ERIN – The land owner and developer of a massive planned subdivision in Erin has filed an appeal with the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) over recently approved changes to the town’s zoning bylaw the appellants say will reduce the number of lots that can be created.
The appellants are the owners of nearly 300 acres of land located north of Dundas Street East, south of Wellington Road 124 and east and west of 10th Line.
The lands are being developed by Solmar Development Corp. as the Erin Glen Community which will eventually see around 1,400 mixed housing units, parks and green space, and large swaths of industrial or commercial space. In 2021, the Land Planning Appeal Tribunal approved an official plan amendment, zoning bylaw amendment and draft plan of subdivision that would pave the way for this large mixed development.
Specifically, the developers have taken issue with the size requirement of daylight triangles on corner lots at nine metres. Daylight triangles are areas on corner lots free of buildings, structures, plants or obstacles to maintain sight lines for drivers and pedestrians.
The daylight triangle is determined by measuring nine metres in each direction from the intersection of the front and exterior side lot lines and connecting these points to form a triangle.
On March 9, Erin council passed an updated zoning bylaw which included these requirements but went against a planning recommendation to reduce this size requirement to six metres at intersections of two local streets or a local street and collector street.
Coun. Bridget Ryan put forward an amendment to maintain all daylight triangles at nine metres in size in a 3-2 vote.
In a notice of appeal, the appellants argue these standards go against the recommendation of planning staff, do not represent good land use planning and are not in the public interest.
They say the requirement is excessive and can not be accommodated on lots with smaller frontages.
“The zoning bylaw amendment’s larger daylight triangle standard would require larger than necessary lot sizes for corner lots and would reduce the number of lots that can be accommodated on the appellant lands, resulting in an efficient use of land and infrastructure contrary to policy direction at the provincial, county and town level,” the notice states.
"A reduced daylight triangle of 6.0m for intersections with local streets and collector streets will not impact visibility for drivers and pedestrians or create any adverse impacts on traffic operations and will provide sufficient room for snow storage."
No dates have been set for a hearing.
