There was some interest in the northwest Fergus secondary plan here last week when and R.J. Burnside and Associates engineers held a public meeting to discuss what is known locally as the Sorbara development.
It is located east of Elora at the first curve out of town on Colborne Street and runs to Beatty Line at the edge of Fergus. The company plans to build an estimated 1,200 new homes and a small commercial plaza on about 210 acres of land. That land is currently used for agriculture.
The development was first proposed in 2007 and 2008 by the Sorbara Development Group, which held three public meetings at that time to begin a class environmental assessment for the realignment of Colborne Street. Late in 2008 the development was put on hold because of the provincial Places to Grow legislation and its impact on the county’s secondary plan.
Since that time, the county has developed a land use plan for Wellington Place, which is across Colborne to the south. Consequently, Sorbara is restarting its secondary plan. The land is designated as future residential in the township’s official plan.
Burnside engineer Ian Drever explained at the public meeting that Sorbara will develop a land use plan for the development only after the environmental assessment is completed. He said comments from the June 6 meeting would be taken into consideration in doing that.
Burnside has recognized the winding Colborne Street is presenting difficulties and needs some consideration.
In a “problem statement” in the company’s handout at the meeting, it acknowledged, “In accordance with the Class EA process, the problem can be defined as the ‘horizontal curves along Colborne Street immediately to the west of the [proposed development] do not meeting desirable standards and should be upgraded to accommodate continuing development in this area. In addition a north south collector route is required to facilitate traffic movement through the secondary planning area.”
Drever said the Elora to Cataract Trail to the south of Colborne Street is of major concern for Sorbara. Consequently Burnside offered several options on how the road realignment of Colborne Street would be accomplished. He said the trail might even be incorporated starting at the curve on Colborne just outside of Elora and continue to connect with the Elora Cataract trail that runs through the museum lands.
Alternatives to the road include doing nothing, lowering the speed limit, or realignment of the road. That will follow the environmental assessment process. The preliminary alternative is to alter the road. Burnside offered seven possibilities for doing that.
The development will consist of single family homes, semi-detached houses, and town houses. There will not be any apartment buildings Drever said.
Drever said he expected there would be as many as 3,000 to 3,600 new residents moving into the subdivision, but added it could take years to complete construction. He pointed out that Fergus, even in its boom days, never saw over 200 homes per year being built.
“It’ll be years,” he said. “It’ll be phased – probably at 10 years.
One of the features of the Sorbara property is a drain from old Nichol township that will remain in place. It will be 160 feet wide and Drever said the Grand River Conservation Authority has insisted it be treated as a cold water stream. It flows northwest and enters the Irvine River.
He said the development is expected to create jobs because the density requirements in Centre Wellington are 40 permanent jobs per hectare of land developed.
A small commercial plaza will likely include such things as a variety store but he doubts there will be office buildings. It is being built as a service area for residents of the subdivision.
There is also a two hectare community park planned for the area, and 2.4 hectares of land for a new elementary school.
When it comes to the class environmental assessment, Burnside found:
– no provincially significant natural heritage features are present;
– there is one locally rare plant species located near the woodlot that is expected to remain;
– there are five area sensitive birds seen in and close to the woodlot;
– six vegetation communities were located on or near to the secondary planning area;
– three mammal species were seen, but all are widespread and abundant in Ontario; and
– six fish species were in the Nichol drain but each are abundant in the province.
Sorbara and Burnside will spend June and July preparing land use concepts, evaluating alternatives, and selecting a preferred concept for Colborne Street. It will then prepare its secondary plan, and expects to have a municipal review of it by September. It will hold another statutory public meeting in September.
Sorbara and Burnside are welcoming comments. The deadline to comment is June 25. People with questions can contact township planner Brett Salmon at 519-846-9691 or email him at bsalmon@centrewellington.ca or contact Jell Solly, director of land development at 905-850-6154 or email jsolly@sorabaragroup.com.
