Guelph-Eramosa has once again deferred the decision to stop up and close the Pasmore Street road allowance, north of Highway 7 in Rockwood.
Council made the decision on Oct. 2.
“It’s a little more complicated than we thought it would be,” Mayor Chris White said. “We’ll try to make sure that we can continue to move forward on this without taking any steps until we’re absolutely sure on what (we’re doing) going ahead. So we’re going to defer that for now.”
While the portion of Pasmore Street between Highway 7 and Division Street was deemed surplus in August, it was at the Sept. 18 meeting that council first delayed the closure, following a public meeting.
Muhammed Hanafy, owner of the Esso gas station on the north side of Alma Street, said he was concerned the closure would impact his business.
Township clerk Amanda Knight wrote in a report that an adjacent property owner had requested to buy the unopened road so the land can be added to the site plan of a new development.
The lands along Alma Street are being developed by Vesterra Property Management Inc. into new commercial space.
Vesterra president Robert Eilers has told the Advertiser there are five buildings planned for the site: two drive-thru style restaurants, a grocery store, a two-storey building with retail and office space and a fifth building, possibly a restaurant.
The development will surround the Esso station and Hanafy is concerned he won’t have access to the two entrances needed for the gas station to function.
At the Sept. 18 meeting it was indicated that Eilers, Hanafy and their teams would discuss options.
However, at that time the township chose to seek legal advice and defer the decision to stop up and close the road.
“At the end of the day we want to see this thing move ahead,” White said after the Oct. 2 meeting. “The last thing we want to do is do something that might cause somebody a problem which then gets you down a road you don’t want to go down.
“There’s some complicated negotiations going on between the two landowners and … there was a fear that if we stopped up and closed the road … that might cause [Hanafy] some difficulty and we don’t want to do that.”
While closing the road isn’t a sale, it’s the first step in selling the property and sends the signal that the municipality is prepared and willing to sell the road, White explained
Council voted unanimously to again defer the decision.
