Waiting for the water to flow in Bradford

By Miriam King, QMI Agency September 12, 2012

Bradford West Gwillimbury is still seeing strong growth, but there has been a drop in residential building activity.

Statistics released by the BWG Building Department show that there has been an 11% decline in the number of building permits issued, from January to June of 2012, compared to the same period last year.

In 2011, the department issued 356 building permits in the first half of the year. In 2012, the number was 316.

There has been an even sharper decline in construction value – from $56.82 million in 2011, to $48.45 million in 2012, a drop of 14%.

And, warned Beth Halpenny of Great Gulf Homes, not only is the market slowing, “there is a greater impact this municipality is going to realize” – if water servicing allocation is not released quickly.

Halpenny was addressing Bradford West Gwillimbury Council in Open Forum on September 4. She thanked Council for moving forward with pre-servicing agreements for phase 3B and Phase 6 of Great Gulf’s planned subdivisions in Bradford, but noted that permits will be “subject to water availability. We have very few units left.”

Phase 3B involves 45 residential units; the developer has only 18 water units remaining.

Without additional water units, sales will drop off – and building permit revenues will decline even further. “It is going to get worse, because we have seen the constraint on sales,” she said.

She went on to object to a request for an extension by another developer, Tiberian Investments, involving 45 water units. Noting that this is the 3rd extension for the developer, Halpenny made a strong argument for deferring the allocation of water units to Tiberian, and instead redistributing the units to developers who have subdivisions “that are partly complete, that have no water.”

Noting that the Town has negotiated with Innisfil to borrow an additional 2100 units of water, she suggested that the municipality could guarantee Tiberian water allocation from that supply. “They don’t need that water today. We and others need that water today.”

Redistributing the water would allow Great Gulf to complete Phase 3B. “I think it’s important to see communities complete,” she said.

Tiberian, not surprisingly, objected to the suggestion. “Obviously I have a different perspective,” said lawyer for the company, Jay Feehely. “My clients are moving forward as quickly as they can. Taking away the 45 (units) would deprive them of any ability to move forward.”

He noted that Tiberian, which is developing the keystone property just north of the Southgate Subdivision, is committed to building the long-awaited road linkages from Southgate – but “to do that with no allocation would be insane.”

Feehely said that his client is asking for an extension to mid-October, 2013, but is “ready to move forward relatively quickly… to complete the hole in the donut, which I think is very important, not only to Council,” but to residents.

Councillor Raj Sandhu spoke in favour of granting the extension. “Finally, I see that things are moving ahead,” Sandhu said. “It’s not out of the norm to grant the extension. It will give us the access we’ve been looking for, for years.”

But Councillor James Leduc disagreed, suggesting there would be no harm in holding off on the 45 units of water for Tiberian. “I hate to sit on 45 units of water when we have developers that are ready to go. They (Tiberian) are not going anywhere for at least a year, year and a half.”

Town Manager Jay Currier noted that the units have been committed to Tiberian by the Town – but will, in fact, sit dormant. He pointed out that it is not an unusual situation: there are hundreds of units in the same situation, waiting for development to proceed, in areas like Green Valley.

Currier explained that the 2100 units have been secured, but the Town is waiting for a new Early Payment Agreement among the developers, before dispersing the allocation – since “it’s not just Great Gulf that is looking for units… It’s a very difficult thing to do.”

A signed agreement is expected “before Christmas,” he said.

Mayor Doug White acknowledged, “It’s been a long process. It’s been frustrating” – but it also has been no surprise to the development community, that the units won’t be dispersed until there is an agreement.

Councillor Leduc continued to support taking back Tiberian’s allocation, noting, “We as Council can take those back. They have not met the requirements. It’s that simple.”

But Councillor Sandhu disagreed. “We have to be fair with everyone,” Sandhu said. “These units were granted to Tiberian. It would be unfair,” to strip them.

Council approved the extension for Tiberian.