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January 16, 2024

Planning Our Future Together – Continuing the Conversation

This spring, Council will have very important decisions to make about the future of our community. For Council to make fully informed decisions, we need the public to understand the issues and provide feedback in the decision-making process. One of my goals as your Mayor is to ensure residents have the information you need on important matters to provide that important feedback, so please keep reading!

Over the last year, Mississippi Mills has been undertaking a very large project called MM2048 that involves virtually every service and department offered by the municipality. From roads to childcare to water and wastewater to recreation to festivals and events to economic development to quality of life and everything in between, we are making plans together for the next 25 years.

Some of you came to the Public Information Centre that kicked off the MM2048 project last spring.  Some of you have participated in surveys throughout the year.  Some of you have joined in stakeholder conversations last summer. Everyone is invited to participate in our second MM2048 Public Information Centre this Thursday, January 18th from 2 to 8pm at the John Levi Community Centre (182 Bridge Street) in Almonte. The second Info Centre will focus on How we Grow (Planning), How we Go (Transportation) and How we Flow (Water and Wastewater). 

We have hit a milestone for our Transportation Master Plan and Water and Wasterwater Servicing Plan. In Phase 1 we identified problems and opportunities, and now in Phase 2 we are identifying solutions. The outcomes of Phase 2 will dictate what transportation, water and wastewater projects are completed in Mississippi Mills for years to come! So it is important that the Municipality gets input from residents to inform Council’s decisions later this spring.

We are also looking for your comments and feedback in these areas:

  • Changes to our Zoning By-law and Official Plan (OPA 32) that are provincially mandated (Bill 23)

  • Official Plan Amendment (OPA 33) changes related to cluster lot subdivisions and private roads

For those who asking why are we doing the MM2048 project in the first place, here is a little backgrounder:

Like many communities in Ontario, there are significant growth pressures on Mississippi Mills. Until about 7-8 years ago, the province was consistently growing by around 120,000 people a year (net). That was already a lot of people, but then in 2018 that number doubled, and last year there were over 300,000 new Ontarians!   

Where are all these people coming from? Some are moving into Ontario from other parts of Canada, but largely this rapid growth is the result of changes to federal immigration policies in response to the aging population and workforce needs. With so many new people looking for homes, it has put pressure on cities like Ottawa and in turn, the surrounding communities like Mississippi Mills, Carleton Place, Arnprior, and North Grenville. 

Lanark County is required to provide growth projections to all lower tiers. Through a study done two terms ago, the County projected that Mississippi Mills will grow to just over 21,000 people by 2038. Our current population is about 15,000 today across the whole Municipality. Note, the County will be updating the population projections soon, so we can expect that projections will likely go up. 

So where does that leave us? Well, the Municipality is required by the province to plan ahead and show that we can accommodate that anticipated growth 25 years into the future.  In 2021 and 2022, we had key conversations together about where all 21,000 of us will live. The results were:

  • Official Plan Amendment 22: Urban Settlement Area Review. After a lot of consultation and public input, we expanded the boundary of Almonte in 4 areas. Some of the subdivision applications that you may be aware of are within these expanded areas.

  • Official Plan Amendment 29: Land Evaluation Area Review for Agricultural Lands.  We took over 18 months to talk to farmers and rural landowners to get input into our agricultural mapping which was outdated and no longer accepted by the Province.  This step was necessary so that we can have discussions about growth in rural areas, the hamlets and the Village of Pakenham.

At Thursday’s Public Information Centre we’re continuing the discussion around planning for growth. We will be talking about river crossings, bypass roads, rural road design, complete streets, aquifer capacity, water storage facilities, upgraded wastewater treatment needs and much more.  

Please join us at the MM2048 Public Information Centre #2 this Thursday, January 18th  from 2-8pm at the John Levi Community Centre in Almonte. It is a drop-in format again, and staff will be on hand to answer questions and take your comments.  For more information, please go to www.mississippimills.ca/MM2048.

Things will be different with 6,000+ more Mississippi Millians moving in over the next 15 years, and even more in the years to follow.  They may be your kids or grandkids moving back home. They may be new Canadians. Or they may just be people looking for a beautiful and welcoming community like ours.  Part of me would love for Mississippi Mills to stay just the way it was when I was a kid. But I know that’s not realistic. Council can’t stop growth, but we can manage growth and guide some of the changes that are coming.  

What we talk about today influences the community years and years down the road.  

Be part of the conversation and let’s continue to plan our future together!

Mayor Christa Lowry
Municipality of Mississippi Mills