Tribute development approved

CARA Director, Bill Mann, attended last Monday’s council meeting which approved the Official Plan Amendment for the Tribute development (The development is referred to as Creemore Commons, and previously was known as Alliance Homes). Sadly, he was informed by the Mayor that since a public meeting had been held (on June 28, 2023), that we were not allowed to provide any new input. At that public meeting, CARA submitted an 11-page document with 50 issues and recommendations that we felt would improve the development.

Subsequent to the public meeting, Tribute made a number of requests for change to its development which were supported by the township, but which are not even on the township’s website. Specifically, the township’s report referred to the second and third submissions made by Tribute dated Nov. 10, 2023 and April 30, 2024 that are not publicly available. In our view, this makes a mockery of the public consultation process.

Having said that, the following can be discerned from the materials that were posted online for last Monday’s council meeting:

Seniors’ Housing – The approved Alliance subdivision and the current Zoning Bylaw provided for an apartment seniors complex (a maximum of 75 housing units). The Tribute Applications provided for none, as CARA pointed out at the June 2023 public meeting. The written response from Tribute and the township was: “A seniors’ housing development has already been constructed at the corner of Mary Street and Elizabeth Street” (i.e., That is the Creedan Valley Nursing Home!) After all the concern expressed by local residents about the need for more seniors’ housing that was included in the plan by Alliance and recommended by its planning experts and despite the vocal support of some councillors for more seniors housing, this response ignores public input and is justpoking a finger in the eyes of local residents. When approving this major development in Creemore, council missed a significant opportunity to provide much needed seniors’ housing, thereby providing for a complete community as was in the Alliance plan and as required by the 2024 Provincial Policy Statement.

Inadequate municipal water supply and sanitary services – This continues to be a major problem and is recognized as such by the township. The solution was to approve the development applications but impose a “hold” designation on all the planned residential and recreational zones, and then to create conditions of Draft Subdivision Plan Approval that will require proof of adequate services. Whatever conditions are eventually imposed in a Draft Plan Approval will not be publicly available. So, it would have been far better to hold approval of everything except roads until thetownship engineering staff is satisfied with the actual plans for providing water and sanitary services, including the result of the future investigation of a potable water supply that Tribute is now being required to finance. The developer will be responsible for paying for the cost of installing these services on its land, subject to any credit due for development charges.