The Blue Mountains council has a placed a hold on a significant hotel and apartment development in downtown Thornbury.
At its committee of the whole meeting on April 30, council voted unanimously in favour of putting a hold on a plan to build a three-storey hotel on property at 160 King Street and two three-storey apartment/commercial buildings on the property at 150 King Street.
Town staff have identified water and wastewater servicing limitations that are precluding them from signing a site plan agreement to allow the development to go forward.
“Capacity is not available at this time,” said senior planner Adam Farr.
To recognize the situation, town staff initiated a zoning bylaw amendment for the property that places a hold on the development until such time as a site plan agreement is signed and servicing capacity for water and sewage is identified and allocated.
The development’s planning consultant, Andrew Pascuzzo, attended the meeting and on behalf of the owners of the property expressed displeasure about the turn of events that led to the hold.
“My clients had hoped to break ground this year,” he said.
Pascuzzo said the property owners have been ready for quite some time to sign a site plan agreement to move forward with the project. He said they are aware of the servicing limitations, but noted that occupancy in the hotel and apartment/commercial buildings would be a couple of years away as the project was constructed. He noted that the town is in the process of upgrading its servicing capacity.
The town is currently upgrading its sewage plant and is in the design phase for an upgrade to the Mill Street sewage pumping station, which should be complete by 2027.
Pascuzzo requested that the town sign the site plan agreement as soon as possible.
“We’ve been waiting for town staff to provide a site plan for a number of months,” he said.
The public meeting on the matter did not generate any comments beyond those made by Pascuzzo.
Later in the meeting council voted to implement the hold.
“I know the extent of the work that has gone on between staff and the applicant,” said Mayor Andrea Matrosovs. “This is really the best case scenario we can come up with to respect the applicant and our community’s needs.”
