Thursday, 11 August 2011

All About Mapping

All About Mapping

Planning Maps

The foundation for most planning documents is the maps of the geographic area that the plan covers.  Maps provide the visual counterpart to the policies to show “where things are supposed to happen”.

The Official Plan maps are called schedules and divide the municipality into a number of different land use designations.  The most common designations are:


·        Residential
·        Commercial
·        Industrial
·        Institutional
·        Environmental Hazard and/or Open Space
·        Agricultural and/or Rural


The Northern Bruce Peninsula Official Plan covers only lands within the urban areas  of Tobermory, Lion’s Head, and Ferndale. All the land outside of these areas is covered by the County of Bruce Official Plan.  Here are the schedules for the local official plan in PDF format. 

Tobermory                           Lion’s Head                                Ferndale

The majority of our mapping is in a digital format (PDF, AutoCad, ArcMap, etc) and as Planners we mostly look at maps on a computer screen.  However we do have paper copies of the official plan and the maps available at the following locations:

MNBP Municipal Offices                                   56 Lindsay Road 5   Tel: (519) 793 3522
Bruce County Planning - Wiarton Office             578 Brown St.          Tel: (519) 534 2092
Bruce County Libraries
        Wiarton                                                   578 Brown St.          Tel: (519) 534 2602
        Lion's Head                                             90 Main St.              Tel: (519) 793 3844
        Tobermory                                               22 Bay St.               Tel: (519) 596 2446

The Bruce County Map Factory – Interactive Maps

The Bruce County Map Factory is a fantastic website that’s accessible to the public.  The Map Factory is an online interactive mapping tool which runs on ESRI's ArcIMS Internet mapping technology (I know I’m starting to use jargon – bear with me just one more sentence).  The tool is known as a Web-based GIS (Geographic Information System), and it contains land-related information for all of Bruce County. 

So the important things to take away from the above paragraph are online mapping system called GIS that’s available to the public and it’s all about mapping Bruce County.

You can find it here:  www.brucecounty.on.ca/maps.php.

The GIS includes various map layers such as aerial photography, roads, property parcels, zoning and Official Plan maps, lot & concession fabric, landmarks, facilities and services, etc.  It also contains base map layers such as rivers, lakes, elevation contours, wooded areas, wetlands, and more.  All of this information is presented in the form of an interactive map, so you can turn layers on and off to view the information that you want to see.


Examples of what you can do with the Map Factory include:

  • Locate your property by Address or Tax Roll Number
  • See your property in detail with high-resolution aerial photography
  • Measure distances and areas
  • Find how any property is zoned or designated
  • Use the Streets query to find and map any street in Bruce County
  • Find points of interest like the Point Clark Lighthouse or the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
  • Run a custom query against any map layer
  • "Explore the Bruce" from north to south and east to west using the interactive map tools that allow you to zoom in and out, pan, and identify features

The best way to get familiar with the system is to take a little bit of time and just explore the different layers and drop down menus.

In regard to the official plan review, the official plan mapping is a layer in the system – see Municipality Specific – Northern Bruce Peninsula – Official Plan.  Have a look at the local official plan mapping and compare it to the Bruce County Official Plan mapping.  The two plans cover the same area at different geographic scales.  The MNBP Zoning By-law mapping is also available in the Map Factory (just remember to take the individual layers off again every once in a while otherwise it’ll get very confusing).  You can do this using the Layer List, found in the View menu. 


Wednesday, 3 August 2011

Welcome to the Bruce County Planning Blog


The Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula (MNBP for short) has just started a review and update of its local Official Plan. This blog is intended to provide information on the plan and the process and a space for discussion outside of the standard venues, i.e., public meetings.  Since the blog can be accessed anywhere and anytime, we are hoping that it will give all seasonal residents a chance to participate in the process even when you are not here and all locals a chance to keep the conversation going after hours.

A Bit of Background
Official Plans and Zoning By-laws are often confusing.  The Official Plan can be described as a road map, providing direction for all your community’s planning decisions.  This document identifies where and how future growth should occur.  The Official Plan includes policies on where new homes, schools, businesses and parks should be located.  It also guides construction of new services such as roads and sewers as well as protecting our natural environment.

The “OP” is the Official Plan for Tobermory, Lion’s Head and Ferndale, i.e. the urban areas.  The plan does not cover the rural areas or the smaller urban areas/shoreline communities such as Stokes Bay, Dyer’s Bay etc.; these areas are covered by the Bruce County Official Plan (Bruce County Website – Planning).  Therefore the focus of this discussion is solely on Tobermory, Lion’s Head and Ferndale.  

Here are the areas covered by the local OP:






 And here’s the OP:

Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula Official Plan

So get involved!
The project kicks off with Open Houses on Saturday August 27, 2011. 

10:00 am – 12:00 pm                      Tobermory Community Centre                    7420 Highway 6
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm                          Ferndale Park & Information Centre          2928 Highway 6

The purpose of the Open Houses is to give people a chance to see the existing policies and maps and to comment on what the road map for the future should be. 

For more information, please contact:

Bill Hollo
Deputy Director, Bruce County Planning
519 881 1782


Sabine Robart
Planner, Bruce County Planning
519 534 2092 x 101

Bruce County Website    www.brucecounty.on.ca

To review paper copies of the plan and mapping please visit the municipal and planning offices between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm Monday to Friday:

Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula Office          
56 Lindsay Road 5
519 793 3522

Bruce County Planning – Wiarton Office                      
578 Brown St, Wiarton
519 534 2092