Of barn doors and horses

New planning process comes too late for Picton neighbourhood

Shire Hall knows it doesn’t manage big planning files well. It understands that no one is happy with the current process—not developers, residents or planners. In response, it has proposed a list of changes, including a reordering of the steps large planning files must take before they are considered by the planning committee or Council.

On the council table last week was an overhaul of the planning “process map”.

In simple terms, it means it will be up to developers to conduct public information sessions rather than Shire Hall staff. They will be urged to hold such meetings well before the Statutory Public meeting and before the file comes to Council. In this way, developers can hear concerns and questions firsthand and then attempt to resolve or mitigate the public’s worries. Only when that process is completed will the file be prepared and evaluated by Shire Hall staff and then presented for approval by the planning committee or Council.

On its face, it seems like a good plan. Make developers do the front-end public relations while dedicating planning resources to the files once they have filtered through the public conversation. It may result in a different type of logjam—but it does transfer the onus of getting it right with the neighbours properly onto the developers’ shoulders. In theory, it should alleviate Council’s role as the default voice of opposition.

So, all in all, a good proposal. It was approved by the planning committee with ease. It will most likely have received Council approval last evening.

But here is the thing. There was a big and prickly file on the same agenda last week. A file that could have benefited from a better process.

NICHOLAS STREET
A developer is proposing to convert a tree-covered and open space near Delhi Park in Picton to a residential complex—paving the way for a three-storey 98- unit apartment complex, six townhomes and two semi-detached homes. If it is ever built, the plan promises that more than half the units will be affordable and the project within easy walking to the town core and parkland. There is much to commend it.

Council, stricken by their own inability to get affordable housing projects off the ground and the knowledge they have been dragging their feet for 15 years, is eager to fix past wrongs. Maybe a bit too eager. In this way Council risks overlooking proper scrutiny and diminishing the impact on the neighbouring community.

Council gets just one shot at reviewing such plans under the province’s rules.

The Nicholas Street project seems just the sort of file that would have benefited from the new process map. But that didn’t happen. And, sadly, now it won’t happen.

There are issues. With every big file, there are always issues. The bigger and closer the more plentiful and pointed the concerns tend to emerge.

The notion of building 98 apartments and other housing on a wooded hillside next to parkland and cemeteries brings an extensive portfolio of worries. Traffic. Road conditions. Parking. Sidewalks. Loss of green space and stormwater runoff lead a long list. When one of the neighbours is a Catholic graveyard folks are going to be sensitive about where water goes.

“Water and cemeteries don’t mix,” noted Pat Heffernan on behalf of Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Who will pay for road improvements? Sidewalks? Will this be left to taxpayers yet again?

Who will protect the tree canopy? Who will ensure only the minimum number of trees are removed?

John Cockburn had a more fundamental question: What is the point of protections enshrined in Secondary Plans and Official Plans if a developer and planning staff can simply override them?

Does simply saying the words “affordable housing” remove time-tested protections?

Francine Landry noted there is already mixed-use housing in her neighbourhood.

“A developer offering affordable housing should not be given carte blanche.”

Most speakers acknowledged the need for affordable housing, while some would prefer it be located somewhere else than their neighbourhood. But most genuinely worry that Shire Hall can’t and won’t protect them from big developers—that it has neither the means nor motivation to ensure developers do what they say they will do. Many fear they will be in a poorer position without recourse to the municipality.

The proponent on this file has successfully shepherded a couple of files through the County’s planning department including the Fields of Wellington subdivision.

Wellington councillor Corey Engelsdorfer asked Alan Hirschfield if he was going to flip the property once it had planning approval.

“There was another project locally that you started and got the community onboard by presenting a very good plan. Once it got to draft plan, you sold the land,” said Engelsdorfer. “Are you committed to see this through to the end?

Hirschfield assured the councillor that he was. He blamed the decision to sell the Wellington project on a former partner.

Other council members wanted to be assured that the promised affordable apartments would happen. To do this, the developer will rely upon funding approvals from Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Hirschfield assured the meeting that the project is “well along in this regard.” And that large loans were already pre-approved.

Mayor Steve Ferguson sought a bit more comfort.

“Back to the funding, you are reasonably confident, very confident that this funding will come through?” asked Mayor Ferguson, understanding that without it, the “affordable” bit falls apart.

Yes,” said Hirschfield. “This is small for CMHC. Because of our experience. I am sure there won’t be any surprises.”

Council approved the planning changes, enabling the project to proceed.

UPSHOT
So, there is a wide range of concerns, combined with an important opportunity to create affordable housing within walking distance of the town’s core. Many competing and compelling issues and interests.

But this meeting was the last time the public or Council had to weigh in. It was the last opportunity to shake out the plans, find weak spots and work toward solutions—out in the sunlight.

After this meeting, it slips behind closed doors and will proceed through site plan approvals out of sight. The remaining regulatory approvals are negotiated between the developer and planning staff only. It will not come back to Council for any decision. They are out. So, too, is the community.

If only there were a better way to manage such large, generational planning files. In a tragic bit of closing-doors-after-the-horses-have-fled-the-barn, Council approved the new and improved process later in the meeting.

But by then, the developer was gone. He had his approval. Neighbours and the resting denizens of Mount Olivet can now only hope for the best.

MORATORIUM
Later in the meeting, Council approved a moratorium on new residential planning applications for Picton, Bloomfield and Wellington for up to two years. The decision is a tacit admission the municipality has more projects on paper than it can serve with existing infrastructure. It needs time to assess its capacity and determine how to pay for it.

But it has time. According to the accompanying report, the Picton has water supply sufficient for 2,200 more units. It has wastewater processing capacity of 340 units. Wellington, meanwhile, is said to be constrained by its wastewater plant to about 335 units. Collectively, it means that developers currently have a runway of more than 700 units in Prince Edward County—or nearly five years of capacity at the current new homebuilding rate.

The municipality has bought itself time to measure the uptake of new housing starts in Prince Edward County before making more staggeringly expensive decisions.