The townhouse development near the McKenzie Marsh has been green lit by the Ontario Land Tribunal, after the Town of Aurora and developer reached a settlement.
The deal will see the project near Newmarket go ahead, but with fewer units, 30 rather than the initially proposed 45-unit development on St. John's Sideroad, according to Patricia De Sario, director of corporate services and town solicitor for the Town of Aurora.
The settlement also includes a limit on the height of the units and an increase in the number of parking spots.
The developer, Medal Homes Inc., along with the town, presented the settlement, which was endorsed by the OLT at a hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 20.
Angela and Paul Martinelli, who are both members of the Mackenzie Marsh Ratepayers Association, said they were only informed of the details of the settlement on Monday, and were part of the group that scrambled to file a submission in time for Tuesday’s hearing.
But Paul Martinelli said he felt the decision had already been made ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, adding he wished the public had been able to be “involved in the process” of making the deal.
“They’re going to squeeze in as much profitability in that small sliver of land next to a wetland, which is a key feature of the town of Aurora,” said Paul Martinelli. “They’re going to use it as a selling point, they’re going to say, ‘Oh, it backs onto the McKenzie Marsh, a beautiful oasis.’”
While both acknowledged there had been concessions, they still worried the development would damage the nearby McKenzie Wetland.
“If there’s floods, you know what, that’s going to be an insurance problem,” he added. “If the marsh dies, because of salt and soot runoff from the homes and snow plow clearing, again, the builder has profited.”
The 45-unit townhouse project, at 65 St. John’s Sideroad on Aurora's border with Newmarket, was voted down by Aurora council 5-1 at a planning meeting last January. In response, the developer filed an appeal with the province's land tribunal.
At the Jan. 23 public planning meeting, Macaulay Shiomi Howson consultant Nick Pileggi said the developer tried to respond to community concerns on the environment, adding planners had submitted flood plain analysis.
AuroraToday first reported a "tentative settlement" had been reached between the Town of Aurora and the developer earlier in August.
“Wanting to build quickly, something takes the hit,” said Angela Martinelli. “Unfortunately, I think what people have seen repeatedly is it’s the environment that takes the hit.”
De Sario said a number of changes to the original proposed development had been agreed to in the settlement.
These include:
- “The number of units have been reduced from the original applications to 30 units (from 45 units). The height of the units will be a maximum of 12.0 metres. There will be a minimum of two parking spaces per unit with 14 units having three spaces. There will also be thirteen (13) visitor parking spaces.”
- “Medal Homes will convey to the Town buffer blocks, which will be zoned as Open Space, and a further block to be zoned as Open Space, which will include a trail and a gazebo feature (to be provided for by Medal Homes).”
- “In exchange for #2 above, the Town will convey lands (55 St. John’s Sideroad) to Medal Homes to accommodate an emergency access so that there is no longer access to Pittypat Court.”
- “Medal Homes Inc. will provide for six (6) public parking spaces on the west side of the private road.”
“The tribunal member provided an oral decision approving both the draft zoning bylaw amendment and the revised site plan drawings, in principle,” added De Sario. “As a result of the passing of the Town’s new official plan, an official plan amendment was no longer required and the appeal for that was withdrawn.”
“The tribunal will issue its final order when the Town and Medal Homes confirm the final form of the zoning bylaw amendment and the final site plan and site plan conditions.”
