PUSLINCH – The township is considering designating land south of the 401 and east of Concession 7 as employment lands after hearing public feedback and information from its hydrogeologist.
While council did not formally approve option D as the preferred site on April 16, it did give it the nod, as well as agreeing to add two other sites as future employment lands as NPG Planning Solutions prepares its final report on the matter.
NPG president Mary Lou Tanner told council feedback from a public meeting on Feb. 26 pointed overwhelmingly to options A and D as the preferred options.
Further consultation with the hydrogeologist essentially eliminated options A, B and C because of the aquifer and how development on those sites could impact surrounding wells. He preferred options G, H and D.
Option D was preferred by NPG because of its size, its access to main transportation routes and its visibility from Highway 401.
“It has better road access, is very large, and that allows more flexibility when it comes to site design and managing buffers,” Tanner explained.
She sought permission from council to designate options G and H as future strategic growth areas at the same time as designating option D as employment lands.
It’s less costly to do now rather than wait until the designated employment lands are fully developed, she said. And it puts the township in a better position should a developer choose to take the township to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).
“It signals to the market and the OLT where you want to go,” Tanner said.
Options G and H are both north of the 401 near the new exit from the Hanlon Expressway, with G north of Wellington Road 34 and H across the road on the south side.
There are currently some minimum separation distance requirements that would rule out industrial development now, but those could be addressed by the time the township needs more employment land, Tanner said.
“They are good options for the future,” she said.
Councillors were cautious. There is a residential node adjacent to option D and councillor Sara Bailey asked if the official plan amendment could increase the buffer between the two uses.
Tanner said the province has set the buffering distance to 70 metres, “but there will be buffering on the employment side as well,” she said.
Those kinds of decisions will be made during the site plan phase of an application, she said.
“We need to be in the driver’s seat of growth,” said Mayor James Seeley. “Then we can control what growth comes.”
“We can put policies in the official plan amendment about the future employment lands,” Tanner said. “It could be rural employment, which is different (from industrial). We can put in a lot of guardrails.”
Council has previously talked about “prestige industrial” as a desirable type of industry to have in the township.
In the end council received Tanner’s report for information, approved the recommendation to include options G and H as future strategic growth areas, and to make the hydrogeologist’s report available for viewing on the township’s website for residents who expressed concern about water safety at the public meeting.
NPG will now prepare the official plan amendment policies and mapping based on option D, with G and H as future growth areas.
Tanner will return to council with a report for final approval when this last phase of the project is complete.
Councillor John Sepulis declared a pecuniary interest and did not participate in discussion.
