MOOREFIELD – Parking concerns have quickly put an end to a fourplex proposed in "OG Moorefield."
Mapleton council declined a zoning amendment application proposed for 13 Adam Brown St. in Moorefield at its council meeting Tuesday evening after neighbours, planning staff and councillors shared several concerns about reductions in minimum frontage, lot area and coverage and parking proposed for the property.
Currently zoned single-family residential, the proposed zoning amendment asked council to consider permitting a fourplex with only two parking spaces on a vacant, approximately 467 square metre lot in what Coun. Michael Martin called "OG Moorefield."
The proposed parking reductions were the main concern shared by residents in-person and in three letters submitted alongside the application with residents Michelle and John Faber saying the proposed fourplex would have a "huge impact" on their daily lives.
"We have no street parking in the winter and the street is not wide enough to have it lined with cars all the time. It will become an issue for all of us accessing our own driveways," said the Fabers. "This is a quiet neighbourhood and we would like it to remain that way."
Brown agreed, saying staff shared similar concerns about parking as the township's current zoning bylaw requires two spaces per dwelling unit and this would only provide one. The driveway is not considered a legal parking space under the zoning bylaw.
Backed by his fellow councillors, Martin said he is definitely in favour of more diversified housing types in the township but doesn't feel the proposed development is appropriate for the surrounding community.
"With all due respect, Adam Brown Street is barely a street ... it's small, it's not your typical suburban street that you might expect in a subdivision," said Martin. "So while you would expect some natural reluctance at times from the neighbours when you're talking about infill, in this case, it feels quite extreme."
When Brown said planning staff are "certainly open" to the idea of a duplex and suggested council allow the applicant to come back with an amended proposal, council also shot this down, with Martin saying he'd rather see the existing zoning maintained and anything outside of that he's "not particularly interested in."
"It might be an exercise in futility to have the applicant keep coming back," said Martin.
The owner and applicant were unable to attend the meeting and asked council to defer the public meeting; council said they'd prefer to continue with the public meeting out of respect to the neighbours who attended.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
