City politicians yesterday set in motion a process that could bar most new development along the Thames River.
But even if council ultimately adopts the strict new approach, that would come too late to affect a controversial office building planned for Riverside Drive in London.
Any changes in rules wouldn't apply retroactively to Sifton Properties, which in December applied to change zoning at the corner of Riverside and Wonderland Road to allow a five-storey office.
But it was the Sifton application that served as a belated wake-up call for a council that first considered new limits to riverside development in 2003.
"If we had made some of these decisions two years ago we may not be sitting now with Riverside as a problem," rookie councillor Nancy Branscombe said.
The city's planning committee then asked staff to analyse a possible change in the way the city protects the river.
City hall now divides the flood area along the river in two: The zone closer to the river allows little development, but the farther zone, the flood fringe, allows development if a builder raises the elevation, flood-proofs buildings and insures work doesn't create flooding elsewhere.
Politicians asked staff to study the benefits and drawbacks of switching to a single flood zone that would effectively bar development beyond that commonly found at parks.
"This needs to be quick because we have a very important national heritage river running through the city," Coun. Judy Bryant said.
Staff will report back in two or three months, said London's planning head, Rob Panzer.
Panzer also tried to rebut a perception of some in the community that his staff had "assured" Sifton its proposal could go ahead. That's not the case, he said.
"We provide what amounts to a preliminary opinion . . . my (final) recommendation will reflect input from the public and other agencies," Panzer said, noting that staff is now required by Ontario law to consult with applicants.
Panzer reported staff met twice with Sifton in early 2005.
It was also then a city planner who was unaware of the approach by Sifton recommended against a development freeze along the Thames.
Some politicians have said the recommendation by planner John Fleming lulled them into a sense that no development was possible.
But Fleming says his report didn't offer a blanket assurance against development.
While most lots along the Thames are zoned "open space," which allows little building, a developer can apply to change the zoning and is entitled to a review. That possibility is noted in the report, Fleming said.
"The city's (policies) . . . provide for a thorough review of any application in the flood fringe," the report says.
Fleming submitted his report expecting, by the end of 2005, staff would finish a study considering new protections for the river. With a permanent solution expected around the bend, staff opposed a temporary development freeze.
The study was later delayed; it's first phase hasn't yet been approved.