Proposed Municipal Boundary Adjustment

All three local councils have approved the proposed municipal boundary adjustment that will annex approximately 130 hectares or 321 acres of land from Perth South and Perth County to Stratford.

Staff will now work to finalize the document package to be submitted to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs for review.

A restructuring proposal, such as this municipal boundary adjustment, requires Minister approval through a Ministerial Order issued by Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The Township of Perth South, County of Perth and City of Stratford are proposing a municipal boundary adjustment that would result in lands located in Perth South being annexed into the City of Stratford. The proposed annexation will see approximately 320 acres transferred from Perth South and Perth County to the City of Stratford.

Over the past 20 years Stratford has undertaken a series of annexations in response to the demand for additional lands to meet residential and employment growth pressure as shown on the map below.

Stratford currently has no industrial lands in its inventory and the current proposed annexation will provide much needed land to Stratford and will enable Stratford to accommodate large users and develop an industrial park of 1-3 acre lots that are currently in high demand. The properties subject to the annexation would create additional industrial land supply in the immediate proximity of existing industrial areas and will extend the existing industrial lands area know as Wright Business Park.

The proposed annexation is a partnership between Perth South and Stratford to develop serviced industrial lands for future development. This partnership is a win-win for both municipalities as Stratford requires additional land for industrial development and Perth South has land but does not have the water and waste water services for development. In addition, the economic growth, new employment opportunities and spin-off effects from this development of the annexation lands will benefit the City, Township and County.

Being a mainly rural community Perth South Council and staff take the role of stewards of prime agricultural lands very seriously. As such, when we have to consider annexing our lands to the City of Stratford, we do this with full consideration of the importance of farmland. We don’t take this decision lightly, we do this with the intention of maintaining as much agricultural lands as possible, while at the same time keeping our Township viable.

Keeping the Township viable has been increasing difficult in recent years. Our biggest challenge is the reduction of Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) grant from the province. This grant funding, which supports all operations of the municipality, was reduced by $2 million in 2012. We are required to reduce expenditures by the $2 million each year, or alternatively, find replacement revenue. An increase in taxes as replacement revenue would be equal to adding $1,252 to every household’s tax bill. Alternatively, we would have to add an additional 1,428 homes to the Township. The latter is not possible as we lack the required water and wastewater services.

Other challenges include farm consolidations which eroded both our tax base and population, little to no growth in any sector due to development challenges, and most recently, the news that our largest employer and tax payer, Maple Leaf Foods, is closing and moving its operations to London.

Perth South has previously partnered with Stratford in a similar partnership for land development with a land annexation and tax revenue sharing agreement. This has partnership has been a significant factor in offsetting OMPF losses. In 2019 the tax revenue sharing agreement provided Perth South with $511,013.51, an amount that represents revenue to offset 25% of our OMPF loss. In addition, these same lands generated $119,142.79 in revenue for the County of Perth. We feel that this proposed partnership through the annexation of lands for industrial development will have the same positive impact.

Public comments on the proposal are being accepted until 11:59 p.m. on January 31, 2020. Comments can be submitted to Tatiana Dafoe, Acting City Clerk, City of Stratford at tdafoe@stratford.ca. All comments received will be circulated to the three Councils prior to the proposal being considered. The proposal will be considered by the three Councils on the following dates:

City of Stratford February 4, 2020 at 7:00 p.m.

County of Perth February 6, 2020 at 9:00 a.m.

Township of Perth South February 6, 2020 at 7:00 p.m.