WELLINGTON NORTH – An Arthur housing developer is taking the Township of Wellington North to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) because the township has not made a decision on a zoning application fast enough.
North Arthur Developments Inc. has made an appeal over its application to build about 200 homes in the northern area of Arthur on land west of Eliza and Tucker Street, north of the former railway corridor and south of the future Macaulay Street. The land is municipally known as 510 Eliza St. and currently has a two-storey industrial building.
The developer has appealed due to the failure of the township to make a decision on the zoning application within the statutory timeframe, an appeal letter dated Oct. 16 stated. The Planning Act gives approval authorities 90 days to make a decision on zoning bylaw amendments and 120 days for official plan amendments.
The application was first submitted to the township on March 16, 2021 to facilitate a residential and mixed-use subdivision with 183 single homes, 16 townhouses, one medium/high density block, one mixed-use block, two walkway blocks with pedestrian paths, one stormwater management block, two future development blocks and new local roads.
In response to changes from OPA 119’s approval and comments from the township, county, public and other authorities, the applicant resubmitted its rezoning request on June 29, 2023 with the proposal’s intensity reduced to 155 singles, 57 townhouses, a stormwater management pond and six public streets.
A draft plan of subdivision will be submitted to the County of Wellington at a later date, according to the appeal letter.
The County of Wellington is also being taken to the OLT by the developer because of inconsistencies the appeal letter said stem from the province’s approval of OPA 119 in April 2023 and a failure to make a decision within the statutory timeframe.
OPA 119, among other things, redesignated the subject lands from industrial to designated greenfield area. The letter said the revised application conforms to this but the subject lands are still shown to be industrial in the County of Wellington Official Plan’s schedule for the Village of Arthur.
The appeal stated this proposal conforms to applicable township, county and provincial plans to provide housing within a town’s urban boundaries and represent good planning.
The applicant has requested both appeals be heard together for efficiency purposes.
