1.3.2 Employment Areas

• 1.3.2.1 Planning authorities shall plan for, protect and preserve employment areas for current and future uses and ensure that the necessary infrastructure is provided to support current and projected needs.

• 1.3.2.2 At the time of the official plan review or update, planning authorities should assess employment areas identified in local official plans to ensure that this designation is appropriate to the planned function of the employment area.

  Employment areas planned for industrial and manufacturing uses shall provide for separation or mitigation from sensitive land uses to maintain the long-term operational and economic viability of the planned uses and function of these areas.

• 1.3.2.3 Within employment areas planned for industrial or manufacturing uses, planning authorities shall prohibit residential uses and prohibit or limit other sensitive land uses that are not ancillary to the primary employment uses in order to maintain land use compatibility.

  Employment areas planned for industrial or manufacturing uses should include an appropriate transition to adjacent non-employment areas.

• 1.3.2.4 Planning authorities may permit conversion of lands within employment areas to non-employment uses through a comprehensive review, only where it has been demonstrated that the land is not required for employment purposes over the long term and that there is a need for the conversion.

• 1.3.2.5 Notwithstanding policy 1.3.2.4, and until the official plan review or update in policy 1.3.2.4 is undertaken and completed, lands within existing employment areas may be converted to a designation that permits non-employment uses provided the area has not been identified as provincially significant through a provincial plan exercise or as regionally significant by a regional economic development corporation working together with affected upper and single-tier municipalities and subject to the following:

  1. there is an identified need for the conversion and the land is not required for employment purposes over the long term;

  2. the proposed uses would not adversely affect the overall viability of the employment area; and

  3. existing or planned infrastructure and public service facilities are available to accommodate the proposed uses.

• 1.3.2.6 Planning authorities shall protect employment areas in proximity to major goods movement facilities and corridors for employment uses that require those locations.

• 1.3.2.7 Planning authorities may plan beyond 25 years for the long-term protection of employment areas provided lands are not designated beyond the planning horizon identified in policy 1.1.2.