Applications

Regional Official Plan Amendment Process

The Regional Official Plan is a statutory document that sets out land use policy to guide future growth and development. If an owner proposes to develop a property differently than what is prescribed by the Regional Official Plan, they must apply to the Region for a Regional Official Plan Amendment. Regional Council is the approval authority for Regional Official Plan Amendments.

When you request an amendment to the Regional Official Plan:

1. There will be a pre-consultation meeting with the applicant, consultants and planning staff to discuss the details or concepts of the application and provide general feedback on Regional policy and information about the requirements of a complete application.
2. The applicant, planning consultant or other consultants undertake the required background studies, as discussed with staff in pre-consultation.
3. The applicant or consultant completes a Regional Official Plan Amendment Application Form and submits the form, required background information, application fees, and all requested information to the Regional Planning, Development and Legislative Services department.
4. Within 30 days of the submission of the application, background studies, fee, etc. the Regional Planning, Development and Legislative Services department will provide a letter to the applicant advising whether the application is complete.
5. Within 15 days of providing an affirmative notice of a complete application, the regional staff will:

• Circulate the application and all background studies and supporting material to all prescribed persons/bodies, other external agencies and internal departments.
• Notify the public by way of a newspaper notice in local newspapers that a complete application has been received and the supporting documentation is available for their viewing in the Regional Planning, Development and Legislative Services department.

1. Regional planning staff prepares a notice to hold a public meeting and publishes the notice in local newspapers at least 20 days before the meeting. This notice may be coordinated with the notice of a complete application.
2. A peer review may be required on technical background studies such as agriculture, hydrogeology, environmental impact, retail impact, noise and vibration. The peer review is done at the owner's expense.
3. The public meeting is held at a regular meeting of the Regional Planning and Works committee. Regional planning staff prepares and presents an information report describing the application and identifying any issues that require additional analysis.
4. Comments from the public and agencies are received, reviewed and a further report is prepared by Regional planning staff and presented to the Planning and Works committee meeting.
5. The Planning and Works committee's recommendation is forwarded to Regional Council. Council may recommend adoption of the amendment, or refusal of the application. Notice of the decision is issued by planning staff following the decision by Regional Council. There is a 20 day appeal period following the notice. If there are no appeals, then the amendment comes into force and effect. If an appeal is received, the amendment, record and appeal are forwarded to the Ontario Municipal Board. 

Area Municipal Official Plan Amendment Application

An Official Plan is a statutory document that sets out land use policy to guide future growth and development. If an owner proposes to develop a property differently than what is prescribed by the Area Municipal Official Plan, they must apply for an Official Plan Amendment. The Region of Waterloo approves and provides comments on Official Plan Amendment applications. Visit your City or Township's website for more information about applying for an Area Municipal Official Plan Amendment:

City of Cambridge

City of Kitchener

City of Waterloo

Township of North Dumfries

Township of Wellesley

Township of Wilmot

Township of Woolwich

Please see Region of Waterloo Development Application Fees for more information about regional fees.

Zoning By-law Amendment Application 

A Zoning By-law is a local planning document that outlines a set of regulations government land uses that help to implement policies of an Official Plan within a municipality. A Zoning By-law Amendment for individual properties is needed when a development proposal does not comply with the provisions of the approved Zoning By-law. The Region is a commenting agency for area municipalities with respect to Zoning By-law Amendment applications and reviews these applications to ensure the proposal is in keeping with Regional interests. Visit your City or Township's website for more information about applying for a Zoning By-law Amendment:

City of Cambridge

City of Kitchener

City of Waterloo

Township of North Dumfries

Township of Wellesley

Township of Wilmot

Township of Woolwich

Please see Region of Waterloo Development Application Fees for more information about regional fees.

Plans of Subdivision and Condominium Applications

Plan of Subdivision applications are typically needed when three or more parcels of land are proposed to be created/subdivided that will be sold individually, or new roads are being created, existing roads are being extended, and/or new services are being installed. 

Plan of Condominium applications are used as a form of ownership that can be applied to new or existing development. 

The Region of Waterloo is the approval authority (with the exception of the City of Kitchener) on applications for Plans of Subdivision and Condominium, which are circulated by the area municipality.

Please contact us for accessible versions of the above application forms if needed.

Please see Region of Waterloo Development Application Fees for more information about regional fees.

Consent/Severance and Minor Variance Information 

The Region will provide comments on an application where properties are adjacent to Regional roads or infrastructure, or may have Regional interests. 

Further, the area municipality must be in receipt of a letter/email from the Region providing clearance of all Regional conditions, prior to final approval. 

Please see Region of Waterloo Development Application Fees for more information about regional fees.

Site Plan Review

The Region approves Regional engineering matters in Site Plan applications for projects that impact:

• Neighbouring Regional roads and infrastructure
• Other Regional interests or initiatives (such as transit and source water protection areas) 
• Environmental assessments

The Region reviews these Site Plan applications for a number of issues, including but not limited to: 

• Road and intersection design
• Servicing design
• Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) approvals
• Grading design
• Access control
• Utilities design
• Pavement marking and signage design
• Planning and legal considerations
• Property requirements
• Transit requirements
• Transportation demand management requirements
• Rapid transit requirements
• Traffic requirements
• Noise requirements
• Environmental services requirements
• Source water and wellhead protection
• Forestry requirements

Site Plan Applications must be circulated by the area municipality in which the subject development in situated. Once the submission requirements are satisfactory to the Region and prior to final approval, the applicant must ensure all requirements have been satisfied.

Looking for a site plan application in a Waterloo Region municipality? Refer to these application links:

Cambridge

Kitchener

Waterloo

Wellesley

Wilmot

Woolwich

North Dumfries

Status of Plans

• Status of Plans: Interactive Map