Why Our Official Plan Isn’t Enough—And How We Fix It Before the New Southlake Hospital Arrives 

Ever wonder why new subdivisions pop up overnight, but grocery stores, neighbourhood amenities, medical clinics, and commercial plazas take decades to arrive here in East Gwillimbury?

As your Ward 2 Councillor candidate, a Professional Engineer, and an experienced municipal development professional, I am running because our communities must grow wisely. I will work collaboratively with the development industry, community partners, and all stakeholders to build true, functional "Complete Communities"—but we cannot afford to wait anymore.

By 2051, East Gwillimbury's population is projected to reach 128,600 residents. While our newly adopted Official Plan dictates where land uses should go, a vision without aggressive enforcement simply leads to a sea of rooftops without basic amenities.

Furthermore, the introduction of the new Southlake Hospital in Queensville changes our municipal timeline entirely. All town and regional plans must be immediately revisited to ensure supporting civil infrastructure, transit networks, and commercial services are fully operational before the hospital opens its doors. Our current infrastructure cannot absorb this scale of development, and your property taxes should not be forced to subsidize it.

To secure East Gwillimbury's future, my platform focuses on four immediate actions:

1. Institute the East Gwillimbury Development Accountability and Smart Growth Guideline

Land use planning and engineering cannot operate in silos. I will introduce a strict East Gwillimbury Development Accountability and Smart Growth Guideline. This guideline will serve as a binding, informative tool for town council and staff, developers, investors, and the general public to lead our town's vision for residential and commercial growth. It will clearly outline our priorities, integrate the recent legislative realities of the More Homes Built Faster Act (Bill 23) and the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025 (Bill 17), and mandate exactly how many residential units can be sustained before community amenities must be delivered—aggressively targeting the expansion of our municipal tax base.

2. Protect Our Commercial Servicing Allocation to Drive Local Jobs

We cannot allocate our remaining water and wastewater capacity exclusively to low-density residential subdivisions. The Town's November 2023 Servicing Allocation Policy prioritizes 40% of the remaining Municipal Allocation Reserve for Employment-Related Uses. I will fiercely defend this 40% allocation for commercial and industrial growth, and ensure remaining residential capacity goes toward housing forms that fulfill attainability targets.

3. Modernize the Comprehensive Zoning By-law Immediately

The Town is currently updating our outdated 2018 Comprehensive Zoning By-law. We must leverage this to resolve immediate neighbourhood-level design failures:

• Resolve the Parking Crisis: Update driveway widths and parking requirements for Additional Residential Units (ARUs) to stop congestion on our local streets.

• Enforce Commercial Minimums: Establish strict non-residential gross floor area minimums within Mixed-Use zones to ensure commercial viability and neighbourhood walkability.

4. Leverage the Ontario Planning Act to Hold Developers Accountable

We possess powerful statutory tools to prevent developers from treating commercial land as an afterthought. We must actively deploy:

• The Holding Symbol ("H" Provision): Place a legal pause on residential zoning, prohibiting foundation permits until critical infrastructure and commercial preconditions are met.

• Subdivision Agreements & Letters of Credit: Enforce high-value financial securities so the Town can cash the letter of credit and complete the infrastructure if a builder walks away.

• Phased Approvals: Use master agreements to legally tie future housing phases directly to the delivery of local amenities.

• Mandatory Mixed-Use: Mandate ground-floor retail shells within residential buildings in Strategic Growth Areas so commercial and residential spaces are constructed simultaneously.

We must govern responsibly and demand smart, evidence-based growth. We will bring developers and investors to the table to achieve mutual agreements that prioritize our residents' demands, ensuring East Gwillimbury gets these engineering and planning fundamentals right today.

Action matters: Please share this post with your community and discuss it with your neighbours to help build strong community advocacy.

In East Gwillimbury, you elect two ward councillors, giving you the power to shape our community's future. Make Shahab Aryan your absolute first choice to bring independent, engineered leadership to Town Council.

All of my full platform and detailed plans are available on my website at www.shahabaryan.ca . Please read them, and you can always reach me directly at Shahab@ShahabAryan.ca for any questions, concerns, and ideas.