Part 1: PEC Zoning By-law Moves Forward Amid Housing and Rural Use Debate - 10/15/2025
- PECConnect
- Oct 15, 2025
- 3 min read
This portion of the meeting marked the turning point where the Comprehensive Zoning By-law officially moved from discussion into decision making. Chair Phil St-Jean put the main motion on the floor to receive the final staff report and move the new zoning by-law forward to Council, with the clear expectation that amendments would follow. That framing set the tone for the rest of the night. The goal was not perfection, but adoption with commitments to fix known pressure points.
View the entire PEC Council Meeting, or continue for speaker comments and councillor votes >
Early Gaps and Technical Fixes
Early questions focused on practical gaps. Councillors raised issues like whether art galleries were accidentally excluded from General Commercial zones and how home-based artists selling from garages would be treated. Staff acknowledged oversights and confirmed these would be handled through technical housekeeping amendments rather than reopening the entire by-law.
Staff then delivered a long and detailed response to public deputations. This became one of the most important sections of the night. Planning staff walked councillors through what had changed since earlier drafts, especially for wineries, on-farm diversified uses, and agricultural operations. They emphasized that many restrictions raised by the public had already been adjusted, including removing clustering rules for wineries, expanding permitted uses, allowing limited overnight parking, and clarifying that core agricultural activities like livestock, pumpkin patches, and on-farm product sales are not subject to site plan control.
Staff were equally candid about what still needed work. Environmental protections for woodlands, valleylands, and wildlife habitat were acknowledged as an area where zoning language does not yet fully align with the Official Plan, and staff openly recommended a post-adoption review to tighten those provisions. They stressed that the new by-law is still a major improvement over the 2006 version, even with those gaps.
Housing Pressure and the Limits of R1 Zoning
From there, councillors raised broader policy questions. Housing dominated much of the discussion. Several councillors pushed hard on the limitations of the R1 zone, arguing that allowing only single detached homes plus secondary units misses a chance to gently expand housing supply through duplexes, triplexes, and similar forms.
Staff confirmed that provincial changes already allow additional units and that size caps on secondary units would be removed, but acknowledged that further exploration of multi-unit forms in R1 could be appropriate.
Village and Hamlet Commercial Flexibility
Commercial zoning in villages and hamlets was another major theme. Councillors questioned whether Local Commercial zones are too restrictive for places like Consecon, where residents rely on small repair shops, clinics, and retail without driving to larger centres. Staff explained the intent behind Local versus General Commercial zones but agreed this was an area worth revisiting through future amendments.
Energy generation surfaced late in the meeting, with a proposal to explore zoning changes to better support small-scale wind and solar installations on rural and rural residential properties. This sparked visible discomfort among some councillors, who warned about reopening contentious debates around turbines and landscape impacts.
Amendments Instead of Delay
As the night wore on, council shifted fully into amendment mode. Multiple motions were introduced to direct staff to review specific issues in 2026, rather than delay adoption of the by-law itself. This approach allowed council to lock in long-overdue updates while publicly committing to targeted fixes.
In the end, the amended main motion passed. The Comprehensive Zoning By-law will move forward to Council for final enactment, with a clear paper trail of what still needs work and when.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a meeting with an approximate duration of 4:13:019. Due to the length of the meeting, our team was not able to independently review the full recording in its entirety. As a result, we relied on software-generated transcription, automated summarization, and automated recognition of speakers and participants, which may not be entirely accurate. All transcriptions, summaries, and related content are prepared by our team in good faith and on a reasonable best-efforts basis. The content is provided for general informational purposes only and is intended to support public understanding of the topics discussed. While reasonable efforts have been made to present the information accurately, automated processes may result in errors, omissions, or unintended misinterpretations. This article does not constitute an official, certified, or verbatim record of the meeting, and it should not be relied upon as such. Readers are encouraged to consult original source materials, official minutes, or recordings where available for confirmation or clarification. Questions, requests for clarification, or suggested corrections may be submitted to hello@pecconnect.ca for review and consideration.
Comments