County’s Official Plan awarded Project of the Year in Ontario

It’s official! The County of Essex’s Official Plan is the best in Ontario.

It has won another prestigious award, this time as the Ontario municipal Project of the Year for 2025. The honour was bestowed by the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) at its annual PlanOn Gala recently in Kitchener.

The County’s Manager of Planning Services, Rebecca Belanger, was on hand to accept the coveted Project of the Year trophy, as shown in the accompanying photo.

“We had an amazing team of experienced, professional planners who dedicated countless hours to this ambitious project and we are honored and humbled to have our efforts recognized by our peers,” said Belanger. “We are proud of this Official Plan and its aspirational vision for the County of Essex as a welcoming, thriving community that values greenspace, connected communities, agricultural lands and continued economic diversification and development.”

The County of Essex’s Official Plan – titled “One Land, One Climate, One Future, Together” – already had been announced as one of only six projects across the province to be honoured with a 2025 PlanOn Vision Award of Excellence from OPPI. Other winners were from Guelph, Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area.

After Project of the Year, the PlanOn Vision Award of Excellence is the highest annual honour OPPI can bestow. To win both big honours speaks to all the thoughtfulness, expertise and effort that went into the County’s current Official Plan. It was developed and detailed by a team led by Belanger, with help from consultants including Mary Lou Tanner, NPG Planning Solutions and Larry Silani of Miller Silani Consulting.

“This plan is a land stewardship plan to protect the agricultural and natural heritage systems in Essex County while addressing significant growth,” OPPI said on its website, in lauding the County for its award. “The growth is focused on complete communities – a full range of housing and jobs, active transportation focused, transit-ready, at greater housing and employment densities to minimize the impact on the agricultural and natural heritage systems. The Official Plan is a hallmark of County collaboration with lower-tier municipalities and First Nations – integrating the community growth needs of all within a framework of communities.”

The OPPI website pointed out that Belanger is a “highly accomplished and dedicated Manger of Planning Services at the County of Essex, bringing 30 years of extensive experience in the field of urban planning. Her career spans various facets of the public and private sectors, including significant roles within upper and lower-tier municipalities and a local conversation authority.”

Registered Professional Planners aim to design successful and livable urban, suburban and rural communities, while balancing short-term and long-term public needs over the next two, 10 or 30 years. That includes considering where people live, work, go to school and spend their free time.

Belanger and her award-winning team will be formally recognized at an upcoming meeting of Essex County Council.