KENORA — Housing is the “number one need” in Kenora as city hall drafts its new official plan, administration says.
The city is in the process of replacing the existing official plan, which involves aligning it with provincial priorities, while also focusing on local needs, said Janis Pochailo, Kenora’s director of planning and building. The existing document dates back to 2015 and is “outdated,” she added.
The city’s website says the work started in the fall of 2024. Some previous work on drafting a new official plan was abandoned prior to that, Pochailo added, “because the circumstances had changed.”
“It had just not been the same climate — a different political climate — local things change in your community, so we were outdated before we even started,” she said.
“We decided to go back to the beginning and tailor our official plan to meet our community’s needs, and of course, it has to reflect recent legislative changes for the province.”
Changes to the planning act were enacted by Queen’s Park in 2024.
The need for housing has also spiked in Kenora, Pochailo said.
“I think the number one need in our community right now is housing,” she said, adding that it’s “not new to any other municipality.”
“Kenora, in particular, has not had the housing starts,” Pochailo said. “We have not met the demand that there is, and we’ve got more interest in — with the new hospital coming online — we’ve got development potential here that’s not being met because we have no place to house people.”
While she said the official plan will encompass “housing across the spectrum,” it will largely focus on market-driven housing. Affordable and social housing are primarily the responsibility of social service agencies, like the Kenora District Services Board, Pochailo said.
“Our official plan and zoning bylaw will accommodate their needs, but what we’re really trying to do … is to encourage the development industry to come to Kenora — and the Kenora developers as well — but to take housing seriously and move into Kenora.”
City hall has also been working on a housing analysis that mayor Andrew Poirier told Newswatch will be used to underscore the local need to senior levels of government.
The official plan has to be approved by the province and formally adopted by council, Pochailo said. Should all go smoothly that is scheduled to happen in 2026, with the adoption of necessary zoning bylaw changes happening shortly after.
The city is also redoing its existing community improvement plan, which will replace three separate plans that focus on the downtown business area, Keewatin and the former mill site. They effectively provide a way to help fund improvements in those specific areas and encourage development. Going forward, the goal is to expand those opportunities, Pochailo said.
“It’s a lot about facade improvements and beautification and that sort of thing,” she said. “We’re looking more at extending that — we’re not giving up on that — but we’re extending it to include housing across the settlement area.”
The city has been working with consultants on all the new planning pieces.
The new community improvement plan is expected to be in place by the end of 2025.
