An OMB decision released September 15, supports the Collingwood Downtown Business Improvement Area’s position that the planning polices enshrined in the Town of Collingwood’s OPA 37 have assisted in making Collingwood’s downtown core one of the most vibrant and healthy downtown commercial districts in the Province of Ontario.

The board agreed that the OPA 37 established commercial polices to guide the scale, timing and range of uses in the town of Collingwood . It achieved this by specifying what would be the planned commercial functions of the downtown core, in relation to the new western commercial development. In its recent decision, the board reiterated that OPA 37 was clear in its intent that financial institutions should remain in the downtown core, and that this use was important to maintaining its vitality and viability.

It was the Board’s view that the location of banks in the downtown core is an underpinning to its continued vibrancy and vitality. To allow a financial institution to locate outside of the downtown would, in the Board’s view, put the viability and vitality of the downtown at risk. This would not be good planning, nor would it be in the public interest.

According to Collingwood Downtown BIA’s Chair, Jeff Shearer, “banks have been the fundamental building block of all Ontario downtowns for well over a century. To allow the migration to outside the downtown in the big box malls would have had a serious negative impact on the long term health of our community’s downtown. We are especially delighted that we had such great support from the town planning staff and council of Collingwood.”

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