Five-acre commercial development off Hanes Rd to include FreshCo, gets preliminary site plan approval

FreshCo is on the move.

The grocery store will be moving to a new commercial development planned for lands on Hanes Road.

“The grocery retailer has outgrown their space where they are and they’re very excited about their commitment to staying in Huntsville and moving forward in this new location,” planning consultant John Gallagher told Huntsville’s planning committee on January 18.

Gallagher and New Urban Retail Inc. president Jamie Chisholm were before Huntsville’s remotely held planning committee meeting asking for a site plan approval for the new commercial development.

The development would be situated on an estimated area of 3.6 hectares. The lands are bounded by Hanes Road to the north and Centre Street to the west and will comprise about 2.1 hectares once the Town assumes the future extension of Shay Road and Ott Drive, which make up the southern and easter boundaries of the proposed development.

“Once completed and assumed, these roads will establish the limits of development for this application, as well as a primary means for provision of access and servicing. As such, a Site Plan Agreement can not be finalized until the roads and any associated services are constructed and assumed by the Town of Huntsville and District of Muskoka,” noted Huntsville manager of planning Richard Clark.

He reminded committee that council approved the road extension in principle at a general committee meeting held in 2021.

The proposed commercial development will consist of four new buildings totalling approximately 4,203 square metres in area, according to Clark. He said the four commercial buildings will measure as follows:

• Building A, where Freshco is expected to relocate, would be about 3,090.45 square metres;

• Building B would be 650.30 square metres and consist of four retail units and include a 40-seat restaurant with a drive-thru;

• Building C would be 245.11 square metres, with a 54-seat restaurant and a drive-thru; and

• Building D with an area of about 216.68 square metres would house a 32-seat restaurant with a drive-thru.

Clark said the applicant will be asked to review opportunities with Town operations staff that include walking and bicycle trails linking the development to the surrounding community, as appropriate.

“And we understand that there would be intersection improvements at Hanes and Centre and that there would be pedestrian crossings associated with that, and from what I understand the developer’s already considering what they can do to link up to that,” Clark said.

He said given the prominence of the property, which is located on an elevated parcel of land, landscape plans should address the preservation of mature trees, particularly along the perimeter.

“The property slopes downwards from Hanes Road to a wetland and watercourse located on adjacent lands to the south. There is an approximate elevation change of 12m from north to south and until recently the lands were well vegetated with mature woodlands. Mature trees have been retained around the perimeter of the property. The surrounding uses are generally residential, mixed-use, and commercial in nature,” noted Clark in his report to committee.

Gallagher told committee that work to bring a site plan forward had been done over the course of the last nine months “to come up with a plan for this site that’s in conformity with the zoning that’s on there,” he said, adding that the parking standards have been met and a density of 20 per cent is being proposed where the zoning allows for 35 per cent.

He said there will be accessible parking spots at each of the four buildings close to their front doors. “With respect to the heights of the buildings, the main height is eight metres which is three metres less than what is permitted under the zoning bylaw for that zone,” said Gallagher, adding that the project also calls for a ‘substantive’ amount of landscaping at 17.8 per cent of the property compared to the required five per cent.  

He confirmed that the current owner of the property, Sandford Investment Corporation, from which Urban Retail would purchase the lands for their development, has indicated that they would be making improvements to the Hanes Road and Centre Street intersection, which would also include pedestrian crossings. He said it is also his understanding that there will be a separate sidewalk on the opposite side of Hanes Road and that his client is amenable to providing active links to the surrounding area.

“We’re excited to get moving on this project. It’s going to be within walking distance for a lot of residents now that this area’s been developed residentially… and with the introduction hopefully of a Fairvern in the future, again it will provide additional opportunities,” said Gallagher, referring to the remainder of the estimated 84 acres owned by Sandford Investment Corporation. Those lands extend to the areas of Hanes, Centre Street North, West, Shay, and Sabrina Park Drive, and were purchased from Eagle Ridge Development Corporation.

Plans for the area comprise a mix of commercial, residential, and multi-residential development, with most if not all of the commercial development planned along Hanes Road. To the south, an estimated 20-acre wetland runs east to west. A draft plan of subdivision was approved to the south of the wetlands where a new Fairvern building is also planned. Clearing for the new Fairvern is evident in an area off Centre Street North, around the midpoint between West and Hanes roads.

Councillor Bob Stone wasn’t pleased. He said there was mention of substantial landscaping but “from what I see today, it’s woefully lacking. The land has been raped like old school construction and I expected and hoped to see at least some revegetation—[just] leaving the trees bordering this great big parking lot bothers me and I just think it could be better,” he said. “I know there’s going to be the wetland kept, that’s great. I hope that’s not considered part of 17 per cent of the landscape, but I just think it could be better.”

Gallagher responded saying the land that has been cleared is not only related to the application before committee but “the actual road itself and the adjacent property owned by Sanford Investments. So they’ve gone in and done the clearing there prior to my client securing this. I think what we do want to say is with respect to any of the mature vegetation around the perimeter that’s left, we’re definitely trying to maintain that. Richard has spoken to Jaime about that and Jaime is on board.”

Gallagher told committee the property slopes significantly. “You have to realize that we’re dealing with a substantive grade change across the site. When you’re in an urban setting—and you see it throughout Ontario, across Canada for that matter—when you’re dealing with these types of sites there needs to be stormwater management, services, water, sewer… The amount of parking that’s required of us under the bylaw is quite extensive and I think if I could offer any advice for future developments, I would seriously consider looking at the standards in the next community and development permitting plan.”

Gallagher used the Leon’s and Walmart parking lots as examples. “Leon’s furniture could’ve had a lot of landscaping there. There’s usually about six cars in that whole parking lot and the standard was about 80 and so any time we can reduce parking standards, we contribute positive[ly] towards dealing with climate change by not having hard surfaces.” He used the Walmart parking lot as another example of a large parking lot that doesn’t get filled.

Councillor Jonathan Wiebe wanted to know more about how the wetland would be protected.

“For a little more clarity, the wetland is actually situated beyond where the municipal road is going. So you’ll have the wetland on the opposite side of the new road and then this development starts,” responded Gallagher, adding, “On the south side of that wetland, again there’s quite a buffer and I think that’s where they’re proposing the Fairvern site there so, as it relates to this site we’re bounded by the road. The wetland does not form part of this. Staff requested that we update the current environmental study and that was provided for staff even though one had been done a couple of years previous to that, and it was positive in that regard.”

In the end, the committee gave the site plan preliminary approval pending associated servicing agreements and all plans and drawings being to the satisfaction of the Town. Everyone except for Councillor Stone voted in favour. Committee chair Nancy Alcock had to leave the meeting early, and the remainder of the meeting was chaired by Councillor Jason FitzGerald.

For more information, you can find Huntsville planning staff’s report here (pdf).

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