Nottawasaga Estates OMB appeal pits New Tec council against its planning department

New Tecumseth Free Press June 12, 2013
The proponent of Nottawasaga Estates whose plans to amend a 60 unit estate development into 160 general market homes on CW Leach Road immediately north of the Briar Hill community, has appealed council’s rejection to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).
A pre-hearing is scheduled for 10 am, July 29th, in the council chambers in Alliston.
While it’s not unusual for developers to take the OMB route, in this case, the numbered Ontario company will be armed with the New Tecumseth planning department report that recommended approval of the Official Plan Amendment.
Because of that conflict, New Tecumseth council will have to engage an outside planning consultant to defend its position, versus its planners, and whose opposition was led vocally by mayor Mike MacEachern and Ward 6 councillor Richard Norcross. Paul Whiteside, Fran Sainsbury, Donna Jebb, and Jim Stone also voted against the OPA.
The planning application dates back to 1997 whose subject lands are legally described as Part of Lot 8, Concession 14, covering approximately 13.37 hectares (33.04 acres) in size. It is east of the Industrial Parkway, and north of the 14th Line and to the west of the planned expansion of the Briar Hill West. The Treetops (Belterra) development of approximately 1,900 homes, is underway, east of this proposal at 10 Sideroad at Conc. 14.
The proponent of the Nottawasaga River Estates development, has draft plan approval for 60 lots, but in January 2010 submitted an amendment that increased that to 160 single detached units with lots ranging from 10 to 13 metres plus corner lots and would create a density of 30.5 persons per hectare.
“The subject development proposal is located within the existing settlement of Alliston. The plan provides an appropriate mix of lot frontages within the proposed plan of subdivision. The proposal will be compact in form and efficiently use the lands and infrastructure available. The required parkland dedication has been provided with the parkland being located in a centralized location, providing efficient access to the parkland,” according to the Town planning report summary. “In consideration of the foregoing, staff are of the opinion that the proposal is consistent with the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), conforms to the Growth Plan and County of Simcoe Official Plan, meets the intent and purpose of the Town of New Tecumseth Official Plan and represents good planning. To this end, staff have no objection to the approval of the proposed draft plan of subdivision and Official Plan Amendment application, subject to the recommendation as provided in this report.”
Mayor MacEachern, and Mr. Norcross argued they were members of council back in the 1990s when the initial proposal was to build the estate homes, and they want the development to remain in that configuration if it’s to proceed. However, there are no requirements in the draft plan approvals that specified the proponents had to develop the estate homes. The only limiting factor was the number of lots, 60.
“I was one of many vocal opponents of the plan as it was not in keeping with the representations made when the area was originally approved for residential development,” the mayor said this morning via email. “The Town denied the application. I have no further information.”