Eight months after denying a proposal by Robert Eilers to swap the designation on ten lots and alter the boundary of Everton, Guelph-Eramosa council has now approved the proposal, albeit with several conditions.
Eilers had applied to remove the rural residential zoning from five existing lots on the west side of Wellington Street (County Road 49), and apply it to five proposed residential lots (currently zoned agricultural) to the north of the Market Street unopened road allowance.
Everton residents were opposed to the proposal from the beginning, claiming the move was perhaps the first step in what would become expansion of the hamlet through future development.
Guelph-Eramosa council originally supported residents and denied the proposal last September, but the county approved an official plan amendment earlier this year that allowed the zoning application to proceed.
So at its last meeting in May, township council okayed the proposal, with several conditions, including:
– prohibiting future multi-lot development on the west side of Wellington Street by designating those lands as agricultural;
– not opening the Market Street road allowance beyond Evert Street; and
– as part of the development of the five new lots on Market Street, the applicant will be required to construct, to the standards of the township and county, that portion of the road and the intersections with Evert Street and Albert Street.
Councillor Doug Breen said the matter “took a while” to solve but he is pleased with how it turned out, especially considering the hamlet will now contain more agricultural land than before.
Both he and councillor Reta Moyer voted in favour of the zoning amendment. Councillors John Scott and Roger Knapp were absent.
