Archive

Proposed growth for Everett cut in latest revision to proposed OPA

August 21, 2013   ·   0 Comments

The latest revision to the proposed Official Plan Amendment for Everett would see a maximum of slightly more than 6,000 residents in the village by 2031.

The number is significantly less than the 10,000 figure which has been stated in previous versions of the OPA.

The number were among the details released at the special Public Meeting on the Official Plan amendment at the township municipal offices. The meeting was the sixth public meeting held on the Official Public Amendment which would allow large growth in the village over the next two decades.

The meeting attracted about 80 people and show a 90 minute question and answer period.

Much of the discussion revolved around the possibility of a referendum on the expansion of the village.

David Perryman, an Everett area resident and the new vice-president of the Everett Ratepayers Association, said that a referendum would be the best way to gauge public support for the proposal.

He said that association members had visited 200 homes in Everett in the days before the public meeting and nobody had been in favour of the amendment.

“But I think from tonight and all the public meetings that I’ve attended, you’ve seen a clear and obvious position taken and that is we aren’t  favour of the way it is being rolled out,” he said.

Deputy mayor Mary Small Brett said that she wasn’t sure if the township “could legally do it in terms of a planning decision. I have never heard of it being done before.”

She wondered who would be allowed to vote in the referendum and if would be restricted to residents of Everett alone or the entire township.

Councillor Scott Anderson also had concerns about the use of a referendum. “I don’t think that it is proscribed in the planning process.”

The question of  the costs of compulsory sewer hookup were among the top issues.

Residents did not seem convinced that council’s discussions with developers that they would pay for the costs of installing sewers, including the existing homes in the village, would happen, Township staff said that residents would be responsible for hooking up to the new sewers.

“Its site specific. It should average about $4,000 per house,” said planner Jim Hunter.

Everett resident Leo Losereit raised concerns about the the funding of the Everett Secondary Plan which was paid for in whole by the Walton Group.

Losereit claimed that the township was financially responsible for a portion of the cost of the plan upwards of $275,000.

“How could you be so irresponsible in signing this cost recovery agreement which says if you don’t go ahead with this secondary plan, the residents of the township will be responsible for $275,000,” he said to Mayor Tom Walsh.

Walsh said after the meeting that the agreement with the Walton was no different that any other agreement with a developer who pays the  full costs of a project upfront and expects subsequent developers to pay a portion of the costs.

“Leo was not correct in his statement. There is no way that the ratepayers of this township will be responsible for the costs of this study, either now or in the future.”

At the close of the meeting, Mayor Walsh said that the council was not planning on any more public meetings on the Official Plan Amendment.

Council will likely vote on the OPA at its regular September council meeting on September 3.

By Richard Blanchard

Readers Comments (0)