Collingwood council decided this week to go against staff recommendations and grant development freeze exemptions for local businesses.
During Monday’s (May 16) meeting, councillors were presented with eight exemption requests, one of which was supported by town staff. Council approved six outright.
During the May 9 development and operations standing committee meeting, multiple deputants including Cassie MacKell, co-owner of Low Down Bar at 65 Simcoe Street, spoke to the committee about the stress the development pause is causing. MacKell came to speak about her request for a building permit being denied to expand her business into a neighbouring space, which she intends to use to add 11 more seats to her successful restaurant.
During MacKell's presentation, she said her engineer has indicated that the expansion will not change the water requirements for the space, however on Monday, town staff noted their own opinion is that the expansion would add 0.9 SDUs (single detached unit’s worth of water) to the building.
Of the eight exemptions being considered by council on Monday, only one of them – at 67 First Street – were being recommended by staff for exemptions.
“The remainder of the properties are not recommended for exemptions this evening as they require additional water, Planning Act approvals and/or exemptions are considered premature at this time,” said Manager of Planning Services Lindsay Ayers.
On Monday night, six interim control bylaw (ICBL) exemption requests were approved by council. Acting Mayor Keith Hull was absent from the meeting.
- 67 First Street – Optometry office expansion (Comly Eye Care)
- 1 Huron Street – New dental office (Collingwood Family Dental)
- 72-76 Hurontario Street – Building expansion, office renovation and new event space (Trott Block)
- 65 Simcoe Street – Restaurant expansion - (Low Down)
- 26 Elm Street – Motor vehicle repair garage conversion to restaurant with accessory small-scale brewery (Endswell Beer)
- 31 Huron St. – Mixed-use residential/commercial building
In regards to the 26 Elm Street project, Coun. Yvonne Hamlin said she didn’t feel the project was far enough along to be granting an exemption on Monday night. She also noted concern that some of the projects up for approval did not come with an engineer’s report confirming the amount of water that would be required.
“We don’t know yet whether the number for the units of water that will be used have been calculated by an engineer, which has been a requirement of every other business that’s come forward,” said Hamlin.
Coun. Chris Carrier asked that the wording of the motion be amended to approve the exemption without the caveat to wait until a site plan is forwarded to council for consideration. He noted that many of the water-use numbers provided by engineers and the town’s own estimates were speculative.
“Instead of waiting for numbers that might be right, or might be wrong, let’s just get out of the way post-COVID and get these businesses going,” he said. “We were told the authority is not granted to staff under the ICBL. It is the privilege of this council.”
“I am suggesting we exercise this privilege in support of the business community that has been struggling for two-plus years and has brought forward their concerns. We balance that with the staff report. I think we’re doing our job,” said Carrier.
The amended motion to approve the 26 Elm St. exemption without an engineer's estimate was also approved 6-1, with Hamlin opposed.
“When I looked out (into the gallery), from one of the partners in one of the businesses, I saw tears of joy and a fist-pump. Sometimes we forget about the emotional aspect. COVID kind of kicked the crap out of everybody,” said Councillor Bob Madigan, who is in his second term on council. “Thank you for that gift ... Sometimes we forget about putting people first. This is a prime example."
Two requested exemptions were not approved by councillors, both by votes of 5-2 with Madigan and Carrier in favour.
- 72 First Street – Residential apartment to storage space conversion
- 70 First Street – Restaurant conversion to Cannabis retail establishment (Value Buds)
The projects that were not granted an exemption on Monday night can still apply again for an exemption between May 17 and May 27, to be considered by council at a meeting in June.
Town council passed the ICBL in April 2021 after staff announced the current water treatment plant could not produce enough water to meet the demand of projected growth over the next five years leading up to the planned expansion of the plant.
At the time of the vote, the town indicated it was a one-year moratorium with the possibility of another year's extension while the town worked on new policies for allocating water to development.
Among those new policies is a three-part framework for allocating town services to new development as part of the application process.
One of those parts, the zoning bylaw amendment, will provide the town with an ultimate safeguard where building permits cannot be issued unless adequate availability of water and wastewater capacity is confirmed by the municipality.
Three appeals to the zoning bylaw amendment at the Ontario Land Tribunal have now put a halt on lifting the development freeze. The Planning Act dictates that the control bylaw (and therefore the development freeze) will continue to be in effect until the appeals are handled. Town officials have indicated it has become clear that the three appeals are not immediately resolvable in the short-term, and are unlikely to be resolved until 2023.
According to most recent estimates by town staff, the town has approximately 430 SDUs of water capacity it can distribute annually from 2022 through 2024. About 100 SDUs of the 430 have been allocated for development that does not require any Planning Act approvals.
On Monday night, council also passed an overview of how exemptions would be granted going forward while the ICBL is still in effect. According to the overview, exemption requests will be considered by town staff and council once in May for a June decision, and once in August for a September decision. In December 2022, staff will re-evaluate the situation, while taking the state of the three appeals at that time into consideration.
Also as part of the motion, council voted in favour of endorsing the short-term ICBL exemption program that will be in effect at least until the end of 2022 and supporting the town’s servicing capacity allocation policy start date of May 17.
To apply for an interim control bylaw exemption or to learn more about the short-term ICBL exemption program, click here.
