Dividing line

A road runs along the eastern edge of Wellington on the Lake. This street, Aletha (not Athena, not Aleta, not Eurethra) Drive, is owned by the company that developed the residential neighbourhood. Another developer is looking to build homes on the vacant land to the east. This prospective developer is not permitted to use this road. Even though it was built to municipal scale and standards, it is not a municipal street—it remains the property of the other developer.

As such, the abutting builder must either create a duplicate street beside the existing street or build homes backing onto Aletha. Aside from looking like an obvious mistake, creating a parallel street defeats the density ambition that begets affordability. Further, erecting a line of homes with backyards facing the street is obviously wrong. It looks wrong. It feels wrong. It is wrong. Certainly, the residents overlooking this stretch of Aletha aren’t thrilled by the prospect.

So it was an understandably confused council member who asked County Planning staff last week why this hadn’t been figured out. Why wasn’t planning staff sitting down with both parties and striking a deal to ensure street-facing homes on either side of Aletha.

“We asked,” responded Mike Michaud, Director of Planning. “They told us to go fly a kite.”

Full stop.

There’s much to unpack here. We might ask how the municipality has public infrastructure (roads, waterworks, and such) that it doesn’t own and control. Arguably, the municipality will be left picking up the pieces if and when something goes wrong with these assets. Wouldn’t it be better to work toward controlling this infrastructure in an orderly and professional way? Rather than in a panic, such as when bacteria was found in the Wellington on the Lake water system last summer. Confusion reigned for days. Followed by much finger-pointing. It wasn’t ideal.

But there are other problems: Building new homes in an established neighbourhood is always fraught with challenges. Predictably, there are the not-in-my-backyard folks. There are the infrastructure hoops. Navigating a swamp of regulations. Wading through costly studies.

But on top of this mound, we are erecting a new barrier? Private streets. I doubt many residents wish to see gated communities proliferate in the County. But this is what private streets do—keep one kind in and another kind out.

Wellington’s secondary plan expressly prescribes rich interconnection between neighbourhoods—walkways, bicycle paths and yes, even roads—to discourage isolated enclaves. To encourage mobility and mutual interest across the village.

So here is the big thing.

Make it happen. Just make it happen. “He told me to fly a kite” cannot be the last word.

Using my children’s language, the County has agency. Shire Hall isn’t a helpless and vulnerable bystander. It has levers it to prod anyone doing business in the County to come to the table.

Somewhere along the way, planning in Ontario devolved into a mostly tick-the-box exercise. Does it meet this or that test? If not, the file is denied. If so, it must be approved. Otherwise, a tribunal will make the ultimate decision. The result is a municipal planning bureaucracy that has largely been stripped of independent thought. Of its own decision-making power. Of hard negotiating. In this context, there is simply no incentive for pounding out the bare-knuckle trade-offs needed to ensure the hard corners of the square pegs fit into the round holes. Instead, it’s about moving files through the machine.

The County has immense power over municipal land use. Ask anyone who has gone before the planning committee wanting to build a garage. Or to sever a lot for their children. Or build ten homes. More tears are spilled at planning meetings than weddings at St. Mary Magdelene across the street. Every month, residents, many of whom have never been to Shire Hall before, discover that the bureaucracy and 14 council members hold the power to crush their dreams.

A better use of this power is to work for the community. To make sensible decisions. Use your power to compel both developers to come to the table. Use your power to hammer out a deal that makes sense for this community—now and for the next 50 years.

Don’t allow a previous planning mistake to become permanent and made worse simply because a developer rebuffed your initial inquiry. The owner of Aletha needs something from Shire Hall. Today or tomorrow. Even the most hostile of foes must find ways to sit down and negotiate.

It is well past time Shire Hall flexed its muscles with developers to ensure that building happens in the interest of this community. This requires much more than a shrug of the shoulders.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca