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Infill freeze
At least three builders want to build infill home projects in Wellington. Apartments, townhomes and commercial/retail. Dozens of them south of the Millennium Trail. But none are moving ahead. None will be permitted to proceed for years. Each has been blocked by Shire Hall.
Meanwhile, a large developer with deep pockets is set to build homes north of the Millennium Trail in the new year. They plan to line Belleville Road with strip malls and big box stores to serve this new adjunct town.
But it gets worse. The developer has purchased the right from Shire Hall to build hundreds of their new homes north of the Trail while effectively blocking other developers’ infill plans south of the Trail. It has done so by controlling the waterworks capacity, with the aid and agreement of Shire Hall. It wanted to purchase certainty. Shire Hall sold it to them. Against the goals and directives spelled out in Wellington’s Secondary Plan.
SOME BACKGROUND
Shire Hall had a growing problem. The demand for new homebuilding in Wellington became intense at the end of the last decade. It was contorting the resale market and sending prices skyrocketing. But there were constraints on the waterworks system. Arguably more theoretical than actual—save for heavy rain days.
Yet there were already complaints about water pressure, particularly in Wellington on the Lake. New subdivisions would make the issue worse. Furthermore, the waterworks distribution system runs in a straight line parallel to Main Street—where the homes are. But this isn’t ideal—it is preferred, operationally, that such plumbing flow in a loop. Luckily, developers had plans for perhaps thousands of new homes north of the Trail, so this was the moment to create the desired circle. In this vision, logic suggested brand new plants for both water and wastewater. All of it with an eye that one day, Wellington water might flow to serve Bloomfield and Picton.
As waterworks planning goes, it made sense on paper. That is until the cost estimate came in. $100 million. Never mind that Shire Hall’s track record on capital works is such that this estimate is undoubtedly low, and the final price will be much higher. Indeed the water tower was forecast to cost $7 million. The only bid came in 55 per cent higher than the estimate. It was later negotiated downward but still 33 per cent more than the predicted cost. A foreboding start to a big expensive infrastructure project.
In other circumstances, the initial price shock might have caused a rethink. A pause to re-evaluate. Consultation with residents. And waterworks customers. For this—the cost, the execution risk, the market risk—is all on them, the current waterworks customers.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, Shire Hall pressed on.
In an inspired stroke, it devised a plan to extract funding from developers in advance. Essentially it was an arrangement by which developers pay a portion of future development charges upfront. In exchange, the municipality would grant the developer certainty of access to waterworks capacity. But there was a critical and perilous trade-off.
By gobbling up the remaining waterworks capacity, it blocks other builders for the foreseeable future—at least until the plants and works have all been built. In this misty far-off future, “there will be room for everyone to connect.” Until then, however, no new home projects south of the Millennium Trail. That is the deal Shire Hall has made on our behalf.
Shire Hall argues it is not a freeze on infill development, but instead evaluating plans on a case-by-case basis. However, it acknowledged to The Times that it would only recommend approval of new infill homebuilding plans if it replaces existing buildings with similar capacity. In short, Shire Hall will look at new home plans, but won’t approve any unless they displace other homes. Not the ideal way to solve the housing crisis in Prince Edward County.
But here is the critical bit: all of this, the deal with Kaitlin, the freeze on infill development in Wellington, and the preference given to housing and commercial development north of the Millennium Trail, run diametrically opposed to Wellington’s Secondary Plan. It was discarded, not by you or me, but by Shire Hall.
Some smart folks believe Wellington’s Secondary Plan was deficient in its outlook for services. It is an idea that has seized the next generation of planners and development folk now resident at Shire Hall.
But it was written by this community, for this community. Flawed or not, it should have been respected. It should not have been discarded simply because a developer offered to pay upfront what it would have been obliged to pay in any event.
To be clear, the deal with Kaitlin may yet prove an innovative strategic move. It may ease the financing burden of massively upgrading Wellington’s waterworks. It may pave the way to balancing housing supply with demand. But selling out Wellington’s Secondary Plan for cash upfront is a worrying way to start a long-term relationship with a powerful developer.
Yet it is the residents of this village that will have to live with the consequences, good or bad. It is the 4,000 waterworks customers who will bear all the financial risk.
We should have been part of the conversation. It was our trade-off to make. Not Shire Hall. We must be part of the conversation.
The next council must make a customer-driven waterworks commission a priority.
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