A plan for 314 new homes in Sandy Cove is being questioned by potential neighbours.
For nearly an hour, a steady stream of residents took to the microphone at a special meeting of Innisfil council held Feb. 21. The statutory public meeting on the proposal, provided councillors and residents with an update on the Official Plan amendment, zoning bylaw amendment and draft plan of subdivision being requested.
The property, a 35.5-hectare parcel at 706 Lockhart Rd., is slated to be the next phase of the Lakehaven Development in the Sandy Cove area. A joint venture between Parkbridge Lifestyles Communities and Mattamy Homes, Lakehaven North is proposed to consist of 184 single detached freehold lots and 130 townhouse land lease lots.
There would be approximately 23 units per hectare on the developed portion of the property, being serviced by municipal water and sewer. A stormwater management block and parkland are proposed to be developed with the homes and infrastructure.
The lands are currently vacant, with natural heritage features such as woodlands, wetlands and a watercourse present throughout. As well, some of the land is regulated by the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority.
Nearly 40 per cent of the property would be designated environmental protection, an increase over what is currently in the town’s Official Plan, maintaining a natural buffer between the development being considered by council and five hectares of future development at the north end of the property that will require a similar process in the future.
While many residents said they weren’t necessarily opposed to development on the land, some suggested the 14 hectares of environmental protection weren’t enough for land so close to the Lake Simcoe shoreline.
“I appreciate the 40 per cent greenspace, I appreciate the environmentally protected area, but I don’t think that’s enough,” said Jessi Arrowsmith. “What about all the endangered species that live back there … all these animals, where are they going to go?”
Lakehaven consists of four separate parcels of land throughout northern Innisfil, with Phase 1 currently being developed immediately to the south of the property currently under review at 706 Lockhart Rd. Ray Duhamel, a partner at Jones Consulting, told councillors they wanted the existing development in the area to influence what would be proposed for Lakehaven North.
“We gave a lot of consideration to what’s around the site,” he said. “How do we integrate into this existing community?”
One way, Duhamel said, was to limit the amount of development along the western boundary of the property, to ensure fewer of the current residents in the area are abutting against some of the new homes being proposed. Those lots will also be deeper than the rest of the development, he added. The eastern lots would also see some additional depth, while those at the southern portion of the property fronting onto Lockhart Road could be built with reverse frontage.
Although this style of development has fallen out of favour in subdivision design, it quickly became the best option to avoid adding an excessive amount of exits onto Lockhart, either from more new roads than necessary or from private driveways. A 10-metre buffer would be added between the road and the new homes, which would better match the entries to the existing homes in the area, Duhamel said.
“We’re not just walking in and slapping in apartment buildings and saying this is what we’re going to do,” he said. “So, we built from the outside in on this site to recognize that people don’t like change — they don’t want development around them. We understand that, but can we do that in a context-sensitive way? That’s what we tried to accomplish.”
Some of the neighbours who spoke at the meeting did not feel the mission was accomplished, specifically when it came to lot sizes.
“The average around the surrounding area is around 70-foot-wide lots,” said Nick Robbins. “When you speak about the context of the neighbourhood, you’re still speaking in a self-contained unit. You’re not speaking about what our lives are like in this area. That extra space does translate to a different way of life in our area.”
Enrique Soissa wasn’t opposed to the development of the lands in question but had concerns with how the four Lakehaven developments were being brought to fruition.
“It seems that these phases are being done step-by-step, individually, without any holistic approach to the community,” he said. “Where is the actual integration with the community?”
He lamented a lack of amenities being proposed, from community centres to houses of worship, which could lead to more car dependency and ultimately be a detriment to the existing Sandy Cove area.
The proposed Official Plan amendment would remove the Retirement Residential Area designation from the southern portion of the property and add a Residential Low Density 2 designation. The Key Natural Heritage Features and Key Hydrologic Residential Low Density 1 designations would remain.
Site-specific policies are also being requested by the proponent to allow for reverse lot frontage, a townhouse cluster greater than 24 units and to reduce the minimum right of way from 20 metres to 18 metres.
The zoning bylaw amendment requested calls for the subject lands to be re-zoned to a site-specific Residential Three Exception, Future Development Exception, Open Space and Environmental Protection.
“The proposed Draft Plan of Subdivision would utilize underdeveloped vacant lands within the Sandy Cove Settlement Area, providing a mix of housing options and tenures on full municipal services, and new public parks and environmental protection area, in close proximity to Lake Simcoe, and proposed future commercial uses on 25 Sideroad,” staff wrote in its report to council, providing an overview of the application.
Staff will take the comments from the public and councillors back for further analysis before recommending to the council to proceed with the proposal or deny it.
Council’s decision on the development will be made at a future meeting.
