Public opposes Bolton townhouse application

Written By JOSHUA SANTOS

A number of residents voiced their disapproval at a regular council meeting of a proposal to build 16 four-storey townhouses at 336 King St. E. in Bolton.

Residents were concerned about environmental and traffic impacts of the proposed townhouse application.

Developers have applied for an Official Plan Amendment, Draft Plan of Subdivision, Draft Plan of Condominium, and Zoning By-Law Amendment to permit the creation of 16 four-storey townhouse units on a 1.53-acre property. 

The building will have a close proximity to the Humber Valley Heritage Trail and Keith McCreay Park. Downtown Bolton is about 10 to 15 minutes away from it.

“The application proposes to rezone the land from rural residential to a site-specific townhouse zone, only for the portion of the property currently zoned rural residential,” said Jennifer Maestre, intermediate planner for Fotenn Planning + Design. “The remaining south portion of the property will maintain its environmental policy area zone.”

About 40 per cent of the land will be used for the build while 60 per cent will remain undeveloped.

The townhouses would be about 13 metres tall will be three bedrooms, 1,940-square-foot units. 

There will be one parking spot in the driveway, one in the garage for each unit and three visiting parking spaces. It will have a single access to King Street East with right-in and right-out access and is located in the centre of the property.

“The townhouse blocks have been strategically placed perpendicular to King Street on either side of the private road,” said Maestre. “The location of the blocks aims to maintain the rhythm and appearance of single dwellings along the street.”

Ward 5 Area coun. Tony Rosa argued this point and would like to see evidence on how the building who maintain the look of a single-dwelling neighbourhood.

“I'm really concerned about the look of this unit, the size of it, the height and so on,” said Rosa. “It's kind of contradictory. I'm trying to figure that out.”

Bolton resident Jeff Smith disapprove the application. He said it's right next to the Humber River, where single-family bungalows sit today.

“It's our opinion that this is grossly inappropriate in scale and not compatible at all with the existing land uses in the area,” said Smith. The density, height, almost nonexistent setbacks and increased coverage belong in a downtown urban core or a new subdivision where adjacencies can be properly planned.”  

He said King Street East is semi-rural and that high-density residential is never appropriate next to low-density. He said the Town of Caledon's Official Plan notes medium-density residential should be located in areas of transition from low to high-density.

“It's a semi-rural area transitioning to no density, which is the Humber River right behind it,” said Smith. “Nothing more than a single-family home is either appropriate or good planning on this property.”

He said he has many concerns with the proposal in the reports. He was primarily concerned about the environmental impacts stating building 16 homes on two massive structures, where one bungalow is today, will be devastating to the wildlife and greenspace of the Humber River Valley.

“Sixteen families, 32 or more cars, kids, pets, radios, air conditioners, garbage trucks, salt, litter, visitors, noise, bright streetlights, all right next to the environmentally sensitive Humber River; allowing any new building closer to the Humber River then the existing house footprint cannot, by common sense, be considered anything but a reduction to the ecosystem integrity of the Humber River Watershed.”

He mentioned there would be more traffic impacts in the area, the size, scale, coverage and height are incompatible and the application's report are based on flawed assumptions that the property is underutilized. He said it is used exactly as planned.

“No proof or evidence of the underutilization is given, just unfounded opinions stated as facts,” said Smith. “Both the planning rational and the urban design brief submitted open with blatant errors, overstating the built form of the neighbourhood around the proposal, which renders their findings and opinions as suspect.” 

Resident John Middleton had concerns about traffic. He said his dog is nervous when walking around the area because of the volume of traffic going by.

“I think the proposed approach, in terms of the cars entering and exiting that particular piece of property can be problematic,” said Middleton. “There's so much traffic intersecting on the road there, that is going to be a problem.”

He also had environmental concerns. He said enjoys seeing dears, beavers and other animals in the area.

“It is a real concern about the environmental impact of 16 units going onto that piece of property,” said Middleton. “It's nice to see that they plan to but more trees on the property, but there's certainty going to be an impact on the sightlines. You throw some 40-foot buildings there, it's going to look quite dramatic relative to other buildings. Most of those homes are bungalows along the ridge there, so it's going to look quite awkward.”

Sherry Brioschi had concerns about flooding, citing the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)'s 100 Year Flood Event Standard.

The term 100-year storm is used in an attempt to simplify the definition of a rainfall event that statistically has a 1-percent chance of occurring in any given year, at any given place. A 100-year storm does not mean that it will occur once every 100 years, according to the TRCA.

The TRCA looks at the greater of the 100-year storm or regional event (Hurricane Hazel) and whichever one is higher benchmark in the watershed. In this case, it is Hurricane Hazel.

A hydrology model simulates the effect of this amount of rainfall as if it were over each watershed, considering the topography, soil type, land-use, and other characteristics to determine how much water would end up in the rivers and streams. A hydraulic model then looks at where this water would go, and what areas would be inundated. The inundated area for the regulatory storm is called the regulatory flood plain.

She also was concerned about traffic impacts, with a right in and right out, especially during rush hour times. She said there's flaws and lack of data in the submission.

Cheryl Connors said the building looks out of place, is a different type of land-use and doesn't think it's fair to the homeowners who invested so much of their earnings in their properties to have a four-storey townhouse project in the middle of it.

She said there would be a ‘cascade' effect of developers buying other homes in the area for their own townhouse project or high-density developments.

Real Estate Agent and resident Verona Tesky said the proposal is in her backyard. She said it's dangerous coming out of Farmer's Lane, and can't imagine more cars coming out of that area. She said one residential home belongs there and can't imagine rezoning it for anything other than that.

 “The traffic is horrendous,” said Tesky. “It will just be unacceptable to have that many more cars coming along there. The fire department; I can't see how a fire truck will get in there. There's a one way in and one way out. What do they do once they're in? Do they have to back out? Drive over the bank? Because you're in the river and can't go any farther.”

She is also concerned that these properties all back onto the Humber River and they are all on flood plain.

Resident Kim Seipt said she lives across the street from the proposal and wanted to be a part of the process to provide comments. She, however has not received any information from commenting agencies, from environmental, planning and other groups, and would like another public meeting after the comments are received.

Ward 5 Regional Coun Annette Groves was concerned with the height, traffic, erosion of the Humber River banks and compatibility. 

“There's a large volume of traffic that goes through the Evans Ridge subdivision, because they are cutting through there to go to Kingsview and to get to north hill and all the neighbourhoods there,” said Groves. “Already we have a problem with traffic there and I will tell you, I think someone mentioned Tim Hortons, we have no left turn. People are turning left there and what happens to that is it gridlocks the traffic on Highway 50. You'll probably see the same thing here, even though it's a right in and right out.”

She said she would like to hear what the region has to say about garbage collection and how they're going to turn around.

She would also like to see another public meeting once the agencies makes their comments.