The Blue Mountains council has approved zoning and official plan amendments for a 17-unit development in Craigleith that will include attainable housing.
At its committee of the whole meeting on May 27, council voted 4-1 in favour of amendments to allow a development consisting of 17 units of rowhouse dwellings. The development is located on land in Craigleith next to the existing Esso gas station in the community and would be a standard condominium ownership model.
Coun. Alex Maxwell voted against the resolution and Mayor Andrea Matrosovs and Coun. Paula Hope were absent.
A public meeting on the proposal was held in February 2023 and there were no objections to the proposal at that time.
As part of the proposal, the developer (Pinnacle Townhomes) is committing to keep one unit as attainable housing for the next 15 years. In addition, seven of the units will have rough-ins for additional residential units to give purchasers the option of adding a rental unit to their property. The developer has also committed to making a cash donation of $104,000 ($6,500 per unit of the 16 units not classed as attainable housing) to the town’s housing within-reach program in the community improvement plan.
As part of the official plan amendment, the town approved slightly less open space on the property. The town’s planning policies require 40 per cent open space for any development. In this case, the property will have 33 per cent open space. Town planner Carter Triana said it was staff’s opinion that the attainable housing aspects of the proposal were an acceptable trade-off for the reduction in open space.
“It’s important to consider the town’s housing situation,” said Triana.
She said three units would have to be left out of the development in order to meet the 40 per cent threshold, which lowers the potential housing stock in the town.
The official plan amendment also allows more density on the property than current planning policies allow. The proposal would be 24.8 units per hectare of the property. Current policies allow only 10 units per hectare. However, Triana explained that the town’s draft policies for the updated official plan are looking at increasing density to possibly 25 - 50 units per hectare and that the Grey County Official Plan already allows a minimum of 25 units.
Coun. Gail Ardiel asked how the town would monitor the one unit remaining attainable housing for 15 years.
“Do we have to enforce this? Is it registered on title?” she asked.
Triana explained that the town and developer would enter an agreement that would be registered on title.
The committee of the whole decision for the proposal will come to council’s regular meeting on June 3 for final approval.
