ELORA – Cachet Developments wants to build a 286-unit residential housing development at the corner of Irvine and Woolwich streets in Salem on what may be the last vacant developable land in Salem/Elora.
The statutory public meeting was held on Oct. 25 in the Centre Wellington council chamber.
Matthew Cory, a planner with Malon Given Parsons Ltd., spoke on behalf of the developer.
“We are in the settlement area,” Cory said, adding the land is zoned residential. “This is one of the remaining vacant lands in Elora.”
Cory said an original submission was made in 2022 and the proposal has been revised based on public comments.
Two types of housing are proposed: single detached homes with 11- or nine-metre frontages and street townhomes and rear access townhomes with 6m frontages. All of the homes are proposed to be three storeys.
The new proposal has moved a park on the north edge of the property to a central location and reconfigured the road system within the development.
“That’s a big change,” Cory said, adding the park will be large enough for a small playground and shade structure with seating.
Townhouses will front onto Irvine Street but will have access from a rear lane, “which presents a nice streetscape” on Irvine, he said.
The west side of the property abuts Salem Public School. Cory said there will be a sidewalk from the development that merges with the sidewalk to the school.
He added the school has a steep hill behind it, making the grounds largely unusable.
“They asked us to grade that down to create more usable land, which we are willing to do,” he added.
Cachet also owns the property on the east side of Irvine and that’s where it intends to put a stormwater pond.
The pond would service this proposal on the west and possible future development on the east side of Irvine Street.
The lands east of Irvine Street are called Elora Sands and are not part of this application.
The stormwater pond would be conveyed to the township when the project is done.
Five residents who live near the site voiced concerns about the proposal.
They ranged from three-storey homes looming over existing bungalows, preserving a stand of black walnut trees, density, traffic, loss of farmland, water, flooding and not impacting neighbours on private wells.
Cory said water run-off and wastewater are managed through the stormwater management plan, which must comply with ministry regulations.
“There should be no change to surface water other than runoff to the stormwater pond,” he said.
And if nearby wells are impacted, Cachet is required to remedy the situation, he added.
He said the company will try to preserve as many of the walnut trees as it can, but “we can never promise when we’re grading a site.”
In terms of building height, “We’ll consider limiting (the height) to two storeys” where the new homes would back onto existing bungalows, Cory said.
Mayor Shawn Watters suggested creating pedestrian access through the neighbourhood for children from other neighbourhoods heading to school, a suggestion Cory said he’d take back to the developer for consideration.
Watters also suggested some sort of gateway treatment at the corner of Woolwich and Irvine to help transition into the community of Salem.
“It’s a very distinct community. Some landscape component coming into the community at the north boundary would be nice,” Watters said.
Cory said he’d also take that idea back to the developer.
He noted once permissions are in place, construction might begin in two years.
Cory also said Cachet will revisit its plan and the matter will return to council at a future date.
