Wellington County has amended its Official Plan to remove a “Proposed Major Roadway” designation on the former Highway 24 corridor through the county.
The lands subject to the amendment are parts of Lots 1 through 18, Concessions 1 through 5; and Lots A through D and F, Concession 6, Division E in the Township of Guelph-Eramosa.
A bylaw to adopt Official Plan amendment No. 102 for the County of Wellington was approved at the Oct. 27 county council meeting.
The alignment of the highway has been shown as a “Proposed Major Roadway” on the Guelph-Eramosa Land Use Schedule (A-3) since the county Official Plan was originally approved in 1999.
In recent discussions and correspondence, the province has stated its intention to abandon the current designation and that it will not offer funding assistance to build the road, explains a staff report from county manager of policy planning Mark Paoli.
The report notes the history of the designation actually predates the county’s Official Plan. In 1997, the Ministry of Transportation received Environmental Assessment clearance for a realignment of former Highway 24 between Cambridge and Guelph.
The ministry then designated the route as a controlled access highway. In 1998, former Highway 24, from Highway 401 in Cambridge to Highway 10 in Caledon, was transferred to the Region of Waterloo, County of Wellington and Region of Peel as part of a local services realignment.
Guelph-Eramosa Township initiated an amendment to its zoning bylaw to remove the holding provision from six industrially-zoned properties in the eastern part of the subject lands.
The holding provision had been applied to protect the future highway corridor.
Given that OPA 102 proposes to remove the Proposed Major Roadway designation, the township decided the holding provision is no longer necessary, the report explains.
The bylaw was worded to ensure the holding provision would not be removed until OPA 102 is in effect.
“The province has abandoned their plans to continue with that road expansion,” noted councillor and planning committee chair Andy Lennox at the Oct. 27 meeting.
He said, as a result of the move, “properties would be freed up to be developed in an appropriate manner.”
Councillor Gregg Davidson said he was “a little concerned” about the proposed abandonment of the potential four-lane highway corridor, noting the cities of Cambridge and Guelph are growing quickly around it.
“I do realize that the majority of people that use that corridor are not from Wellington County,” said Davidson.
However, he added he felt the county roads department might want the corridor maintained for possible future development.
Councillor Chris White, mayor of Guelph-Eramosa, stated the proposed major highway was unlikely to ever be built and his municipality needs the land for development.
“At the end of the day my community is tapped out. We don’t have any (room for) growth left anywhere,” said White.
“We could sit on this, what I call the ghost, for another 50 years, but nobody’s going to build it … While I appreciate good planning, I also appreciate what’s realistic.”
Councillor Doug Breen said, “This has held us hostage as far as development in Guelph-Eramosa as far as our industrial and commercial options for a generation – and it will never, ever be built.”
Warden George Bridge agreed, stating, “I think its a big win for the county and Guelph-Eramosa to have that designation taken off because it was never going to happen.”
