Severance approved for four new Mount Forest townhouses
Councillors Renken, Burke oppose split
WELLINGTON NORTH – Four new Mount Forest townhouses are set to be separated into four different properties.
Wellington North council approved a part lot control exemption to allow for the split during an April 7 meeting, but not without debate.
The two-bedroom bungalow townhouses by Wilson Developments are currently under construction at 345 Duhram St. E, a couple blocks east of Main Street, and are expected to sell for between $500,000 and $530,000 each.
The split conforms with county and provincial policy.
Councillor Penny Renken said, “I realize that the process of severing townhouses into individual units is provincially approved, but I don’t think it’s fair for the province to force such mandates on every region.
“What is suitable for urban regions is not necessarily suitable for rural ones.”
She added, “The people that live in rural areas do so because of our small-town feeling and when you are squashing in townhouses and then severing them into individual units that doesn’t give the rural feeling.”
During an Aug. 24 public meeting about the development, neighbours expressed concerns about the townhouses changing the community’s character and rural feel.
When council unanimously approved a rezoning to permit the development on Oct. 6, Mayor Andy Lennox said the development strikes a good balance between providing needed housing and maintaining the neighbourhood’s character.
Council approved a site specific exemption allowing 9m minimum front yard setbacks, but the townhouses were built with setbacks of 7.57m instead, which an engineer representing Wilson Developments said was a mistake.
Council unanimously approved the setback of 7.57m on March 9 without discussion.
“We passed the bylaws in keeping with our conception of what we would like to see in our area,” Renken said on April 7.
From her perspective, “Developers must know beforehand that they are planing to do this so that they can squeeze in another unit – but in doing that I really don’t think they respect us, or our area, or our bylaws, so I’m not going to be able to support it.”
While councillor Sherry Burke did not join in the discussion, she did vote against approving the part lot control exemption.
However, Lennox and councillors Steve McCabe and Lisa Hern were in support, so the exemption was approved.
