Mattamy, Cappuccitti file OMB appeal for their 15,000 unit development

New Tecumseth Free Press Online December 20, 2010
Ontario Potato Distributing and its development partner, Mattamy Homes have filed an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) seeking an official plan amendment for nearly 1,700 hectares of land between Alliston and Beeton.

“This appeal is being filed on the basis that the Municipality refused to adopt the requested official plan amendment at its meeting on January 19, 2004,” according to the Dec. 16, 2010 letter from Chris Barnett, of Davis LLP. “The refusal was based on a staff recommendation that the applications were premature.”
The subject site is bounded by the Nottawasaga River to the north, Bailey Creek to the south, Tottenham Road to the west, and 10 Sideroad to the east. To its north will be the recently draft approved 1,875 unit Belterra subdivision.
The Cappuccitti proposal has been pitched to the Town as including 15,000 residential units (though the number is fluid). In addition to housing, the project would include open spaces, public places, walking and biking trails, ponds, parkettes, woodlots, river views and vistas, school sites, civic centre, commercial core, new 50 acre hospital site, and satellite college campus.
“At present, over 70 per cent of the employment population of New Tecumseth does not live in the municipality, which creates a large amount of traffic and associated greenhouse gases,” according to Mr. Barnett. “Further, it is our understanding that only five per cent of the employees at Honda Canada plant in Alliston actually live in Alliston. (…) We note that much of the approved and pending applications for growth in Alliston are directed towards either recreational or retirement markets. This does not provide for the residential housing stock that is required for the employment related population.”
When this application came to a vote at council in in 2004, it was defeated 8-1, with deputy mayor Rick Milne as the lone approval. This proposal was also a major factor in the 2003 municipal election that led to a large turnover of the previous council led by then mayor Larry Keogh. Those who supported it, lost.
One of the key provisions of this application includes the option to run a pipeline from Alliston to Georgian Bay that would release treated effluent into deeper water, allowing municipalities along the route to tap in as a means of solving their individual sewage treatment issues.
New Tecumseth council does not meet again in committee until Jan. 17 when it’s anticipated the matter will be on the agenda. Councillors will have to make a decision as to whether they will fight the appeal in its entirety, or work to reach a compromise on its size and scope.
Click here to read the solicitor’s letter to the Town