When business owner John Mealey looks out his office window at The Flooring Place in Collingwood, he can see his staff’s lunchroom.
Only these days, the lunchroom is filled with desks.
Mealey came before Collingwood council’s development and operations services standing committee meeting on Monday (March 13) to ask council for help in getting an exemption to the town’s interim control bylaw to allow for the expansion of his 25 Sandford Fleming Drive facility. While he started the process of expanding his business space in 2019, the town’s interim control bylaw (ICBL) as well as changing rules regarding how water would be allocated, combined with COVID-19 impacts have meant it’s been difficult for Mealey to move forward on the expansion.
And now, four years later, his building is bursting at the seams.
“I’ve already invested over $250,000 just getting my application to this stage, and I still don’t know if I can move forward with it. It’s really hard to be motivated through the process,” said Mealey. “I need to hire more people, and I just can’t because of site conditions.”
While The Flooring Place has been in business since 1994, Mealey acquired it in 2017 recognizing the demand for housing across Ontario, but specifically in Collingwood.
“A lot of people really want to move here, and COVID-19 really accelerated that," he said.
Mealey started the planning process with the Town of Collingwood in 2019 to expand The Flooring Place building so he could include operations with his sister company The Glass Place under the same roof.
The first formal submission plan for the expansion was received by the town in October 2020. The process was halted in April 2021 due to the passing of the development freeze. While Mealey says he was encouraged to apply for an ICBL exemption in late 2022, he says he was advised that the new council (who was elected in October 2022) would need to be sworn in before more exemption requests could be considered.
SEE MORE: 2022 NEWSMAKERS: Development freeze saga continues
In the meantime, Mealey says his business has increased 10 fold while he waits for approvals.
“We’ve had a crazy last few years. To give some perspective, Mountain House (at Windfall, in the Town of the Blue Mountains), we did the last two phases there. We did 85,000 square feet of flooring, and we received all that flooring in a 1,500-square-foot warehouse. That’s what’s happening up here,” said Mealey.
While Mealey said town staff have been great to work with, he said there are some challenges that exist in Collingwood specifically when it comes to approving development, which could trickle down to businesses choosing to look for space outside the municipality.
“I came here today to present my business case and really, ask for your help,” he told councillors on Monday. “When I talk to a bank, or insurance, or any kind of contractor or builder, everyone knows Collingwood is under this moratorium.”
“It makes it hard to negotiate any kind of contracts without knowing if I really can move forward with my building. Their first question is always, ‘Where do you stand with your water allocation?’”
During Monday’s meeting, the town’s Director of Planning, Building and Economic Development Summer Valentine said Mealey’s application would be one in a batch next considered by council on April 24.
Chief Administrative Officer Sonya Skinner noted that while the town has been under a development pause, they have still granted exemptions to the pause for shovel-ready developments that rival the number of developments approved in previous years prior to the pause.
“I know people are cautious in providing those approvals, but we do have space for a lively development industry to continue until the (water treatment) plant is expanded,” said Skinner.
Presuming he is granted an ICBL exemption, Mealey’s next hurdle is getting a building permit.
“I’ve heard it can take years for that process also,” said Mealey. “I need to have this building in. It’s so complicated. If I got approval today, I’d be out there with my excavator this afternoon.”
In speaking with his developer colleagues, Mealey says the ICBL has definitely had an impact on businesses and plays a part in decision-making when deciding whether they choose to grow in Collingwood, or outside its borders.
“Collingwood does have historical baggage. I don’t know what the outcome will be. I’m continuing to weigh (options),” he said. “I love Collingwood and I want to be here... but I have had a lot of sleepless nights over this.”
