Controversial severance approved for Arthur forest

ARTHUR – A forest here will be severed from a house, paving the way for a future condominium development.

Municipal planners have no concerns with the severance at 320 Smith St. (Highway 6), but that sentiment is not shared by those living near the woodlot. 

The severance was approved unanimously during a land division committee meeting on June 11, despite written objections and concerns from 25 neighbours. 

The meeting took place in downtown Guelph and 10 neighbours made the trek to share their concerns in person, noting others wanted to be there but couldn’t get away from work. 

The neighbours worked together to prepare remarks read by Louise Dingman. 

Approving the severance would permanently impact the neighbourhood, she said: the forest will disappear and along with it the benefits it brings for wildlife, carbon sequestering, drainage and water absorption, noise buffering, cooling the neighbourhood during extreme heat, providing a windbreak and pollution absorption from nearby Highway 6. 

The forest is home to peepers, frogs, rabbits, turkey vultures, owls and other birds, Dingman said, and in the springtime water flows into a small pond filled with tadpoles.  

The trees include threatened black ash, eastern white pines, sugar maples, Douglas fir, common hackberry, mountain ash, spruce and bitter cherry.

Its one of only two forested areas in Arthur, Dingman noted, and is slightly too small for an official “urban forest” designation. 

Only woodlots at least one hectare in size are protected by the county’s official plan, and though the severed lot is over a hectare, the treed area itself is not.

Neighbours are also concerned about water and wastewater capacity issues, increased density and traffic, and strains on resources such as grocery stores and schools if the development is approved. 

But the June 11 meeting was not about approving the development – just severing 1.05 hectares from an 865m² lot with a house and carport. The house will remain and the carport is to be removed.  

Van Harten land surveyor Jeff Buisman, representing property owner Shayne DeBoer of Pinestone Construction, said there is no specific zoning or planning policy protecting the forest from being severed from the lot. 

And the severance application has little bearing on the forest's fate, Buisman argued, as “the reality is, [the owners] could decide to apply for any development, whether this is severed or not.”  

Committee member and Mapleton Mayor Gregg Davidson asked if a tree preservation plan would be part of the development application, and Buisman said the owners already commissioned a consultant for one.

Committee member and Erin Mayor Michael Dehn noted the land division committee’s decision is only about the severance.

"We don’t get a say in what happens to the forest,” he said.

But Davidson wondered if the committee could include a condition on the severance application for a tree preservation plan.

Buisman said that plan is included in the site plan application the owners will submit to Wellington North.

Puslinch Mayor and committee chair James Seeley suggested adding a condition for county planners to confirm a tree preservation plan would be required, but other members did not seem supportive and the condition was not voted on. 

Neighbour June Kirk said the people who live at the corner of Smith and Conestoga Streets are concerned that if the condos are built their house will have roads on three sides. Somalingam Prabhakaran asked how his neighbours would live like that.

“They’d just have to become accustomed to having roads on three sides,” Seeley said, as there’s nothing in the planning rules to prevent it. 

Buisman argued it wouldn’t be a road built along that property, but a private driveway leading to the condominium, and a fence could be built as a buffer. 

Buisman and the owners did not answer when Dingman asked how many units the condominium development may have. Seeley encouraged them to do so outside of the meeting.

The owners did not respond to an Advertiser request seeking that information.

Alana Simpson, 17, spoke during the meeting on behalf of neighbourhood kids, who would be “distraught” if the trees and wildlife were removed. 

Guelph/Eramosa Mayor Chris White said while he has “all the empathy in the world” for neighbours’ concerns about wildlife, “the problem is, this is a planning situation, so it has to be based on planning rules.” 

He encouraged the owners to consider the quality of life in the neighbourhood, and how saving some trees would add value to their condos.

White said a tree preservation plan sometimes means “leaving one little maple in the corner,” and he hopes the owners will do more than that. 

He suggested leaving a buffer of trees between neighbours and the development, which he said would “go a long way for community good ... but that’s unfortunately not relevant to the Planning Act.”  

White said, “I’m making a plea, on a philosophical basis, that your intention here be to preserve as many trees as possible, as opposed to clear-cutting because it’s easier to build.”  

In order to move forward with the development, the owners will need to submit a site plan application to Wellington North Township.