Cornwall Welcomes OACA Delegates
October 2, 2019Cornwall Ontario – Committee of Adjustment officials from across Ontario will be visiting Cornwall this week for a seminar dedicated to this important municipal service.
The Ontario Association of Committees of Adjustment and Consent Authorities (OACA) is hosting its 2019 seminar at the Best Western Parkway Inn and Conference Centre on Thursday, October 3rd and Friday, October 4th. This year’s event will welcome 120 delegates from 77 different municipalities across Ontario, with some coming from as far as Sudbury and Thunder Bay.
The OACA has been hosting its annual seminar since 1972 and it’s believed to be the first time Cornwall plays host.
“The Board of Directors chooses different locations for each educational event in order to reach members from across the province and to locally promote the mandate of the association,” said OACA President Christine Vigneault.
Committees of Adjustment play an important role in the municipal planning process. The committees are made up of locally appointed residents or members of Council (or a combination of both) and they are responsible for providing fair and sensitive adjudication on applications for relief from municipal Zoning By-laws or applications for various types of consents. This can include requests for changes to things such as lot dimensions, building setbacks, parking requirements, sign size or height, fence heights, and the like. In Cornwall, the Committee of Adjustment is made up of three lay members from the community with support from a Secretary-Treasurer.
The OACA is a not-for-profit organization with a mandate of providing education and professional development opportunities to support the administration and adjudication processes of Committees of Adjustment and Consent Authorities in Ontario. The membership of the Association consists of Secretary-Treasurers (who are typically municipal staff), appointed members of Committees of Adjustment and some associate members who work in the area of consents and minor variances.
“The combination of having both staff and committee members in one organization makes OACA a unique and dynamic organization that responds to a variety of interests and needs for its membership,” said Mrs. Vigneault.
The annual gathering will kick off with a meet and greet reception on Thursday evening followed by a series of educational sessions on Friday focused on adjudication, updates to provincial legislation (Bill 108) and process improvement as well as technical workshops that discuss understanding easements, local development charges, water boundaries and the role of Conservation Authorities in the development review process.
“We are thrilled to welcome the OACA and its delegates to Cornwall for its 2019 seminar,” said Mayor Bernadette Clement. “Committees of Adjustment play an important role in the municipal planning process and they help shape communities both big and small across our province.”