Several years in the planning stage, a Minnow Lake housing development with 192 residential lots appears to continue to inch forward, despite facing numerous hurdles.
During the Feb. 12 planning committee meeting of city council, the city’s elected officials approved a draft plan of subdivision approval three-year extension to Jan. 8, 2027.
The long-talked-about subdivision is proposed to consist of 192 lots on vacant land located south of Howey Drive and west of Somerset Drive, behind the Sudbury Curling Club building.
“Development is needed, and I’m happy that it’s happening in Minnow Lake,” Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc told Sudbury.com by phone prior to the Feb. 12 meeting.
“Minnow Lake is a growing community, and it’s important to grow our city together, and this is going to create more homes. We need more homes and housing throughout the city.”
This development in particular will be “beautiful” when it’s all said and done, he said, and will “enhance the Minnow Lake area.”
The development is estimated to bring in $1.4 million in property tax revenue assuming the single-detached dwellings each carry an assessed value of $500,000. It would also bring in approximately $4.25 million in development charges.
The development was first proposed several years ago.
In 2011, it was to consist of 705 dwelling units, including 192 semi-detached dwellings, 49 townhouse units and 464 units within five apartment buildings. The community objected to it due in part to the amount of traffic it would add to Howey Drive. It was shot down by a vote of 4-1.
The company submitted a scaled-back version of the development in 2012 consisting of a 192-lot subdivision, with plans to build anywhere from 192 to 384 dwellings, but the proposal was rejected by a vote of 3-2.
The developer, Dalron Construction Ltd., launched an appeal, which the Ontario Municipal Board dismissed in 2016.
It was then sent to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal for an appeal, which approved the subdivision with conditions on Jan. 8, 2021.
Despite claims Howey Drive was already near capacity for traffic, the LPAT ruling noted that over the past 20 years, it had seen “minimal changes to its daily vehicle usage” with approximately 8,500 vehicles per day. The standard level of a two-lane roadway capacity is 10,000 vehicles per day.
During the Feb. 12 meeting, Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann asked a series of questions about the draft plan before the committee unanimously passed a series of resolutions associated with the approvals extension.
Since past conditions are not grandfathered in, the committee’s vote to extend approval also updated requirements to follow the latest legislation. This included enhanced stormwater management designs, and a geotechnical engineer addressing on-site and excess soil management.
The new requirements will have at least 80 per cent of suspended solids to be removed from stormwater, and that any material removed from the site is done to ensure it suits its new environment and doesn’t contaminate it.
As for past traffic concerns, a number of proposed changes were included in the LPAT ruling, including a left turn lane into the proposed subdivision and Dalron contributing financially toward traffic signalization at Howey Drive and Van Horne Street.
“Staff have sat down with the developer, and we have come to compromises,” Leduc said, adding that various road-related issues will be further hashed out at future meetings.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
