Growth is coming whether we plan for it or not. The question is whether it happens on the community's terms — or the developer's terms.
Centre Wellington's population grew from 25,300 in 2001 to 32,100 in 2021 — and is projected to reach 58,200 by 2051. That is not a manageable rate of change under the current planning framework, where residents must fight every significant development application one at a time.
Under the existing system, developers apply, residents object, appeals go to the Ontario Land Tribunal, and communities lose. Repeatedly. A Community Planning Permit System changes that dynamic fundamentally.
"Residents should not be forced to fight every development one application at a time. A Community Planning Permit System would allow Centre Wellington to define where growth belongs, what infrastructure must be in place, and how neighbourhoods and local character should be protected."
— Neil DunsmoreUnder Planning Act s.70.2, a municipality can establish a CPPS for a defined area. It replaces the standard rezoning and site plan approval process with a single permit system. The township sets the rules upfront — and developers must work within them.
You see the full framework for your neighbourhood before any specific application arrives — and you help design that framework. No more surprises.
Fewer OLT appeals. Faster approvals for compliant projects. Stronger grounds for refusing non-compliant ones. Lower legal costs.
The CPPS can require affordable units as a condition of permit — building affordability into the system, not negotiating it case by case.
The heritage streetscapes of Elora, the small-town fabric of Fergus, the working farms and river valleys that define this place — none of that is accidental. It exists because previous generations made deliberate decisions about what kind of community this would be. Rapid growth and unmanaged development pressure have permanently eroded the character of communities across Ontario that looked exactly like ours and waited too long to put protections in place. The warning signs are visible here already: summer weekends in Elora that feel less like home, housing prices that push long-term residents out, short-term rental pressure that hollows out neighbourhoods one property at a time.
The CPPS is not only a housing tool or a growth management tool. It is how a community says: this is who we are, this is what we are building toward, and growth that doesn't serve those values doesn't get approved. Communities that establish that framework proactively keep their character. Communities that wait for the perfect moment to act — or hand the decision to the next council — don't get a second chance.
"You chose Centre Wellington for a reason. The work we do in the next four years determines whether it's still that place in twenty."
— Neil Dunsmore