After nearly a year and a half of work, planning and design committee chair councillor John Davis says the town’s new zoning bylaw will make building in Huntsville a clearer, more straightforward process.

“(The new bylaw will be) environmentally more friendly. That’s one of the main things we did with this,” Davis told the Forester. “The second (thing it does) is to define (zoning regulations) for people moving into the area so they know what they have to comply with.”

On Tuesday, the planning and design committee held a final public meeting on the zoning bylaw, the current version of which was passed in 1974.

Davis said there are a few outstanding issues to address, but overall the bylaw is near completion.

He said town council began work on the bylaw almost as soon as they took office, in order to implement changes required with the passing of the Huntsville Official Plan by the previous council.

He added that during the rewriting process, the town looked at all committee of adjustment bylaws passed, to see if there were changes that could be made so many of them would no longer be required.

“We synthesized the bylaws to a point where there’s less opportunity for people to really sort of come and ask for variances,” he said. “It just defines really a little further what the actual zoning areas are and what we expect to be in those zoning areas.”

However, the natural Muskoka landscape is one that doesn’t allow all regulations to apply for all properties.

“The topography of Muskoka… is such that there are many times where you have a large lot where really you have to be on one side of it to get your septic system in etc.,” he said. “Those will still require minor variances.”

Rewriting the zoning bylaw has also given the town the opportunity to entrench environmental concerns into bylaw, such as creating a larger setback requirement from the shoreline, and ensuring all shorelines have a maximum 15 per cent development.

Davis said since the town began working on the bylaw in January 2007, there have been a number of public meetings and information sessions held.

He added that any property owners whose land is being affected by the new bylaw will be notified by letter prior to it being passed.

Davis said the planning and design committee will look over the bylaw once more before it goes to council for approval, likely in early June.