The Town of The Blue Mountains is leaning towards pursuing an attainable housing project on land near Clarksburg donated to the community by resident Tom Kritsch.
At its committee of the whole meeting on Aug. 14, council voted unanimously to move to the next stage of accepting the donation of 25 acres of land on Arthur Taylor Lane from the Kritsch family.
Council approved a resolution to collaborate with Grey County and the provincial government on a possible attainable housing project for the land, it authorized further negotiations to acquire another 25 acres of property from the Kritsch family (the family has offered to donate 25 acres to the town and also give the town the option to purchase a further 25 acres) at the site and approved $75,000 to proceed with the next step of the land transfer and to prepare for a visioning process for two properties the Kritsch family is donated to the town
In June, council also approved moving forward with another potential donation of land from the Kritsch family adjacent to the Tomahawk golf course complex.
CAO Shawn Everitt called the Arthur Taylor Lane land “a pretty interesting piece of property.”
“It really does suit the potential of a housing project on it,” said Everitt.
Coun. Gail Ardiel, who chaired two working groups that considered the donation offers, thanked the Kritsch family for their generosity and said she expects things to happen on the land.
“We could get something moving very quickly on that,” said Ardiel.
Both Kritsch and his legal representative Harold Tressler attended the meeting and briefly spoke to council.
“We’re going to help Tom hopefully bring this gift to a conclusion,” said Tressler.
Everitt told council that should the donation and land transfer proceed, the next step would be to take a look at the property to see what can happen on the land. The CAO said the property has four different types of zoning on it.
“We will look at the whole property holistically. There are a lot of things on the go with this piece of property,” said Everitt.
Mayor Andrea Matrosovs thanked the Kritsch family for their commitment to the community.
“We very much appreciate your participation and your willingness to be creative and open about how these parcels can be utilized,” she said.
