Minimum Distance Separation MDS

Minimum Distance Separation (MDS) guidelines regulate the amount of space between agricultural land and residential land. The distance helps prevent land-use conflicts, such as odour. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has created an MDS Formulae to help municipalities calculate minimum distances.

MDS calculations are required by the Town's Zoning By-law and may also be required for the following development applications:

How to Calculate MDS

Contact us to request the Homeowner's Handbook or the Consultant's Handbook for a full description. To Calculate MDS, follow these steps:

Contact the Planning and Development Division

The first thing you need to do is contact Caledon's Planning and Development Division to determine if your development application requires MDS I or MDS II calculations.

MDS I calculates the minimum distance between proposed new developments and existing livestock or permanent manure storage facilities. MDS II calculates the minimum distance between proposed new or enlarged livestock or manure facilities with existing developments.

Please see the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for land use types.

Review surrounding area

Once you've identified your application as MSD I or MSD II, you need to conduct a detailed review of the surrounding area to identify any livestock, manure, or existing developments.

Complete an MSD survey

Contact us for the MSD I or MDS II Survey form.

Application review

We will review the application and determine the MSD based on the information you provided in the survey. If we need more information, we will contact you directly. After the review, we'll inform you of the MSD for your development application.