In 2023, Huntsville Council established the Town-Owned Lands Working Group to categorize and track municipal lands and determine any surplus land that could be developed and/or sold.
At the General Committee meeting held on January 29, the group returned with their preliminary findings and a list of properties considered surplus for sale as well as properties for parks, trails, future parks and land requiring further investigation.
The report also notes that a waterfront property on Cedar Patch Lane will be sold, and the funds will be used to enhance the South Portage Dock and Boat Launch, approximately 5.3 kilometres away.
Councillor Scott Morrison, who sat on the committee, explained that while the property on Cedar Patch Lane is a nice property, its entrance goes over a private right of way, which makes it difficult to conserve for public use. Asked if it would be sold to adjacent property owners like other municipal surplus property, Morrison said: “Our duty to the taxpayer is to get the highest value possible, so we’ll probably go and sell it on the open market.”
Morrison and Councillor Bob Stone were part of the committee, hoping to find land that could be developed into affordable housing. “Bob Stone and I were on it. We’ve done our work. We got through what we were declaring as surplus. We’re really trying to find even strips of road allowances that we can put affordable housing on. That’s the real goal of Bob and I being on there,” said Morrison.
Councillor Bob Stone, referring to land for affordable housing projects, told fellow councillor at the meeting that, unfortunately, “there’s no hidden gems that we’re missing out on.”
Morrison added that there may be some potential road allowances that could be used.
The good news is that the group did plan out missing links that the Town could use as part of its trail system.
Morrison explained that the next step for the committee will involve the logistics of dedicating those lands for certain uses through the creation of bylaws and, for example, declaring some of the lands as surplus in order to sell them. Below is the list of categories:
Land to be Categorized as Municipally Used Land – Parkland (Future Park) (See Appendix “C”)
A property at 385 Manominee Street that leads to Cliff Avenue North is under review.
A working group comprised of municipal staff will continue to assess the lands as well as those that become available through mechanisms such as parkland in lieu of cash development. The group’s mandate will be “to track, categorize and assess the municipal needs of Town owned land. Lands identified as surplus to municipal needs; lands to be re-categorized or lands to be developed will be brought forward to Council for consideration when required.”
Morrison said he and Stone will not be part of the group but can be called on as needed.
You can see the staff report HERE (pdf).
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Perhaps inserting ” must be affordable housing and specifying it must be for affordable for a below 40000 per year income ” that would actually help the residents of the town that are struggling and not provide more housing for the higher end buyer. It should not be a proportion of the housing being built but the entire development.
Hi Randy, reach out to me anytime if you have any questions. 705-783-8199.
Have any of the lands got potential for economic development. With a new focus on Made in Canada goods it might be opportune Go after companies that might consider expansion to Huntsville meaning jobs. Just a thought
Who would one contact if your property is affected by one of these Appendix mentioned notes “Road Allowance Area”
Well finally thinking about affordable housing. About time.