June 11, 2026 - Reminder: Public Meeting June 18th re Bruce County Official Plan + PWEP Water Seminar July 2nd
- pwepreserve
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Friends,
It's PWEP again, Inverhuron's conservation organization There's a lot going on, but we need your help, and promise to keep it brief.
Bruce County Official Plan : Public Meeting June 18th
First of all, thank you to all of you who submitted comments to Bruce County, the Municipality of Kincardine and the Planning Department opposing the Secondary Urban designation of Inverhuron. We've got their attention – now we need to take this across the finish line.
Can you please join us next week at the Public Meeting in Walkerton on June 18th? The meeting is at 9:30a.m. in the Bruce County Council Chambers at 30 Park St., Walkerton. We know it's a big ask, but the more of us show up and speak up in person, the greater our impact will be. Even if it's just taking the microphone to introduce yourself and say, "I oppose the County Official Plan's Secondary Urban designation of Inverhuron". There is indeed strength in numbers. The PWEP team will attend. Please join us! And share this information with your friends and neighbors.
In response to your comments, many of you will have received a message from Bruce County and Mayor Kenneth Craig. You can read PWEP's response to the Mayor at the end of this email. Mayor Craig states that he intends to support the Secondary Urban designation of Inverhuron, despite his constituents' concerns – but PWEP is not backing down. We are continuing to call attention to the important environmental and legal issues that remain unaddressed.
If you haven't already, you can still send your comments to the county planning department at planthebruce@brucecounty.on.ca
Remember, you can do so even if you aren't a resident of Inverhuron, but simply care about this very special place and want to help protect it for the future. Whatever your connection to Inverhuron may be, you can help us by writing to Bruce County before June 18th, opposing the Secondary Urban designation and, if you agree, endorsing PWEP's alternative land use proposal.
Water Seminar: July 2nd
Finally, a quick reminder that PWEP's first ever Water Seminar will be held at the Bourgeois Farm in Inverhuron on July 2nd, 10am-3pm. Save the date!
We'll be learning about the ecology of watercourses and how we can protect and restore our watershed, starting with the Little Sauble River. There will be several speakers, including Elder Shirley John of Saugeen First Nation, and Dr. Ron Griffiths, a leading water quality expert with Aquatic Ecostudies. There will also be a hands-on sampling workshop. The event will run from 10am-3pm; lunch and refreshments will be provided. We really hope you will be able to join us.
We will write again closer to the date with a detailed schedule.
Thank you all so very much for your continued support.
The Team @ PWEP
The Philosopher’s Wool Environmental Preserve
2 Alma Street
Tiverton, ON
Respectfully acknowledging that we live, work and benefit from the Lands and Waters of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation.
PWEP's OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR CRAIG
From: PWEP <pwepreserve@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: proposed changes to BC OP
Good afternoon Mayor Craig,
Thank you for your response. You have outlined your position clearly. And yet, many of the concerns stated by PWEP and Inverhuron community members remain unresolved.
You state that "Inverhuron has municipal water and municipal wastewater infrastructure in place". There are areas in which there is municipal water, and then there are others in which municipal wastewater is available; however, rarely do both coincide. Any proposed development would, in many cases, have to rely on one or the other, and find a private solution for the missing service. The reality is that Inverhuron does NOT have full municipal services. We have also been emphasizing the need for a comprehensive stormwater management plan, an essential service. With a projected increase in development and consequent runoff, who would pay for the necessary stormwater treatment facility in Inverhuron, and where would it be located?
You also mention Kincardine's recently completed Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw review, during which "a large amount of land moved from Planned Development (PD) to Environmental Protection 2 (EP2) which resulted in those lands being protected in alignment with our Natural Heritage policies in the Official Plan". The Environmental Protection zoning category does limit new development within natural heritage features; however, through the Kincardine OP there is a process where the zoning can be altered whereby 'environmental impact assessment' reports are completed indicating that development can proceed (see Kincardine OP D7.6 section). As the Tidman case has shown, the environmental safeguards afforded by these policies are limited.
There is also the unsolved issue of the missing Capacity Study, Watershed Plan or Subwatershed plans for Inverhuron; these studies are required by the PPS (Provincial Policy Statement) and the Bruce County OP where significant development is proposed, or where a settlement area designation is expanded. To recap, In the 1997 Bruce County Official Plan Inverhuron was a Hamlet. The comprehensive update to the Official Plan undertaken in 2009 established a hierarchy of urban communities (primary, secondary, hamlet) premised on availability of Municipal water and sanitary sewer services. At this point, Inverhuron was identified as a Primary Urban Community. The review and update was adopted by County Council in 2009 and approved by the Province in 2012. The local Official Plan was updated and includes a ‘Settlement Area’ around Inverhuron.
While the change from Hamlet to Primary Urban was undertaken because at the time the Municipality thought it had funding to support extension of municipal water and sanitary services to Inverhuron, this did not in fact occur: in 2015 the undertaking was proven to be environmentally unsound and not viable financially. It is clear from this chain of events that the 2009 designation was made in error, and should not be perpetuated into the new OP.
The County has the ability to put this matter to rest and send a clear signal that Inverhuron is not the best place to allocate intensive growth, by designating at the very least the historic Inverhuron settlement area as a Hamlet. As you know, additional requests have been put forward through PWEP's Alternative Land Use Proposal. I therefore urge you, as a member of Bruce County Council, to reconsider your position, and respectfully request that you represent your constituents from Inverhuron by endorsing a change from the proposed Secondary Urban designation back to the original Hamlet.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Tessa Gerling
Manager, PWEP
The Philosopher’s Wool Environmental Preserve
2 Alma Street
Tiverton, ON
Respectfully acknowledging that I live, work and benefit from the Lands and Waters of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation.
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