Grey Highlands council has decided it will not be planning for how to service possible future growth on the Talisman property.
At its meeting on July 17, council made the decision to remove the Talisman property from being included in the study area for its master servicing plan.
Council altered its earlier committee of the whole decision that would have looked at future servicing options for the entire Kimberley/Amik area in favour of a new resolution that specifically removed the Talisman lands from the study area.
The new direction set off a debate and discussion around the council table that lasted for more than an hour that, at one point, became heated when Coun. Paul Allen objected to Coun. Tom Allwood’s suggestion that the origin of the new motion was a desire to stop development on the Talisman lands.
In a recorded vote, council approved the new direction, by a 4-3 margin with councillors Allen, Nadia Dubyk, Dan Wickens and Joel Loughead combining to pass the resolution.
The master servicing plan is a high level document that provides the municipality with a roadmap for how to provide servicing to various areas of the community. It is a 30-year plan that is reviewed every five years. The resolution adopted by council calls for the study to look at servicing in Markdale and to limit the focus of the study in the Kimberley/Amik area to users of the existing services, infill opportunities and possible expansion opportunities to the Beaver Valley Ski Club.
The new direction came despite Grey County having an application for a plan of subdivision for the Talisman property. That application, however, is not for a specific development proposal, but would rather divide the Talisman lands into various blocks. Some blocks would be set aside for future development with future applications to come and others would remain green space.
Talisman, a former ski/golf/recreation resort, has separate ownership groups. The Beaver Valley Development Group has brought forward the application currently before Grey County and owns the former golf course lands and property on top of the escarpment. A different group owns the portion of the property containing the former hotel/resort buildings. No development application has come forward for that portion of the property.
The issue divided council, with some members arguing it was premature to be planning to service the Talisman lands without any detailed development plans. Others said it would not be logical to remove the property from the master plan study with an active application from the property on the books.
The proposed development at Talisman has generated significant community opposition, with a recent public meeting being dominated by those opposed to the growth on the property. It was clear the future of the Talisman lands were weighing heavily on the minds of councillors during the servicing debate.
“The intent here is to hit pause because we have so little information about this one application,” said Dubyk. “It’s prudent to hit pause on that specific piece.”
Allwood argued that the resolution was ignoring the reality of the situation.
“I think what this motion is doing is intentionally ignoring development possibilities on the Talisman property,” said Allwood. “It’s naive to expect there is not going to be some development on that property.”
Allen argued that the municipality was still going to have a new master servicing plan and could revisit the Talisman issue in the future.
“Until we have more concrete applications, I don’t feel we should be including it,” said Allen.
Mayor Paul McQueen said leaving the property out of the study area would be ignoring what is happening and could cost the municipality down the road.
“We do have an application in front of us,” said McQueen. “At some point, we’re going to have to know how it’s going to work.”
The mayor said the lack of a high level plan could cost the municipality future grant opportunities from higher levels of government.
“I don’t understand why we wouldn’t (include Talisman),” said McQueen. “A master plan does give you clarity. There are (grant) opportunities.”
