By James Matthews

A proposed condo development in Dysart earned favour at the township council table.

LRC Campbell Ltd. has plans for a condominium development of five residential lots and one common condo block.

Kris Orsan, the township’s planning manager, said requirements have been met and he recommended that township council give the proposal its nod of approval.

He said an environmental impact study has been carried out that yielded recommendations to protect the property’s environmental values and to minimize possible disruption by the development.

The proposed lots will be serviced by municipal sewage services, with each lot having one or more private wells. The sewage service connection will be established as a condition of the consent application. That will require an easement over the adjacent lands to the south of Curry Motors to facilitate access to municipal services at County Road 21.

This block will encompass a pair of existing driveways to access from Mallard Road and County Road 21 by way of 5121 County Road 21, which is the Independent Grocer location.

Orsan said all proposed lots will utilize the north-south driveway for access, with Lot 5 also fronting onto and having potential access from the mutual driveway.

To maintain proper traffic flow and prevent unintended access through the Curry Motors property, measures will be implemented to restrict vehicles between the proposed lots and the auto dealership.

Specifically, the existing access through 5065 County Road 21 will be closed to through-traffic so it won’t be used as a shortcut between Mallard Road and County Road 21.

The privately maintained condominium road will give access through two entrances. One will be adjacent to Mallard Road at the north. The other will be at the entrance to Independent Grocers at the south of the subject lands.

The agreement with the township will require the developer to install a multi-use path during construction of the common element condominium road to address transportation to the proposed lots.

Prior to final approval, the owner has to use up to two per cent of the land for a municipal park. The township can also opt to forego that park space in favour of two per cent of the land’s value.

The Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks has no concerns about the proposed plans, Orsan said.

“Other than noting some on-site natural features that will be addressed through the approval process,” he said.

The subject lands generally slope from west to east. Much of the subject property has a subdued topography, with such areas generally corresponding to land cleared and altered in the past.

Naturally forested lands towards the edges of the property tend to have a more rugged terrain. This includes a hilly area in a mixed forest and higher topography grades at the very northwest corner of the property and lower at this community’s south boundary with the cultural meadow.

It also includes a knoll within the mixed forest in the property’s eastern portion. Bedrock exposure is more common in areas of moderately steep topography, although it remains very limited.

The former Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge public health unit broached the importance to create safe and healthy and active communities. The unit urged that development proposals address climate change and public health concerns.

“All of the comments and recommendations will be addressed through the plan of subdivision or site plan control measures,” Orsan said.

Mayor Murray Fearrey asked if the proposed development will use all of the land in the County Road 21 parcel in question.

“There was a consent that council approved a number of years ago that basically sliced off an undeveloped north portion from the lands that the active (Curry Motors) dealership is on,” said Anthony Usher, the LRC Campbell Ltd. representative. “This would be the end of the story so far as the original Curry property is concerned.”

Fearrey said council needs to decide whether to take the land for the municipal park or the cash in lieu of land.

“We don’t have to do that today but we do need to do it,” the mayor said.

There is no sidewalks near the lots to be developed or the automobile dealership. But Orsan said the intent for the development corridor is to have multi-use paths installed.

Usher said the verbiage in the conditions states multi-use paths.

“I don’t read that as requiring a concrete sidewalk be poured here,” he said. “It requires provision for some kind of a multi-use strip. That could simply be at the side of the road, clearly demarcated that it’s for pedestrians and cyclists without it being a sidewalk.”

Councillor Pat Casey asked about the type of businesses that would be zoned for the site.

“Are we talking restaurants again?” he said.

“It’s going to be commercial,” Orsan said. “That could even include a bank or those type of things. A clinic. These uses do not always have people that are coming by car or vehicle. They may be walking. They may be cycling to these locations.”

And that’s the reason for insistence on a multi-use pathway as a condition of development, he said.

Usher said the path was not a condition suggested by his client.

“We are quite prepared to go along with that with the wording that is before you,” Usher said. “If council wants to change or moderate that wording, we don’t have a problem with that either.”

“It’s a nice thing to think about, to have a sidewalk,” Fearrey said.

“I think the future expansion is to have sidewalks come up through this area,” Orsan said.