County of Brant Council received a staff report on proposed downtown Paris zoning changes during their regular Council meeting on Tuesday, May 12, 2026.
Brandon Kortleve, Manager of Policy Planning for the County, said the proposed changes would help important projects move forward, and support the 2019 Downtown Master Plan while balancing growth, heritage and flood risk constraints.
The plan includes zoning changes for two specific County-owned properties and continued work on the broader, area-wide planning framework through the Community Planning Permit System (CPPS).
“The purpose of this is to talk about potential zoning changes, and the reason for those is to advance the Downtown Master Plan, which was adopted in 2019. We initiated a conversation in October 2024 with respect to the potential rezonings downtown. …What we’re proposing right now is that we look at a targeted rezoning on some selected sites and that additional tools would be enabled through the Community Planning Permit System (CPPS),” he said. “There’s an opportunity here to pilot a precedent-setting development, while aligning the public input and technical constraints. There’s lots of different things going on downtown; we’re balancing growth, we’re balancing heritage, flood risk constraints, and the height of buildings, that’s one of the major points of concern, but again, the purpose of tonight’s meeting is just for discussion purposes and feedback.”
Kortleve said the proposed zoning changes are in regards to two specific sites known as Area A and Area B.
“Area A is the municipal parking lot where the former OPP station is, it includes the land that was formerly the Cedar House restaurant, and Area B is all the lands beside Wincey Mills,” he explained. “We’ve presented some potential zonings for conversation purposes that are meant to just guide the discussions, it’s not a recommendation by any means, but it’s meant to get us to a final recommendation.”
The zoning changes for Area A would potentially allow for a mixed-use development for commercial units and 80 to 90 residential units while the changes for Area B would allow for a multi-unit parking structure.
The proposed zoning by-law amendment would specifically allow for a mixed-use building up to six storeys, whereas the current zoning only allows four to five storeys. A conceptual massing shows the building would be stepped back above three storeys.
The proposed amendment for Area B would permit a three to four storey parking structure to help support the downtown businesses and amenities should it be needed.
Kortleve said that while separate projects, they are related.
“There is a relationship between the two, as we’re working towards a partnership between the owner of the properties in the County,” he said. “We’re looking into the financial viability of both of those things happening at the same time.”
It was mentioned throughout the presentation that public engagement has taken place. A Downtown Paris Zoning Survey was done in late 2024 on EngageBrant and there were 167 responses and approximately 1,800 visits to the project page.
Recurring themes mentioned in the responses included protecting heritage character, height and massing, parking and mobility, downtown vitality, and green and public spaces.
Following his presentation, Council David Miller asked if the proposed parking structure would be able to accommodate future needs.
According to the report, a preliminary Downtown Paris Parking Needs Assessment was completed and presented to Council in December 2025, showing that, depending on how the area grows, the downtown could need anywhere between 107 and 416 additional parking spaces by 2050.
“The purpose of this rezoning would be to enable the permission for a parking structure, but more work would be done to study the actual need of that, and would ensure that if we were to build one, we would be addressing the need over the longer term,” responded Kortleve.
Noting that the Downtown Master Plan originally suggested a parking structure be built directly behind Council chambers, Councillor John Bell asked why that was no longer preferred.
Kortleve explained that the lands adjacent to Wincey Mills would be better suited for a parking structure rather than residential development because it’s considered a high-risk flood area.
Councillor Steve Howes asked if the parking structure would be paid for by the County or taxpayers, and Kortleve said that the municipality has been in discussions with the property owner and that nothing has been decided financing wise.
After further discussions, Council later received the report as information only, and staff are expected to return with official recommendations at a later date.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
