MAPLETON – A former nursing home on a rural property east of Lebanon is set to be converted into up to eight apartments.
Mapleton council passed a bylaw amendment permitting the conversion at 6369 Wellington Road 9 on May 27, two weeks after a public meeting about the proposal.
The site-specific bylaw permits converting the former nursing home into five units, and building a future addition with up to three more units.
It also permits the already-existing four-unit apartment building on the property.
During the public meeting on May 13, councillor Lori Woodham said she’s okay with the nursing home being converted into five apartments, but she draws the line at the future addition.
But there was no discussion of this during the May 27 meeting, and council voted unanimously in support of the bylaw amendment.
A motion was passed on May 13 to direct township planners to discuss minimum distance separation (MDS) calculations for the property with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA).
Councillors had hoped an exemption could be made so that if neighbouring agricultural properties wanted to expand their operations, MDS calculations for the new apartment building would not apply.
OMAFA does not support this exemption. Planner Linda Redmond summarized OMAFA’s comments in a report: “MDS can only be addressed for buildings that are currently existing or have a building permit issued.
“Staff cannot apply an MDS setback to uses that do not exist and/or make assumptions about future livestock locations or dwelling locations.”
The report continues, “MDS setbacks are used to reduce odour conflicts by separating incompatible uses.
“When considering the broader context and the potential for cumulative impacts over the long term, staff must be cognizant that granting a reduction in MDS could lead to future applications to reduce or vary MDS setbacks particularly on lands where a variance has been granted, and a further barn expansion is required,” it states.
“Allowing for reductions to MDS setbacks can increase the potential for land use conflicts and undermine the intent of MDS policies.”
For MDS calculations, the nursing home/eight-unit apartment building is considered a type-A use.
The report includes an image showing that the five closest livestock facilities to the subject property all have at least two buildings with type-A use on neighbouring properties that are closer than the subject property.
Because of the above, councilor Marlene Ottens noted that council’s extensive discussion about MDS during the public meeting “was kind of a moot discussion.
“And I guess the lesson learned here for us moving forward is not to approve … ‘complicated circumstances’ or whatever we referred to it as last time.
“It’s a complicated one, but it’s there, so we have to deal with it as it is and the project that they have going – I think is doable,” Ottens said.
“So we just have to accept the decisions that were made in the past,” she added, referring to the nursing home being allowed in the first place.
Site’s history
Redmond’s report outlined the history of the property.
The nursing home has been there since 1988, and the four-unit apartment building since 1993.
In 1997, a zoning bylaw amendment was approved to permit an addition to the nursing home.
The property with the nursing home and apartment building was severed from its surrounding farm land in 2014, under surplus farm dwelling policies.
At this time a bylaw was passed to restrict residential development on the farmland.
The farmers who own that severed agricultural land are opposed to the nursing home being converted into an apartment building for a range of reasons, including MDS calculations potentially limiting their ability to expand in the future, and safety and nuisance concerns including increased traffic, trespassing and dumping.
