The city's planning committee approved a rezoning application Monday that would permit a subdivision at St. Agnes Street and Brabant Street in Azilda.
The project, being built by Bayside Sudbury Corp., would add about 250 units in total, a mix of single-family homes, semi-detached homes and apartments.
When completed, it would add about $749,000 in new property tax revenue, $2.6 million in development charges and $701,000 in building permit fees.
But that means little to some residents in the area, who objected to the plan. Azilda resident Jeff McLaren told the committee that, in the last two years, there have been several incidents in which the storm water system was overwhelmed, causing untreated sewage to be dumped into Whitewater Lake.
He's opposed to any development until the system is upgraded to prevent further stress on the lake. Building even one more home would only make matters worse, McLaren said.
“It would be irresponsible for us to compound the problem.”
He's also concerned adding a development this big would lead to sewer backups into private homes. An avid fisherman, he's also worried about fishing stocks in the lake.
While he supports development in general – he's an electrician, so more construction is good for business – McLaren said in this case, he felt compelled to speak up.
“It's extremely hard for me to do,” he said. “But I feel it's essential you guys hear it.”
In response, city staff said a watershed study is planned for next year for Whitewater. And Rob Webb, the city's supervisor of development engineering, said the city has purchased land in that area with plans to build a stormwater pond, which would treat stormwater runoff before it goes into the lake.
He said Bayside and other developers who want to build in Azilda are contributing toward the cost.
“All the developers that's (are working) in the area, they're all paying toward the construction of that pond to mitigate the impact of stormwater in the area,” Webb said.
Lift station upgrades are being done as we speak.
Ward 4 Coun. Evelyn Dutrisac wondered what responsibility the developer to ensure their homes won't overload the system.
“The builder has to ensure the system is adequate to handle the development?” she asked. “And is there good followup to ensure the developer does this?”
“If it's shown their development will (overload) the system, they will have to pay for upgrades,” Webb responded. “And the developer would have to provide proof that the sanitary sewer system can handle the flows coming from that subdivision.”
He said the system gets overwhelmed when there's a big rain, but not because of developments like this one.
The new subdivision would have its own system not connected to Whitewater, so it wouldn't overflow into the lake. The problem is too many homes on the lake are illegally connected.
“A lot of existing residences have their system connected to the sanitary sewer system,” he said.
It's tricky dealing with the issue, Webb said, because the city only finds out when someone complains about an illegal connection.
“We can't just go into people's houses to check,” he said.
Dutrisac said many residents are unaware that the city will cover up to 50 per cent of the cost of disconnecting from the system.
“We've been asking residents to disconnect, because this is what's hurting our lake,” she said. “We want to keep Whitewater safe.”
While the developer won't have to wait until the stormwater pond is build to move ahead, planner Eric Taylor said the city could require Bayside to come up with a temporary plan to deal with stormwater at each stage of building.
