requirements for pre-consultation. Less complex applications may not require pre-consultation.


How to Proceed through the Pre-consultation Process

The applicant should begin the pre-consultation process at the earliest possible time. It is appropriate to contact the Town to discuss the development proposal as soon as the specifics of the proposal are known to the applicant. The Town has designed a two-step pre-consultation process to help promote the exchange of information and development considerations early in the planning process.

1. Planning Review

The applicant should contact Planning Staff and advise them of their desire to begin the pre-consultation process. Staff will ask the applicant a number of questions about the proposal to determine the extent of pre-consultation that will be required. Planning Staff will request that the applicant provide a completed Pre-consultation Request Form (included in the Pre-consultation package) along with the required fees for preliminary review and information on their proposal in accordance with pre-consultation information requirements. Information and fee requirements are listed in Appendix 1.
Planning Staff will review the information provided by the applicant and circulate it to relevant Town Staff and outside agencies for their review and comment. Generally, a 3-4 week comment period is given. Depending on the complexity of the application, Planning Staff may bring the pre-consultation submission to the Technical Planning Advisory Committee (TPAC) meeting which is held once per month to receive direction from the Committee. Following the comment period and the TPAC meeting as necessary, Planning Staff will contact the applicant to advise them of what the next steps are.

2. Pre-consultation Meeting

Should it be deemed necessary based on the Planning Review, a pre-consultation meeting will be scheduled with the applicant, internal Town Staff and agencies. This meeting will be coordinated by Planning Staff and will be dependent on individual schedules. The purpose of the pre-consultation meeting is to engage the necessary internal Town Staff and agencies in communication with the applicant. Town staff and agencies will be provided with the information submitted by the applicant along with an explanatory letter in advance of the pre-consultation meeting. In addition, agencies and Town Staff will be asked to complete the Pre-consultation Agreement (Appendix 3) and bring it to the meeting. The Pre-Consultation agreement contains a checklist that is suitable for minor applications with a narrow scope of issues but larger more complex projects may contain supplemental written response from the agencies.

At the conclusion of the pre-consultation process the applicant will have written comments and a formal Pre-Consultation Agreement that describes the requirements for a complete application. It is now up to the applicant to submit the development application in accordance with the agreement.


Contact Information

To commence the pre-consultation process for an Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law amendment or Draft plan of Subdivision/Condominium contact:

Kira Dolch, MCIP, RPP
Manager, Development Approvals
Community & Development Services
Phone No. (905) 871-1600 Ext. 2502
Fax No. (905) 871-6411
kdolch@town.forterie.on.ca

or

Matt Kernahan, MCIP, RPP
Senior Development Planner
Community & Development Services
Phone No. (905) 871-1600 Ext. 2507
Fax No. (905) 871-6411
mkernahan@town.forterie.on.ca

To commence the pre-consultation process for a consent or boundary adjustment contact:

Carrie Honey, ACST(A)
Secretary Treasurer
Community & Development Services
Phone No. (905) 871-1600 Ext. 2508
Fax No. (905) 871-6411
choney@town.forterie.on.ca

To commence the pre-consultation process for a Site Plan Aplication contact:

Susan Dunsmore, P.Eng.
Development Coordinator
Community & Development Services
Phone No. (905) 871-1600 Ext. 2505
Fax No. (905) 871-6411
sdunsmore@town.forterie.on.ca


What’s Next?
Once pre-consultation is complete, the applicant can submit the appropriate applications and supporting information to permit their development proposal. Diagrams illustrating the steps in the Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment, Draft Plan of Subdivision, Draft Plan of Condominium, Site Plan Approval and Consents/Boundary Adjustment processes are included in Appendix 4.