Fearing another costly Ontario Municipal Board confrontation, Wellesley council cleared the way for a condominium development at 2245 Gerber Rd.
Councillors meeting Tuesday evening at council chambers in Crosshill voted in favour of the proposal, which will see the creation of a private road with eight semi-detached homes for a total of 16 new units in the vacant lot next to Gallick Packaging in the Wellesley Village settlement area.
The development proposal, first submitted by Blaze Properties Inc. in June 2013, does not require a zoning bylaw change. There were, however, a number of concerns that emerged during a September 2013 public meeting that kept the township from approving the plans at that time.
In his report to council, Wellesley planner Geoff VanderBaaren outlined the main issues community members had with the project. The main issues related to the condominiums compatibility with the surrounding neigbourhood, privacy and its potential impact on property values.
Mayor Joe Nowak reluctantly supported the project.
“Once again, we’re in the position, correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re supporting this application, and so if it were to go to the OMB, we would then have to hire another planner, he said to VanderBaaren.
“It’s very similar to the other situation,” Nowak added, referring to the 48-home development proposal near Ferris Drive, Schweitzer Crescent and Greenwood Hill Road Road that councillors first rejected last fall before backing down in February and granting approval in the face of a potential OMB showdown that could have cost some $40,000 in unrecoverable funds.
“Is the density, as far as the region is concerned, they are happy with the density?” he asked VanderBaaren. “And that probably fits in with the provincial policy statement, and all of those other regulatory things that we need to be concerned with?”
Vanderbaaren agreed that was the case.
“So I would imagine in my opinion that the chances of success in opposing this with the OMB would be minimal, and it would be very costly,” Nowak mused.
Coun. Shelley Wagner was the lone member to vote against the application.
“When this came to us the last time, I wasn’t in favour of it because I felt the density is too much,” she said. “And we had also talked about the street as well and the lack of parking space, and it doesn’t seem like anything has been changed.”
