OFA opposes residential severances on prime ag land

Land use planning and the policies governing it are of keen interest to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) and our farming members – primarily from the perspective of preserving productive agricultural land for its broadest uses.

Municipal land use in Ontario is guided by the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), first adopted in 1996/1997 and most recently updated in 2019. Municipalities use the PPS as the minimum standard on land use policies, including lot creation policies. Municipalities cannot establish local land use planning policies that are less restrictive than in the PPS or one of the ‘space-based’ land use plans. Land use policies in some areas of the province are also guided by ‘space-based’ land use plans, including the Greenbelt Plan, the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan, the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the Niagara Escarpment Plan, and the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario.

Rural severances were once common practice in municipalities across rural Ontario when lots, were severed for residential use, farm retirement lots or to create a surplus residence for a farm operation. Today, after several changes to the PPS, with the exception of residence surplus to a farming operation, the creation of new non-farm residential lots in prime agricultural areas is not permitted.