VOTE
THE VISIONThe VisionThe short versionThe galleryThe reports
THE PLANPrioritiesThe first 90 daysHow we pay for itThe hospitalThe new rec centreQuick Action FundWhat a mayor can doThe big projectsLook things upCommunication
WHY JONWhy JonMeet Jon
GET INVOLVEDGet involvedYour voiceDonate
Keep Collingwood, Collingwood.

READ
THE
PLANS.

Three things in one place: what is being dug up on your street, where the big projects actually stand, and a search of the Town’s own planning papers. Every fact here links back to the page it came from, in the Town’s words, so you can check it yourself.

Read this first. This is my campaign’s tool, not the Town’s, and it is not legal advice. The two “sides” below are meant to be one-sided — that is the point of them. Short summaries can be wrong or out of date. Before you rely on anything here, click through and read the real page it came from.

LOOK IT UP YOURSELF

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY ABOUT “downtown height”
  • “Within the Downtown Heritage Conservation District, building height shall be informed by the Downtown Heritage Conservation District Plan, and shall be limited to 12 metres (3-4 storeys).”

    Official Plan, page 89

Those sentences are copied word for word out of the documents. Nothing here was written by a computer.

3 DOCUMENTS TO DIVE INTO
Show all 12 matches

Town of Collingwood Official Plan

PDF page 89

…beyond the 3rd storey, to the satisfaction of the Town. Exceptions to this policy may be considered for the redevelopment of buildings with heritage value that are less than 2 storeys or 8 metres in height; and iii. In general, the maximum building height shall be 6 storeys, or 20 metres, whichever is less, and shall be subject to the applicable policies of this Plan and consistent with the Urban…

Read it yourselfOriginal document

Zoning By-law 2010-040 (consolidated November 2025)

PDF page 20

includes a banquet hall, private club or a fraternal organization. Any building, otherwise complete in itself, which depends on structural support below grade and a roof above grade or Attached enclosure upon a common wall shared with an adjacent building. The space between the roof and the ceiling of the top storey Attic or between a dwarf wall and a sloping roof. TERM DEFINITION B A platform loc…

Read it yourselfOriginal document

Downtown Master Plan (2025)

PDF page 26

built form based on heritage character, shadow impacts, With regard to height, the Collingwood Downtown parking requirements, etc. HCD Plan notes that “the allowable height is as stated in the Town’s zoning bylaw.” Under the A heritage architect should be a key member of…

Read it yourselfOriginal document

Town of Collingwood Official Plan

PDF page 89

Control policies of this Plan shall apply to all development applications in the Downtown Core Designation. d) All development shall be adequately regulated by suitable provisions in the Zoning By-law to ensure that it is compatible with existing development in proximity. Where ap…

Read it yourselfOriginal document

Downtown Master Plan (2025)

PDF page 26

Report) Affordable Housing Master Plan). To date, the policies guiding height (i.e. through The Collingwood Downtown Heritage the HCD, zoning, and official plan) have been Conservation District (HCD) was initially a ‘broad swaths’ approach that treats all sites completed…

Read it yourselfOriginal document

Downtown Master Plan (2025)

PDF page 14

Challenges - There is a disconnect between the - As a Heritage Conservation District, Downtown and the waterfront due to there are conflicting opinions on growth the significant traffic on First Street and and height in the Downtown. ‘gaps’ in the public realm approaching the - As with…

Read it yourselfOriginal document

Town of Collingwood Official Plan

PDF page 92

proposed development, and the developer enters into an agreement with the Town to ensure the continued availability of the alternative site as a parking area. Downtown Improvements m) The Town supports the Collingwood Downtown BIA. The Town shall pursue the ongoing enhancement of the Downtown in co-operation with the BIA and other public and private interes…

Read it yourselfOriginal document

Downtown Master Plan (2025)

PDF page 27

…n Intensification Study. to identify potential regulatory updates that may inform the Intensification Study and further The findings of the Gap Analysis and Intensification support the vision for the Downtown outlined in Study should inform future amendments to the this report. Official Plan, Zoning Bylaw, and the Collingwood Downtown HCD Plan, and if additional height and/ For example, a cursory…

Read it yourselfOriginal document

BIG QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK

Three questions
the documents
already answer.

I wrote these three by hand, straight out of the papers — no computer wrote them. The box above searches all 2,158 bits of those papers.

Protecting land for jobs

What the Town’s own papers say

  • The County says Collingwood needs about 94.1 more hectares of employment land by 2051 County Plan p.29.
  • Jobs are planned to grow from 12,260 (2021) to 18,540 by 2051 Official Plan p.44.
  • Provincial rules say towns must protect employment areas for current and future uses Provincial Statement p.17.
  • In 2026 the Town proposed a zoning change to stop new stand-alone shops, offices and similar uses in industrial zones (M1, M2, M4, M5), because of the "Employment Land deficit facing the Town" Employment Lands p.1.6.

People who want to build more say

Jobs keep young families here. Protect industrial land, make it ready to build on (servicing included), and speed up approvals for manufacturing, warehouses and research.

People who want to go slower say

Agreed on protecting it. But new industry has to fit with nearby homes: noise, dust and truck traffic Official Plan p.112. Don't turn new natural areas into industrial land to make up the shortfall.

A fair way through

This is the easiest one. Both sides agree.

  • Industrial/Employment: Support the 2026 change that keeps industrial land for jobs. Then make a short list of sites that are ready to build on.
  • Commercial: Send shops and offices to downtown and main corridors instead.
  • Residential: Keep buffers between new homes and industry.
  • Still unknown: Where the 94.1 ha would come from, and the result of the August 10, 2026 public meeting. (Not in our sources.)

The Build and Protect columns are arguments. The cited sentences above are the part that comes from a document.

ASK A QUESTION

Ask it
like you would
ask a neighbour.

Type a question in your own words. You get three answers: someone arguing to build more, someone arguing to go slower, and then a plain summary of what makes sense — split into homes, shops and jobs. Every fact links back to the page it came from.

One question goes to three readers of the same passages: a case for building, a case for holding back, and a plain-language recommendation. It usually takes under a minute.

WHERE THIS COMES FROM

Where this comes from.

Town of Collingwood, Simcoe County and Province of Ontario public documents. Page numbers are PDF pages, not the number printed on the page. An excerpt is a short capture of a report whose full file could not be downloaded, and the link still goes to the original.

Show all 20 documents
TELL JONDONATE