Land previously meant to be multiple family dwelling units at 200 Orchard Court is now meant for single family dwellings.
At Monday night’s city council meeting, council passed all three readings of bylaws amending the Oakmont Area Structure Plan and the Land Use Bylaw in order to change the 5.36 acres of land’s designation from urban reserve to low density residential and public park. The amendments were passed unanimously after a public hearing was held earlier in the meeting.
Senior planner Lenore Mitchell explained to council that the developer, Landrex, felt single family dwellings would be more marketable. The land had been zoned as urban reserve with a portion of the future use being medium density residential when developed, along with some single family homes and a reserve area.
“At the end of the day they want to do single family development with a sliver of park,” Mitchell said.
The written report given to council said originally the area was anticipated to house six single family dwelling units and 53 multi-family units, for a total of 59 units and an estimated 115 residents. The new proposal estimates 28 single family units will go up with about 82 residents being added to the area.
The public park zone, which features a ravine, likely wouldn’t be developed into an actual park.
“It most likely would be environmental reserve … you can’t even make a park out of it,” Mitchell said.
Jim Sheasgreen, vice president of operations for Landrex, spoke during the public hearing and said switching to all low density housing was a better fit with the rest of the development.
“This would keep in mind the overall theme for the area,” he said.
The report to council noted fewer residents would mean fewer cars, with added traffic being a concern raised by residents during an open house on the proposed amendments. A traffic study completed for the nearby Sarasota development had included 200 Orchard Court as part of its scope and found the nearby roads could handle the extra vehicles.
When it came time to vote, motions to pass all three readings of each amendment passed unanimously, but Mayor Nolan Crouse said during the meeting if the Botanica development on the old Hole’s site hadn’t come through first, he might have voted differently.
“We have a responsibility to continue to think about the young homeowner who’s looking for a $300,000 home,” he said. “We need to recruit young families to this community.”
He told council he would vote for the amendments as is because the changes made sense to have the development fit with the neighbourhood.
