Wellington North council has agreed to allow a group home in Mount Forest to operate under a condition limiting the number of residents to three.
Council passed a zoning bylaw amendment on Nov. 9 to allow the home owned by Community Living Guelph Wellington.
The issue first came up at a public meeting on Oct. 19, during which council received a report from Wellington County planner Linda Redmond suggesting council should grant the zoning change, which would allow a group home to accommodate developmentally disabled adults, but would not permit a business or professional office.
Council also received correspondence from two neighbours who were opposed to the amendment, citing concerns with the number of allowed residents and secondary uses of the building.
At the Oct. 19 meeting, council deferred the amendment in order to add a limit of three residents in the home.
County planner Mark Van Patter, who attended the Nov. 9 meeting, cautioned council against setting the condition.
“Limiting to three, I think both Linda and I have some concerns over that, but that’s up to council to choose, but I don’t think we can defend limiting it to three,” said Van Patter.
“You have a bylaw that allows up to 10 everywhere else in town. The only difference with this property is it doesn’t have municipal services. So in my mind, if this property can be serviced properly, and I understand it can be, then I don’t see the need to limit to three.”
Councillors Dan Yake and Sherry Burke were concerned with enforcement of the bylaw, specifically a “no administration” provision.
“There have been some questions raised on to how the bylaw will be in compliance, how will we go about making sure that there’s no administration being done in that building other than what needs to be done to afford the residents that live there,” asked Burke.
CAO Michael Givens said enforcement is driven by complaints, so it would have to be initiated that way.
Councillor Steve McCabe said he doesn’t believe the building will be used for administration.
“I have a hard time believing they would put an administration building in there when they bought a residential house and fixed it up to have three residents live there,” he said.
