Guelph-Eramosa council has passed a zoning bylaw amendment for a new residential development east of Dowler Street in Rockwood.
Developer Ted Holdings Ltd. took over the planned vacant land condominium development from Drexler Construction.
The development will contain seven detached homes on a private road with access from Dowler Street.
Council removed the holding provision from the seven lots in the condo plans, redefined the environmental protection zone and implemented specific regulations to the village’s residential low density zone.
An additional lot will be created at the corner of Shanley Street and Dowler Street that won’t be part of the condominium.
One of the main concerns expressed by council was whether there was enough parking for the units along the condo road.
Township planning consultant Mitchell Avis explained each lot will have at least four parking spaces, two in the garage and two in the driveway. In addition, there will be four designated visitor parking spots on the road.
“So parking is provided in accordance with your zoning bylaw,” Avis said.
Councillor Corey Woods said he is still concerned people wouldn’t abide by the parking restrictions.
“People end up hating each other so instead of knocking on their neighbour’s door and saying ‘hey don’t park on the road in a stupid fashion,’ they come to us complaining about parking in a private condominium and I think the way we’ve dealt with it in the past is we designate it a fire route,” Woods said.
Mayor Chris White explained the township doesn’t want the fire department to be delayed or unable to reach one of the residences due to parked cars.
“What I would look for is something that’s satisfactory to the fire code,” White said. “If it’s one sign at the entrance that says this is a fire route, I’m fine with that.
“What we want … is designate (it) so the folks who live in there know they can’t park there because they know it’s a fire route.”
Councillor Mark Bouwmeester asked if there were any alternatives, other than parking on surrounding streets like Gowan and Dowler, for overflow visitors.
White said the condo had a satisfactory number of parking spots under the bylaw so there was nothing more the township could do.
“That’s a condominium problem; they can’t park on Dowler [from November to March] on the street, they’ll get ticketed and towed,” White said. “So if they’re outside the condominium it will be the same as anybody anywhere.”
Woods also expressed concern streetlights would be installed but not energized.
“We had a situation … with another condominium where there was something done in the agreement that said you had to have streetlights but it didn’t say you actually had to power the streetlights,” he said.
“So they put the streetlights up, they’re sitting there with a bulb but then when the building sold … the condo corp. didn’t want to hook up.”
Woods wanted to ensure the lights need to be working.
“The question might be when do they activate them?” White said.
“So if they told the condominium owners going in that the lights will be turned on after 50% are sold that would probably work. The township can’t force the condo to turn the lights on.”
Ted Holdings Ltd. planning consultant Astrid Clos explained everything must be serviced and complete infrastructure must be registered before any homes are built.
“So a vacant land condominium is almost more like a subdivision in which case all the utilities, everything will be there; it will have to be working and adequate,” she said.
Avis also suggested a holding provision be put on the property outside of the condo development.
“The noise study that was completed by the applicant as part of the applications found that there were some additional measures that were needed,” Avis said. By putting a holding provision on the property the owner will have to enter into a development agreement and ensure the noise study is implemented.
“The noise study recommends a couple things, including building construction requirements, central air conditioning and noise warnings on the property,” Avis said.
Woods asked what the noise study was referring to.
“That’s noise from the railway,” Avis said. “The province has noise level requirements that you have to meet.”
Woods said, “That’s to protect whoever buys that home from the sound. It’s not protecting the neighbourhood from the noise that residents could make.
“I was wondering what noise is this house going to make.”
Council approved the zoning bylaw amendment application and now the developer is waiting for approval from Wellington County regarding the vacant land condominium application.
The zoning amendment was originally submitted in August 2012 and the condominium application was submitted to Wellington County in June 2015.
