Efforts to relocate a future 25-acre community park in the Clair-Maltby area appear to have been successful.
The park is a key element to Open Space System Strategy presented by staff to council at its Committee of the Whole meeting Monday afternoon.
The strategy is basically a road map of where future trails, parks and open spaces will be located as the city grows south from Clair Road to Maltby Road over the next few years.
At Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting city council heard a staff recommendation that would have seen the future park located on the Marcolongo farm, adjacent to Gordon Street and just south of Springfield Golf Course.
The Marcolongo family and others opposed the proposed location.
The family has a deal in place with a developer to build an “affordable” housing project on a large part of their property. The park would have seriously compromised that plan.
Council eventually went against staff’s recommendation and voted in favour of an option that would put the park roughly 1 kilometre northwest, feeling it made better use of natural features of the area while allowing for a proposed “affordable” housing development to proceed as planned on the Marcolongo farm.
Currently landlocked, that location will be accessed by future roads as the city expands south of Clair Road.
Mayor Cam Guthrie and two councillors felt 25 acres was too big for one park, but were overruled.
Senior planner Stacey Laughlin said the city came up with various options for the community park, including three different 25-acre locations and smaller 12-acre parks.
Community engagement and a variety staff criteria resulted in the Marcolongo property being selected as the preferred location.
The lengthy discussion on where the park should go began with a discussion on just what constitutes an “affordable home.”
The Marcolongo farm is the property and Toronto-based non-profit developer Options For Homes is the partner that would build those homes just south of Springfield Golf Course.
Options For Homes offers interest-free loans to help with downpayments to make its homes more affordable, they explained. The loans are only repaid if the homebuyer sells or moves.
“You’re not talking about affordability, you’re talking about market,” Coun. June Hofland told the delegation from Options For Homes. “It’s not an affordable price range for us in Guelph.”
Coun. Cathy Downer and Mayor Cam Guthrie also had questions about the use of the term “affordable” in describing the proposed development.
Options For Homes chief development officer Daniel Ger told council their affordable option that provides loans allows people to buy homes who “under normal circumstances they wouldn’t be able to save up enough money to purchase a home.”
“The price point will sell at market, it’s the financing that changes it” to being affordable,” Ger said.
Ger said “practically speaking,” the planning of a park can’t be looked at in isolation without recognizing the benefits of their affordable housing project.
“By placing the park on our lands, hundreds of housing units are at risk,” Ger said prior to council refocusing on a different location.