Many reasons have come forward over the past few years to support a complete review of the Official Plan for Fort Frances. Besides the fact that the Planning Act requires a review every five years, council has not fully endorsed a complete review with public input. The current Plan was approved in 1998, and even at that time,  little or no public input was offered or sincerely sought out.

The current plan has been used as a reason to stop the development of at least five properties that would have added to the current tax base. It proposes a new subdivision north of Rainycrest in the muskeg.?? while areas in the east and north ends of town with road access and some services are designated “on hold” and not allowed to be developed. It proposes a Truck Route that would require at least three homes to be bought out and demolished and would run beside Rainycrest?? Who came up with this?(previous council) and were the property owners, Rainycrest and the general public ever consulted ?(no)

 The Official Plan of any municipality is supposed to lay out the future plan for development, controls and direction. This is intended to show current, new and potential residents, business, Industry, and  developers, the long term vision of community so that they can make informed choices when deciding where to live, set up business, Industry, or invest there money.
Council needs to show our ratepayers that they are serious about expanding the Tax Base and show new and potential business and Industry that we are ready to accommodate their needs.