Future of west Mountain site now lies with OMB
Members of the city’s planning committee have turned down a settlement offer from Deanlee Management for development of the Chedoke brow lands.
Committee members reviewed the offer for nearly 90 minutes in private Monday afternoon before Ward 8 councillor Terry Whitehead emerged to say the committee had refused the Mississauga firm’s proposal and was sticking with the city’s earlier decision to limit development to no more than 450 units.
Deanlee had proposed building as many as 700 units on the 24 acre site along Sanatorium Road, north of Scenic Drive and has spent the past several months working on a new plan after the planning committee turned down its original proposal in a 7-1 vote last September.
Whitehead provided few details of the settlement offer, only that it included more than 450 units and Deanlee has added a builder-contractor partner to the development plan.
He would not divulge the builder’s name.
Whitehead speculated that Deanlee is looking to resell the property to the builder if it can get a larger number of units approved.
“I feel very comfortable (saying) that if Deanlee is successful meeting the conditions with this particular builder that the builder would actually end up owning the property,” Whitehead said.
Many residents in the area are opposed to the development, arguing it’s too dense, will destroy valuable green space and does not fit the character of the community.
“The community through this entire process has really felt like they’ve been left out,” said Andrew Knowles, who is representing his grandmother Shirley Fawcett, a longtime brow lands area resident.
Knowles said a 1,146-name petition opposed to the development has been given to the city.
Calls to Deanlee Management and its lawyer for comment were not returned by press time.
The committee’s decision leaves the future of brow lands development in the hands of the Ontario Municipal Board, which has slated a three-day hearing on the matter starting Sept. 7, 10:30 a.m. at the McMaster Learning Centre on Main Street East.
Whitehead said the committee also briefly discussed the possibility of the city purchasing a parcel of brow land property, once home to a baseball diamond, on the north-east corner of Sanatorium Road and Scenic Drive.
He said it was decided that matter should go before the government issues committee as a separate matter.
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