Members of the public have expressed a multitude of concerns about a five storey apartment complex being proposed in Markdale.
Last week, Grey Highlands council held a public meeting about proposed zoning amendments for a 60-unit, five storey apartment building in Markdale just off of Highway 20. Although there weren’t a lot of members of the public commenting on the proposal, those who did expressed several concerns and outright opposition to the concept.
Clay Blakey, a neighbouring property owner, called the proposal a "monstrosity" and raised a number of concerns about the proposal including: parking, road access, the size of the building, fire services and traffic.
“This development, as proposed on this site, does not make sense,” he said.
Margaret Russell wrote to council about the proposed apartment and to voice her concerns and called the application “a ridiculous proposal.”
The property in question is located at 23 Greenview Lane. It is accessed by a narrow private laneway and the building on the site currently is home to the Markdale OPP office.
The rezoning requested would allow 60 apartment units and a building that gets closer to the lot boundaries than typically allowed. The proposal includes 70 parking spaces, as well as outdoor amenity/parkland spaces. The apartments would be one or two bedrooms ranging from 700 to 900 square feet in size.
Council received a number of comments from official agencies like the local conservation authority and the Grey County planning department. The agency comments did not indicate any concerns with the proposal.
Coun. Paul Allen, noting the heavy snow this winter, asked project planner Krystin Rennie about snow storage on the site.
Rennie said snow storage had not been addressed at this point in the process and would be dealt with during the site plan process.
“We haven’t quite gotten to (snow storage) yet,” said Rennie. “That is something we need to sort out in the next step of the process.”
Coun. Dan Wickens asked about stormwater runoff for the property.
“There is quite a bit of concern about all this stormwater hitting the little creek before it hits the Rocky Saugeen,” said Wickens.
Project engineer Evan Lundquist said the proposal includes underground stormwater storage pipes that would feed to a nearby stormwater pond being used by other residential developments in the area.
One speaker during the meeting said that Markdale does not have enough jobs or daycare spaces to support a second large apartment building (Grey Highlands council approved a six storey apartment building in Markdale in early 2024).
“I don’t think anybody has really sat down and thought this through – adding all these people, considering we already have an apartment building that is supposed to be going up,” she said during the meeting.
When the public comments on the proposal were finished, Allen said that the applicants would have the opportunity to make changes to the application to address the concerns that had been raised. Allen also suggested the application come back to council ahead of a decision date to keep council apprised of the application’s evolution.
“This needs to come back, somehow, to council before we actually have to make a decision so we’re well aware of any changes,” he said.
No decision on the application was made at the meeting, in the future, council will receive a full planning report about the application with a recommendation to consider for a decision on the file.