‘Hamstrung by province’

Dear Editor:

Last week I attended the information night at the Belwood townhall.

Almost all of the questions that I was prepared to ask concerned, “Is it possible for the township or county to legislate builders to modify or change houses to comply with requests in subdivisions?”

 The answer was “No.” As long as the builder complies with the building code and the zoning he is generally immune to town requests. 

The builder may put in a sump pump, but nothing says a one way back up valve is required. You may want an accessible house, but if the builder does not have any in the production house plans for the subdivision, the you are out of luck. Builders will make minor changes, such as the back up valve, at the request of the customer. 

What I came away with is that in many areas that seem logical, the town is hamstrung by the province.

Chris Woode,
Fergus