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Public meeting scheduled for January 15 on alternative rural residential lot standards

The Town of Huntsville will hold a public meeting on alternative rural residential lot standards being proposed.

Currently, rural residential lots are required to be a minimum of two hectares in area and have a minimum road frontage of 134 meters.

With the push for more housing, the following bylaw noting new alternative rural residential lot standards is being proposed:

i. The minimum lot frontage shall be 60m;
ii. The minimum lot area shall be 0.4ha;
iii. The minimum front yard setback for all structures shall be 20m;
iv. A minimum vegetative buffer of 15m shall be maintained along the public road, save and except a driveway;
v. A minimum of 80% of the lot shall be maintained in natural state; and
vi. Notwithstanding any provisions of this by-law, no variations to any setbacks or other standards shall be permitted for lots created in accordance with the Alternative Rural Residential Lot Standards

Huntsville Planning Council will hold a public meeting on the proposed changes on January 15. The meeting will take place at the Huntsville Council Chambers at Town Hall at 1 p.m.

According to the Town’s notice, the proposed Official Plan Amendment “will provide alternative rural residential lot standards for lot creation. Where the current standards cannot be met, reduced lot area and frontage may be proposed provided that specific criteria, such as increased setbacks, maintenance of vegetation, amongst others, are addressed. The associated CPPA will amend the CPP By-law to incorporate the reduced lot standards and establish increased buffer and setback requirements. The amendments are considered to be general in nature and apply to all rural residential lands in the Town of Huntsville.”

More planning information can be found at www.huntsville.ca/PC

Related

Huntsville to ease off on restrictions surrounding the creation of rural lots

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6 Comments

  1. Brian Tapley says:

    Makes sense, probably good idea. I still like feet and acres better than Meters and Ha.

  2. T. Francis says:

    HUNTSVILLE PROPOSES 5 TIMES MORE HOUSES IN RURAL AREAS – that should be the headline for this story. The minimum lot size would decrease from 2 hectares to 0.4 hectares (which is about 200 feet x 200 feet). Wow!

  3. Alex Armstrong says:

    In view of Terry Graham’s comment, I guess pasture land just became much more valuable. You can keep all of it in grass, and still meet the 80% “natural state”

  4. Joanne Tanaka says:

    I do have questions about proper spacing for water well, septic, driveway and residential structure and also optimal access for emergency, fire services. From what I understand this amendment only applies to lots on public roads not private. I am also wondering if these developments will necessitate shared “driveway” which may become essentially a private road entering the public road. This sounds like it could be enabling estate development like the one proposed off Brunel that the District Planning department and committee just denied, albeit for lack of proper assessment study submissions.Is there a risk to water well supplies – quality and quantity with increased rural development? I am not sure that there is sufficient technical knowledge of aquifer condition and supply.I think it is taken for granted that good water will come out of the ground for everyone forever.

  5. Margaret Brown says:

    You are right on Mr. Graham! Very sad

  6. Terry Graham says:

    Good luck fitting a house, driveway, septic system, decent size yard to have kids play in, and maybe a good sized garden to grow some food all in 20% of .4 hectars. As to leave 80% of lot in a natural state.

    And no variations to these new standards… yeah right. Just do what you want and ask council for permission later.