COMMUNITY

During a delegation from one Court Drive resident, two slides depicted the Simply Grand 2 Subdivision as it was presented by the developer in 2021 (left) and again as it is depicted on the developer’s website now (right). Both do not show the apartment buildings that will be constructed.

Neighbourhood residents were on hand to present as delegations during the open meeting Pavinder Tut and Achal Sharma, who live directly beside the to-beconstructed buildings, said they are contemplating a move because they said they were not made aware of the plans when they purchased their lot at 137 Court Drive.

‘We were assured that no plans were in place and that any future developments would align with the existing character of the neighborhood. We were led to believe that the area would see the addition of single-family homes or townhouses, similar to our own,’they said in a letter to the mayor and council Among some of their top concerns are privacy, the impact on the character of the neighbourhood, infrastructure strain, and a lack of available school space for growing families. The school board has already confirmed that schools in the area are at capacity and newer residents will need to bus their children to school in Brantford

“We hope you hear the voices today and vote against what is being proposed. You are our collective voice,” they pleaded.

Mr. Thanki, who lives down the road on Court Drive, said he was not given notice of the apartment building plans, which is a requirement of any planning applications within 120 metres of proposed plans.

“We did not receive any correspondence; we only found out about the first (building) when the application for the second one came out two months ago,” he said during his delegation

He also shared images/renderings of what the neighbourhood would look like, presented by the builder in 2021, and another image of how the ‘neighbourhood’ is currently being presented online - both renderings were absent of any apartment buildings.

He also pointed out that he isn’t against growth, noting he grew up in big cities with high density housing. What he, and some of his neighbours are asking for, is transparency and well managed development that fits the neighbourhood

Prior to the recorded vote, several councillors took the opportunity to share their thoughts on how and why they were voting.

“It’s pretty clear through our Official Plan process that the housing crisis we see around us that we need these types of units. There’s a lot of talk about affordable versus attainable. However, every single one of these units will be more affordable than what is available in this subdivision. This is a win,” said Councillor Lukas Oakley.

Councillor Jennifer Kyle echoed a lot of his comments but also pointed out that “We are mandated to grow, and we are in a housing deficit, and we need to control the sprawl into our farmland. These houses that go up instead of out are what we have to consider. We have to stop sprawling out so we can continue to feed the community,” said Kyle, a Ward 1 Councillor

Councillor Bell outright stated that he would not support this recommendation. “I think we need to step back and understand the implications to our residents. We have an obligation to our ward residents It might happen again when we see development start to happen in ward 1 (Glen Morris way),” said Bell.

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Councillors Peirce and Howes were both against the recommendation to increase density, noting they could support the original application but could not support one that would bring more residents to an already crowded neighbourhood.

“Applications are based on the approved plan at the time. At the end of the day, this application was based on the approved plan at the time –104 units. What is in front of us today does not go with the approved plan. I cannot support this,” said Peirce

Howes rejected the proposal for the same reason, saying the math just doesn’t add up. Putting too many residents in one hectare of land just doesn’t make sense. The minimum number of residents per one hectare, according to the new Official Plan, is 50. Losani’s representative confirmed this increased density would see closer to 360 people per hectare

Mayor David Bailey was the last person to speak on the subject, also nothing he couldn’t let it happen simply because the plan seemed backwards. “People who came here tonight are not against growth If we are going to build an apartment building, build it first so the houses around it have options as to what their houses will look like. It’s backwards, it’s just backwards No, I can’t support this either,” said Bailey.

The recommendation to allow more density passed 5-4. Councillors Lukas Oakley, Jennifer Kyle, John MacAlpine, David Miller and Christine Garneau voted in favour.

Councillors Steve Howes, John Bell, John Peirce and Mayor Bailey all voted against it.