KENILWORTH – Crombie Property Holdings Ltd. has signed an agreement with Wellington North after a cost sharing deal was left up in the air at a previous council meeting.
Council declined a July 4 request from the real estate investment trust to spend more taxpayer dollars on an intersection connected to a new Foodland grocery store development in Mount Forest.
Crombie representatives asked council to contribute an additional $201,810 for a total contribution toward the project of $607,459 – an increase of nearly 50% from what council had originally agreed to.
Council unanimously declined the ask at a special meeting by voting in favour of approving a previously discussed taxpayer contribution of $405,649.
Mayor Andy Lennox expressed uncertainty about where council’s decision left the real estate trust.
Representatives only said the decision would be relayed to higher-ups.
Council learned the original deal was moving ahead at a July 11 meeting, when chief building official Darren Jones told councillors Crombie had signed an agreement with the township after all.
That means the company will be covering cost overruns related to the expanded scope of the project — now estimated to ring in at a total $1.33 million.
With the signed agreement, council voted to lift holding provisions on the property at the meeting.
“I’m glad to hear that we are going to move forward with the agreement as discussed on [July 4],” councillor Sherry Burke said.
“People are excited to see the new [Foodland] being built.”
Indeed people can already see the steel skeleton of the building taking shape, despite the previous hold on the property. That’s because the building frame wasn’t supposed to have been built yet, the Advertiser has learned.
The township previously issued a stop work order after the installation of a structural steel building frame went beyond a conditional permit issued to allow only for the laying of foundation and underground servicing.
Jones confirmed compliance and stop work orders have since been lifted.
“All building permits and township approvals have been granted for construction of the grocery store,” Jones confirmed to the Advertiser in an email.
