Comment
Bystanders
Billboards have sprouted on Consecon Street and Belleville Road, proclaiming the coming Cork and Vine housing development across the top of Wellington. One thousand, three hundred and seventy-one new homes. One developer. It is not the story we were told. It’s not what we agreed to.
Once there were four developers competing to build out Wellington. Now the fate of this village resides with a single developer.
Worse, we only learned of this turn of events from marketing billboards erected in the farm fields north of the village. No announcement from Shire Hall. None from either developer. No explanation about what it means to the expensive waterworks upgrades. We have become bystanders in a development that will forever change this village. (Note: Details regarding the upfront development charges arrangements were provided to the Times at our deadline. They are spelled out in the story on page 3.)
Deals are being made behind closed doors. Deals that bind waterworks users across the County to a precarious and unknown outcome. Waterworks consumers are on the hook for a $100 million upgrade to the system, yet we have no means to know if, how or when developers will pay their share. We have been cut out of the most profound set of decisions to have ever come before this community.
Shire Hall confirmed that Kaitlin has acquired the Fields of Wellington, a residential development project promoted by Alan Hirschfield. It means that Kaitlin now controls all the developable land north of the Millennium Trail to the dump from Consecon Street to beyond Belleville Road. Suddenly, Kaitlin has accumulated the levers to control the future of Wellington. Not residents. Not businesses. Not Shire Hall.
In August 2020, Shire Hall imposed an interim control bylaw blocking any new residential subdivision applications. They did so to close the wicket on new subdivision applications, giving themselves time to review the secondary plan.
This had the effect of giving the four developers already in the queue a significant competitive advantage. A select club of developers was permitted to negotiate the terms of upfront development charges payments required to fund the expansion of the village’s waterworks. Who would pay what and when? In exchange, they would get assurance that they would get access to the system.
One of these developers stayed on the sidelines. Another dropped out of the process about two months ago. A third, Hirschfield’s Fields of Wellington, was acquired by Kaitlin last month. That leaves one. Suddenly a single developer has emerged with all the power. Once we had leverage. It has slipped away.
Hirschfield’s project featured a mix of housing formats—singles, towns, semis, link homes and a mid-rise apartment building. Hirschfield also proposed selling some homes that were finished on the exterior but unfinished inside to make these homes more affordable to first-time homebuyers. They were ideas born out of competition—to win approval in the community and at Shire Hall. Now that competition is gone.
Mayor Ferguson says he is reassured that Kaitlin intends to keep Hirschfield’s design and concept for that portion of the development. Words are easy. Competition is a better motivator.
Shire Hall now sits across the table from a more powerful adversary. Taken together, the proposals from Kaitlin and Hirschfield indicate about 1,371 new homes spread across the top of the village. Let’s assume half are two bedrooms or less; the remainder is three bedrooms or more. Roughly speaking, that means Kaitlin is obligated to pay about $20 million upfront for development charges.
Work is already underway on a water tower and trunk lines to serve this new development. One side of this partnership has become immensely more powerful.
In a heartbeat, everything has become harder to do. Managing the pace of growth. Ensuring the design of the communities fits with the village. Enforcing the secondary plan. Keeping Belleville Road from becoming a hideous collection of strip plazas and commercial buildings.
Everything will be tougher to do with a single developer. Particularly one which we rely upon to fund the largest portion of the waterworks expansion.
I remind readers that I believe, and continue to believe, that expanding the housing supply is the remedy for an increasingly unaffordable housing market in Wellington and Prince Edward County. But not this. Never this. It is time to apply the brakes. If, that is, we have any brakes left.
According to this realtor’s website of the project: https://www.condoroyalty.com/cork-and-vine , prices will start at $899,900.00.
The author of this editorial say “it is time to apply the brakes. If, that is, we have any brakes left.” Kaitlin has had its portion of the land for years and has proposed a variety of projects for that land. Nothing was built as until quite recently there was no economic incentive to build. Now Kaitlin sees a market and is moving forward. We should not have any expectation that these homes will affordable in the sense that we would like them to be. According to a recent report construction costs have increased over 25% in the last short while. Meanwhile interest rates have increased and the major housing markets, i.e. Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal have seen fewer sales and lower listings. With the end to the OMB, there is very little left to slow down or stop a development. If there is another Conservative provincial government, it is likely that policy will continue to be pro builder. If the economic case for it can be made, the development will proceed because that is the land development business.
Well, Rick you are getting what you have been asking for for years. Be careful what to ask for.