Planning Committee members and municipal planning staff have not been seeing eye-to-eye with respect to a proposed development in the highly visible Hwy 60, Earls Road and Golf Course Road area. The lands are currently vacant and zoned as Future Urban in Huntsville’s Official Plan and the applicant, Ian Karns, is seeking a Special Industrial designation on a new lot in order to develop a contractor’s yard and paint area.
Committee approved a consent application at its April 12 meeting, despite staff’s recommendation against it, which paved the way for the severance of land and the creation of a new 0.8 hectare industrial lot at 625 Golf Course Road. The new lot will include 74 metres of frontage on Golf Course Road, 92 metres of frontage on Earls Road as well as 82 metres along Highway 60. The remainder of the property, or retained lands, comprises about 43 hectares in area with 968 metres of frontage on Golf Course Road and 1,185 metres of frontage along Hwy 60. The applicant is further seeking Official Plan and zoning amendments to proceed with plans to develop the newly created lot.
Manager of Planning Services Kirstin Maxwell told committee that staff were recommending the applications be denied, citing that the development would have to be serviced by private well and septic as services are not yet available in that area. She also cited the possibility of a significant variation between what the applicant is proposing versus the Town’s Official Plan designation for those lands.
“The lands are designated ‘Future Urban’ in the Official Plan. The Future Urban designation was applied as a form of holding category to limit urban development, to ensure that lands in other designations that were already serviced could be built out and new development in the Future Urban Areas could be carefully considered, with development principles established through a secondary plan. No secondary plan was proposed nor any consideration for future development on the adjacent lands, and no details on how this area would develop comprehensively,” she added in an email to Doppler.
She told committee that staff had negotiated some parameters with the applicant such as limiting the location for the contractor’s yard and paint booth, a two metre buffer along the edge of Hwy 60 and narrowing the scope of the industrial uses permitted on the new lot. She also noted that a holding provision would be placed on the lands so that it could not be further developed without connecting to municipal water and sewer services. Maxwell also told committee that the retained lands from the severed lot would contain a holding provision subject to a secondary and more comprehensive plan being developed for the area.
“The applicant is amenable to these changes that have been discussed and staff continue not to have changed their recommendation about recommending approval, however this is a better plan,” she told committee.
Maxwell also told committee that areas designated as Future Urban in the Town’s Official Plan would be considered during the plan’s overall review, in terms of their preferred use and whether an expansion of water and sewer services to such areas should be considered.
Committee asked the applicant and his representative, Lanny Dennis, to provide further information. Dennis said the idea is to construct roughly a 5,000 square foot, on level, building that would include the contractor’s office and paint area with the lot being accessed off Golf Course Road. Dennis told committee that they are aware that the area is a highly visible part of town and assured committee that the building would be aesthetically pleasing employing a high architectural design standard. He also noted that a 20-metre buffer from Hwy 60 would be established along with additional setbacks, especially along Golf Course Road. “The idea would be to put a building within the existing vegetation so that it is well hidden and buffered from view,” he noted.
Committee members seemed to favour moving forward with development in that area but expressed some trepidation about going against staff’s recommendation as well as the type of development proposed. Councillors Jason FitzGerald and Nancy Alcock spoke to the fact that there are already many mixed use developments in the urban area of the town and Alcock noted that the zoning for the Eagle Ridge development proposed on the other side of the highway had also received the Town’s approval for some light industrial use.
Dennis told committee that there is still opportunity to guide the type of development for that area. “All this does, in my opinion, is just provides the impetus for moving development forward to the north, which seems to be the way it is going,” he said, adding that ultimately the connection of municipal sanitary and water services, which currently exists on Earls Road, will likely follow.
In the end, and despite staff’s recommendation, committee recommended to council that it approve the zoning change for the severed lot from a rural to a light industrial designation with limited uses. The applications will make their way to Huntsville Council at its May meeting for final ratification. A request for a site plan approval is expected to follow, once the zoning and Official Plan amendments have been approved by council and the District of Muskoka.
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It would be nice if the planning committee was composed with some members of the community who could enlighten the other members that the public is watching their every move and that they are going to face some serious questions before they will get re-elected.
Unfortunately this is a very common outcome in Huntsville, where the current Planning Committee refuses to designate and preserve areas as urban / rural / industrial / retail, etc. Instead of such foresight, everything is done to accommodate the applicant/developer – which means zones are routinely changed so anything can be built anywhere, whether on town services or not. It is a shame, because we still have the time and space to allow BOTH planned development AND preserve other areas. Instead we are hurtling towards Orillia or Barrie, one small developer project at a time.
Lynn, those lands are privately owned and according to Town planning staff there are currently no planning applications in place for the same. Staff did note that while residents are encouraged to preserve trees wherever possible, there is no tree cutting bylaw in place in the Town of Huntsville.
I’d have thought that ALL development along that corridor would have been suspended until we find out if there will be a Hospital built further down Highway 60. Wouldn’t it be great if we could approach the Selection Committee and tell them we have all this property available to devote to the development of a Health Care complex, which would include Seniors homes, nursing homes, professional offices et al, along with entrances off of Hanes Rd. instead of the entrance driveway to the existing hospital and hospice and medical office complex which is getting more constricted by the year. Surely someone can come up with a Master Plan that will stay in place and not be whittled away by delegations headed by private consultants who are trained to find their way around elected officials.
Our town needs a lot of things, however a ‘paint booth’ and more room for industrial junk to accumulate? No way. Not at that location . Already the mess they have going looks awful and they should have left a thick area of trees along hywy60 so people don’t have to look at that eyesore.
So why is a huge swathe of trees being cut along Hwy 60 and Earl’ s Rd across from the proposed development?
I think this type of development would fit on Howland Drive in the area by Muskoka Rent All and the car wash. We already have this area zoned for this type of development and would conform to the town and district official plans. It’s time the elected individuals in town started to listen to the people who elected them and forget about pleasing every individual with a plan that doesn’t fit into existing plans.
Alan, from Huntsville planning staff: ‘A contractor’s yard is defined as the use of land, buildings or structures where mechanical, electrical, structure, plumbing or general contractors administer their businesses and store heavy equipment and/or building materials. The paint booth aspect would be located within a building where moulding and trim and cabinetry would be painted.”
Certainly a vague description but since this beautiful stretch of highway 60 is currently forest, for the most part, and the views of Fairy Lake to the east and the hillsides to the west are two of the most stunning views in all seasons, a storage yard for construction vehicles is beyond contradictory, aesthetically. As one who travels that road frequently, awestruck by the view every time, I’m not impressed. Clearly landowners should be able to use their land but some highly visible locations can be spoiled with inappropriate developments.
The record of contractors and many commercial developers when it comes to play tings and maintenance of Buffers is absolutely abysmal. A year or two after promises are made and agreements are signed vegetation dies and is not replaced or creep starts into Buffers. A big mistake at a major entrance to Huntsville. Urban is Urban ?
Really what is a contractors yard and paint booth? It’s a very vage description of what is planed. WHAT IS IT?