Charting a Course for Growth

We invite you to participate in an upcoming public engagement sessions coming to a location near you. These sessions will review the September 2024 public engagement as many people were unable to attend. Additionally, the sessions will discuss potential policies for growth within the Municipality of Chester and look at housing regulation changes that would align with these policies and our collective vision for growth.

Going forward, the Municipality will distribute regular monthly updates regarding Charting a Course for Growth, MOC’s comprehensive plan to position our communities for residential, commercial, and industrial growth. You will find them in our Document Library, or click here for the September update.

We are distributing these updates in an effort to consolidate all of the initiatives’ progress in one document as well as to help address and answer the public’s questions or concerns.

Please note that this initial document is larger than what’s expected going forward as the monthly updates will only have new information except for the timeline.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Team Lead Brian Webb, Senior Economic Development Officer.

We got off to a rocky start with unintentional late notice of the four Session 1 public engagement meetings. Unfortunately, print and delivery didn't go as planned, but has been rectified for Sessions 2 and 3.

To compensate, we recorded one of the sessions (below). While this doesn’t take the place of an in-person event, it at least will provide context for the upcoming sessions. The presenter will also revisit topics covered in Session 1 at future engagements.

We invite you to participate in the upcoming public engagement sessions so that your valuable insights can guide how the Growth Plan takes form. Three public engagement sessions are being organized, each with a differing theme:

Your participation in the development of the growth plan is essential, and we encourage you to join us at one of the upcoming Session 1 engagements:

Sessions 2 and 3 will be hosted in October and November in locations around the Municipality of Chester. We will provide more information on these upcoming sessions when the details are finalized.

The Municipality of Chester is growing! More people are recognizing that our Municipality is a great place to live, a welcoming place to start and grow a business, and a wonderful place to visit. Since 2016, the population of the Municipality has grown 10% to an estimated 11,525 as of July 2023, and populations seem to be growing in every district.

Work is now underway to ensure that we are well prepared to manage this growth. In April, the Municipality began working with FBM’s Planning Studio to collect data and develop population and workforce growth projections with a view to the next 5, 10, 15, and 20 years. Projections will provide a range of forecasts based on three scenarios: status quo, moderate growth, and high growth. We will also be provided with tools to help understand the anticipated demographic makeup of the community and what can be done to ensure we have housing that is attainable for people we are attracting to our communities.

This initial work is the first milestone and will form the basis of future work, including:

• Identification of areas where new or expanded wastewater sites may be needed and where water supply infrastructure may be feasible,
• Encouraging the production of attainable housing units to meet the needs of different households,
• Addressing barriers and gaps in employer needs and workforce development within the Municipality,
• Assessment of existing recreation services to understand current and future anticipated needs.

The work is just getting started and we’re looking forward to the input you will provide. As the Municipality moves forward, we are committed to ensuring our communities continue to attract people as wonderful places to live, visit, and invest.

Updated: July 18, 2024

Council will review the scope of work for this project later this month. The goal of this HAF-funded project is to conduct a full review of the Subdivision By-Law, Sewer By-Law, and Municipal Specifications to provide a more efficient and effective regulatory framework that encourages appropriate housing development.

More details will be provided as they are available.

Updated: July 18, 2024

The Municipality of Chester recently hired a consultant to assist with this work. The aim of this strategy is to review where growth is anticipated to occur within the Municipality and amend existing planning documents to encourage and facilitate growth in serviced areas outside the Village Planning Area.

In the coming months, we will be requesting your input on how we should approach the anticipated growth in ways that will be beneficial for current and future residents alike. We anticipate developing a new “Village Periphery Area” that will consider active transportation, wastewater infrastructure, climate risk, and more.

Updated: July 18, 2024

The Municipality of Chester owns property throughout the Municipality that has been acquired for various reasons. Staff are currently developing a map of all municipally-owned properties and reviewing each property to determine its suitability for potential affordable housing projects.

In April, FBM’s Planning Studio began working with the Municipality on our Growth Plan and have incorporated this initial scan completed by staff into their identification of potential opportunities to support the creation of affordable housing in the area. In addition, FBM will be assisting in developing an internal process to assess and acquire land that could be made available to not-for-profit organizations for affordable housing projects.

Updated: July 18, 2024

Staff have completed the preparation of a scope of work for this project and an RFP for the development and implementation of an online permitting system is anticipated to be released Summer 2024.

More details as they are available.

Work on this initiative will get underway later in 2024 as it is reliant on the work underway with FBM.