CENTRE WELLINGTON – Another public meeting brought another apartment proposal before Centre Wellington council Wednesday, but this one was a bit different.
Council heard what Westminster Ltd. has planned for a three-acre piece of land at 77 McQueen Blvd. between Tower Street South and Aberdeen Street in the south end of Fergus.
Westminster Hills Ltd. is seeking a rezoning that would allow for a four-storey apartment building that could have up to 100 units.
This is in contrast from recent public meetings on apartment proposals where developers were seeking to build taller buildings in Downtown Fergus and Elora than the three-storeys allowed. Those meetings saw dozens of delegates most opposed and some in support who debated the merits of allowing building taller in heritage areas.
No delegates spoke for or against this proposal.
What was also different about this proposal than others, planning consultant Nancy Shoemaker explained at the meeting, was the land owners seeking rezoning will not be building.
“What they’re trying to do is designate the site for an apartment building to provide opportunities for building new residential buildings,” Shoemaker said.
This is why there was no site plan presented which would come after the land is sold and a builder has a plan.
Shoemaker said the past landowners had the site zoned institutional and it was originally intended to be a 100-unit retirement community.
“The owners of the site have seen that current market conditions indicate more independent residential apartment units are required in the community,” Shoemaker said, adding this isn’t unique to Fergus.
Coun. Barbara Evoy questioned this, noting she didn't understand why the landowner would make this change and how they could dictate what goes up if they won’t ultimately be the builder.
Shoemaker clarified they can’t dictate what’s built but through zoning can lay out what regulations a builder would have to meet to build there.
Further, she said the owners have seen no interest from anyone looking to build a retirement community and an apartment is more in line with what the province is directing in terms of building housing.
Brett Salmon, managing director of planning and development, added this has been seen before and seems to be a trend.
“COVID really made retirement homes, privately operated retirement homes, not really particularly appealing in the market,” Salmon said.
Coun. Bronwynne Wilton wondered if this development could go higher.
“I’m curious if Westminster in itself had any discussion of potentially adding a floor or two to make even more housing available in our township,” Wilton said. “This location in the township could potentially support that sort of height and provide more housing for people coming to the community or people in our community.”
Shoemaker said this wasn’t discussed because they felt 100-units could be accommodated with a four-storey building.
“To go more than 100-units on this property would have required an official plan amendment and the owners did not propose to do that,” Shoemaker said.
A decision on the zoning application will come at a later meeting.
