CLIFFORD – Some Minto councillors are concerned about how a large subdivision proposed for the edge of Clifford will accommodate the area's future needs.
Presenting at a public meeting Tuesday evening, Cachet Developments has applied to rezone 26.3 acres at 41 Park St. W. in Clifford to facilitate a new 189-unit residential development with site-specific zoning proposed including a reduced lot area, frontages and side and rear yard setbacks as well as increased lot coverage.
While no residents spoke up at the meeting, several councillors shared concerns about parking, traffic and how many setbacks are proposed for the development.
”I’m thinking 189 homes on 20 acres with two, three, four vehicles each potentially ... is going to be a concern,” said deputy mayor Jean Anderson, at the meeting.
Staff said while "people do have a lot of cars," that "is what it is" and the road will be wide enough to facilitate two driving lanes of traffic with parking on one side.
Mirroring concerns included in the report by planning staff, Anderson also asked why the proposed parkland location is "way up in the corner" of the lot and how much use it will be to the general subdivision.
In the report, planning staff said consideration should be given to relocating the park to a "more centralized location within the development" to improve accessibility and integration into the neighbourhood as the proposed "long and narrow design" may not be ideal for functionality and usability.
With respect to the park, staff said the lot will be at the end of the Park Street extension, which will allow the general driving public access outside of a proposed laneway.
"Planning staff understand that the park is proposed in its current location by the applicant due to servicing constraints and costs (this area may need a sewage pump station)," said staff in the report. "Alternatively, the town could take cash in lieu of parkland for all or a portion of the park."
On the topic of setbacks, Coun. Ed Podniewicz had a number of concerns and questions surrounding reducing the sight triangle to six metres on corner lots as was proposed.
A representative from Cachet Development said the reduced sight triangle is proposed to specifically accommodate some lots where the driveway would have encroached on the sight triangle if following the town's zoning bylaw requirement of seven-and-a-half metres by seven-and-a-half metres.
Coun. Judy Dirksen asked after the street layout and whether there's a danger of it "becoming more of a raceway."
"There's not a lot of room between the front of a house and the street so I wondered if that was an issue because those curvy streets, while you do get lost on them, they do calm traffic down somewhat," said Dirksen.
A Transportation Impact Study (TIS) from August concluded all unsignalized intersections in the area will continue to operate at acceptable levels through 2034, accounting for background traffic.
Signals were deemed "unnecessary" for the Elora Street South and Park Street West/Mill Street East intersection under 2034 future total conditions.
"The additional traffic generated by the proposed development is expected to have minimal impact on the surrounding road network's operations and can therefore be supported from a traffic operations standpoint," said staff in the report.
An updated report addressing all questions will return to council at a future meeting.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
