Accelerating

Base31 plans endorsed by council

Council gave an emphatic thumbs up to Base31 last week. Specifically, it endorsed the developer’s Area Concept Plan in principle and vowed to ask the province for approval for the Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator (CIHA).

This program is part of the Province’s strategy to streamline building more homes and develop the infrastructure to support it. The proponent says such streamlining will help address “urgently needed affordable housing” and “facilitate the restoration and repurposing of the original base buildings”.

The CIHA “replaces local zoning to regulate the use of land and the location, use, size, and spacing of buildings and structures to permit certain types of development.”

The CIHA order is intended to expedite priority developments such as health, long-term care, any type of housing, transportation infrastructure, employment development, and mixed-use development.

If a CIHA order is made by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, it will apply to 30 hectares of the Base31 proponent’s site. The proponents have committed that a minimum of five per cent of housing units will be affordable, which is defined as 80 per cent of market rents.

While most council members were keen to grasp the opportunity for affordable housing, some were apprehensive about embarking on an uncertain and still largely undefined path.

The report was asking them to endorse plans with “the understanding that the finer details of the land use and infrastructure are going to be addressed in parallel processes in the coming months”.

Some wanted more assurances. Where would they get water? Would the housing truly be affordable? And were there other ways to measure affordability?

Councillor Janice Maynard said she supported the plans in principle. Still, she worries Council may be ceding too much authority too soon and without apparent means to ensure housing is affordable and the heritage preserved.

Stantec Consulting’s Stephen Willis said the site is difficult, and the developer needs to build homes to support affordable housing and preserve the heritage at the site. “It is reasonable that we are trying to facilitate early development component consistent with the Picton urban Secondary Plan, which has been in place 14 years or so,” said Willis. “Getting this early part done—getting development started to support affordable housing and pay for revitalizing the heritage. It’s a combined package and opportunity.”

Shire Hall Chief Administrative Officer Marcia Wallace attempted to fill the gaps, particularly regarding water.

“I understand there wasn’t a lot of detail about servicing in this report, but that is because, speaking to the head of engineering and head of water, we do not have a capacity issue in Picton,” said CAO Wallace. “There is not an issue of running out of water.”

Wallace added that Base31 is investing in pipes and infrastructure to tie into the Picton water system and wanted to know that Council supported their plans.

“Base31 is going to invest in a bunch of pipes to get servicing to their site,” said Wallace. “They wanted some assurance that it wasn’t a waste of time.”

The CAO said she appreciated that Council still has questions, but needed to guage interest in pursuing a fast-track path.

“I am not comfortable going out for public consultation with the proponent talking about fasttrack model if we don’t know if Council has an interest in that,” said Wallace.

Given the many open-ended questions, Wallace offered to amend the motion before Council on Wednesday.

“I also agree that you have identified a lot of questions around affordability and the willingness of the proponent to take that into consideration and that the details aren’t all worked out,” said Wallace. “That is intentional because we want the consultation to mean something. Perhaps we come back with what we learned from the community and greater detail about the proponent’s plans.”

But a majority of Council decided it wasn’t necessary. “I support the motion as it is and hope we get on with it,” said Bill Roberts, councillor for Sophiasburgh. Mayor Steve Ferguson echoed the sentiment.

“ I, too, support the motion as it is,” said Mayor Ferguson. “Base31 provided a masterclass in public consultation.”

And with that Base31 had its answer.