Tara Lynn O'Toole will concentrate on "big picture" policy and bylaw upgrades
It has been pointed out several times recently during Pelham Town Council and various committee deliberations that the Town’s bylaws and policies are in need of updating. CAO David Cribbs has been especially critical of bylaws that have been on the books since 1987, and has advocated for an overhaul. The addition of a Policy Planner, a new position at Town Hall, is seen as a first step in meeting this requirement. Hence the very recent hiring of Tara Lynn O’Toole, who, in her words, has been added to the Planning Department, “to ensure policies we have fit with provincial and Regional policies, while confirming that the best interests of the Town of Pelham are kept in mind.”
On the job for only eight days as of this writing, O’Toole is still getting her feet under her and learning the parameters of her new job, but she comes to Pelham with a wealth of planning experience in both the private sector, with Quartek Group for some four years, and as a planner with West Lincoln for two years.
Working in the Planning Department under Director Barb Weins, her first task as Pelham’s Policy Planner has been to put the finishing touches on the Town’s policy regarding short term accommodation. While existing staff have formulated 80 percent of this policy, she has been adding the final touches before it is presented to council. She is looking forward to beginning work on the Town’s Official Plan, last updated in 2012. The Province mandates that these plans be updated every five years, so her task has urgency.
While much of her previous experience at Quartek has been to assist developers with their applications to municipal governments, she has also advised those governments on planning issues, and comes to Pelham with a desire to “ensure that we are sensitive to the needs of this town and develop policies that are in keeping with the needs of what Pelham is. It’s vibrant, charming, has a small town feel, but we also have to ensure that we keep in mind the interests of the next generation and others that want to be here.”
That said, O’Toole is also aware that “the hammer is coming down” from the province and the Region, and that development is inevitable. She acknowledges that zoning changes have, for many years, been site-specific, since the policies haven’t been updated since 1987, and says that her position has been created “basically to take the pressure off the other Town Planners who were doing policy work on top of their specific tasks.”
O’Toole will be able to look at overall policy and “big picture” issues, leaving implementation and individual planning decisions to them.
A lifelong resident of Welland and mother of two small children, O’Toole says she comes to Pelham already familiar with the Town and the Region. A graduate of Brock University and Niagara College’s graduate Environmental Assessment Management Program, she says that she is “cognizant of environmental features” in her job and says, “Living in the Niagara Region, we are blessed to be able to be around Green Belt and the Escarpment, the Falls, all of that.”
Of her first impressions on the new job, she says, “I have never met a nicer group of people, from management and staff… everyone has been welcoming and excited.”
