Frequently asked questions

A CPPS is a land-use planning tool that municipalities can use to streamline the planning approval process for some specific planning applications, and to help support local priorities such as the protection and enhancement of waterfront areas. 

Permitting approvals in Ontario may require any or all of zoning, minor variances, site plan approvals, and even negotiated development agreements regardless of project size, complexity, or location. CPPS is a one-step process to combine or replace those processes under certain scenarios for some small waterfront projects in Frontenac.

This streamlining becomes possible by delegating approval authority for CPPS approvals to local planning staff. The streamlined CPPS approval process will be faster for applicants and local planning staff, and will better equip local planning staff to make the best decisions for the long-term environmental protection and preservation of specific waterfront and shoreline areas in Frontenac. 

Firstly, CPPS is a way to further ensure that the natural environmental heritage specific to Frontenac's lakes and shorelines is preserved and protected by local officials for local residents. Secondly, CPPS is a way to cut regulatory red tape, making CPPS-eligible approvals faster, more efficient, and less expensive for all involved.  

The types of projects that may be eligible for CPPS approval in Frontenac depend on the results of this public consultation and the decisions of the respective township Councils. Examples of projects that could be considered for CPPS approval may include decks or small sunroom additions on waterfront cottages, construction of small outbuildings, site alterations, or changes to trees or other vegetation. Conversely, CPPS is not likely suitable in Frontenac for large waterfront projects like new home construction.     

CPPS would allow planning staff to consider variables that are highly specific to each lot, shoreline, and lake. Rather than ensuring compliance with the regulations that apply to every shoreline in Ontario, planning staff would be able approve changes specific to the protection of the lake and shoreline under review here in Frontenac. These are environmental protection tools not currently available to planning staff. On balance, it would improve overall protection for lakes and shorelines in Frontenac. 

The CPPS saves time and money for approvals of certain applications by combining zoning amendment, minor variance, and site plan alteration processes into one. 

The timeline for those processes without CPPS is estimated at nine weeks for zoning amendment, six weeks for minor variance; then four to eight weeks for site plan approval process. The timeline for the same approval under CPPS is estimated at 45 days.

CPPS approvals may avoid current requirements for public notice and consultation, Committee of Adjustment review, site plan application, rezoning, and even negotiation of development agreements. Further, CPPS delegates approval authority for eligible applications to local planning staff, meaning that staff will need to review only one application under CPPS instead of three or more under current systems.

Yes. A permitting approval process may currently involve rezoning, a minor variance through committee of adjustment, a site plan application, or all three. Approval may also require a development agreement between landowner and Township, which requires lawyers to write a contract. All that can take more time and incur higher costs than approval under CPPS. 

The four townships in Frontenac -- Township of Frontenac Islands, Township of South Frontenac, Township of Central Frontenac, and Township of North Frontenac --  have approved CPPS in principle. 

Each township will need to amend its Official Plan to include CPPS policies. Each Township Council will also need to approve a separate CPPS by-law. Planning consultancy, Planscape Inc., has been retained to learn more about how residents want to see waterfront development in Frontenac occur in future and which factors they consider most important in managing new development along our waterfronts and shorelines. 

The result will be a by-law template each Township can tailor to their specific needs and aspirations. 

Your input on this project may help Councils determine the answers to some questions like these: 

• What project applications ought to be eligible for approval under CPPS?
• What are the scope and limits to the authority that ought to be delegated to local planning staff? 
• What does "waterfront" mean in the context of CPPS? Waterfront lots; areas within a specified distance of a shoreline?
• What is the fee structure for CPPS approvals? 

That will be decided and overseen by the elected members of Council in each respective Township. 

CPPS implementation may require amendments to the Official Plans of Frontenac County and each of the four Townships for the purposes of adding CPPS policies. Each of the four townships will also require development and passage of a CPPS by-law that will define the particulars and scope of CPPS-eligible projects and planning staff authority. 

Those processes include public consultation and majority support among each Township's elected Councillors. 

CPPS has been adapted to other scenarios in other jurisdictions in Ontario and could similarly be expanded here in Frontenac. Planning staff in Frontenac have identified environmental protection of our lakes and shorelines as the priority for us, at least for now. 

Yes. Read about CPPS implementation in Lake of Bays, Huntsville, Waterloo, and more.