It was standing room only as Phil Wood, a consulting planner hired by the developers, outlined plans to convert about 16 acres of field and woods along the Ferry Road into 108 unites of duplex and townhouse construction.
The site is located across the road from the entrance to the Holiday Haven KOA campground, near Eliot Park.
Wood said the land is zoned as planned-unit-residential development, or PURD.
"The whole reason for doing a PURD is trying to encourage innovative lotting arrangements and more innovative housing forms," said Wood.
He showed slides of proposed duplex homes at the high-end of the price range for that kind of housing.
There would also be town houses similar to the kind seen in Stratford near the golf course.
Zoning was one point of contention at the meeting.
André Lavoie gave an extensive presentation in opposition.
He said the land had been zoned single family residential when he bought his land and built a house. He said the land was changed to its PURD status in 2004 during the creation of the town's official plan. Area residents were not informed of the change, no sign was posted and newspaper ads contained factual errors, said Lavoie.
"Residents living adjacent to this proposed PURD development only became aware in Nov, 2009 that the said property had been rezoned in 2004," he told the meeting.
The official plan is about to undergo a mandatory review. Residents want that occasion to change the PURD designation.
Those opposed call the proposal a high-density development. Wood said the development is really, from a planning designation, a low-density development.
"The most striking aspect of (the town's) zoning map is the fact that Cornwall is very much a rural community with the majority of its land base under agriculture," said Lavoie.
"The setting for the single-family-zoning along the Ferry Road is a very well established rural neighbourhood with a sense of pastoral peace and beauty," he said. "This is an area that over the years has allowed development while maintaining the character and the balance between rural and urban interest."
The change in zoning for this small section of the Ferry Road will increase the housing density by five times, said Lavoie. He calls the 2004 zoning change incompatible with the town's official plan.
"This PURD development clearly will impact negatively on viability of farming by causing negative relations between farmers and high density residential areas," said Lavoie. "This PURD development clearly has the potential to significantly increase land use conflicts. "
Other residents noted the lack of any traffic study for the plan, the lack of any discussion about park space or cash in lieu.
"I would suggest that given the questionable process that was followed to rezone the property . . . and that it seems clear to many in the room that PURD development is not consistent with the official plan . . . that at the very least that any consideration of this development or any development on this property be put on the back burner. Lets wait and see what the official plan process tells us," said Wayne Peters, a resident on the Ferry Road.
The Guardian
