[0:12] Welcome all. This is a public meeting as
required by the Planning Act to afford
[0:16] any person an opportunity to make
representation with respect to a
[0:19] proposed official plan amendment for 467
Sunset Drive in the municipality of
[0:24] Central Elgin. I welcome all those who
are here in the gallery as well as those
[0:28] who are joining us online.
Does any member of council have a
[0:31] disclosure of interest concerning the
proposal?
[0:35] Seeing none. Miss Leach, what method of
notice and when was the notice given to
[0:38] the public for the meeting, please?
Mayor Sloan, as per requirements of the
[0:43] Planning Act, notice was mailed by
regular post to every owner of land
[0:46] within 120 m of the subject land and
applicable agencies on February 6th,
[0:51] 2026. An extended circulation also
included all residents of nearby
[0:55] subdivisions, including those located
within the city of St. Thomas. Notice
[0:59] was physically posted to the property by
municipal staff and also posted to the
[1:03] municipal website.
Thank you, Miss Leach. I'd now like to
[1:07] introduce Marylou Tanner, the senior
partner of NPG Planning Solutions, to
[1:12] explain the proposed official plan
amendment.
[1:17] Miss Tanner, welcome back.
Thank you very much, Mayor Sloan and
[1:22] members of the community and members of
council and staff. It's my pleasure to
[1:26] be here this evening for this public
meeting under the Planning Act.
[1:31] And we'll just get the presentation
loaded.
[1:33] For those of you who are able to attend
the open house that was held last week
[1:38] on Tuesday evening, a lot of the
material you're going to see this
[1:41] evening will be similar, but there will
be people both here and online who may
[1:46] not have been had that opportunity. So,
we want to give everybody
[1:49] a fresh
fresh perspective and overview of the
[1:53] proposed official plan amendment. We can
go to the next slide, please.
[1:58] So, this is the hospital lands. They're
directly across the street from here. It
[2:03] won't be news to anyone, but we just
want to outline what we're dealing with
[2:07] in terms of the hospital lands generally
at the northeast corner of Sunset and
[2:11] John Wise Line and then carrying over to
Fairview and south of the Miller's Pond
[2:16] subdivision. It excludes the OPP station
on John Wise Line as well as the
[2:23] Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental
Health Care on Sunset. So, we'll go to
[2:28] the next slide, please.
The hospital lands are being divested
[2:34] from the province of Ontario as the
hospital has been closed for a number of
[2:38] years.
In doing so,
[2:41] the lands do not have clear direction in
Central Elgin's official plan on what
[2:46] their future would be. And And that's
not surprising given their given their
[2:49] long history of hospital and
agricultural use. But with the future
[2:53] divestment of the lands, it's time to
develop a plan for the lands' future,
[2:58] how they will develop and how they will
connect to the adjoining communities. We
[3:03] began this process about 14 months ago
with a visioning guiding principles
[3:07] workshop with council that resulted in
the adoption of vision and guiding
[3:11] principles by council on May 5th, 2025.
Earlier this month last month in
[3:17] February, we developed and brought to
council the draft land use plan and what
[3:20] we call the policy directions. Taking
those vision and guiding principles and
[3:25] teasing them out into more detail and
preparing the draft of the land use
[3:30] plan.
This is a statutory public meeting under
[3:32] the Ontario Planning Act and it is
everyone's opportunity to ask questions
[3:36] and provide comments, feedback, and
suggestions. We will be taking notes
[3:40] this evening and we will be providing a
response to all the questions and
[3:43] comments we received tonight. There are
no decisions being made on the proposed
[3:48] official plan amendment this evening. We
will return next month with a
[3:52] recommended final version of the
official plan amendment and mapping. And
[3:56] your feedback tonight and from last week
will be taken into consideration. Should
[4:01] also say that there were two stakeholder
workshops late last week and we
[4:05] appreciate the people
who were able to join us in those and
[4:08] the feedback we received. We'll go to
the next slide, please.
[4:14] What's coming up on this slide is a
graphic of where we began and where
[4:18] we're headed to. So, as I mentioned, we
had a vision workshop in January 2025.
[4:23] There was a significant amount of
technical background work that was
[4:26] completed in 2025.
The majority of it was completed by the
[4:30] province of Ontario and it included
things like market studies and
[4:34] transportation and natural heritage
studies and servicing studies including
[4:39] stormwater management. We've taken all
of that information and translated it to
[4:43] the policy directions and land use plan
that we worked on and released in
[4:48] February of this year. And we are now in
the process of engagement on the
[4:52] official plan amendment which includes
both maps and draft policies. Next
[4:57] slide, please.
Last fall we conducted
[5:02] extensive public engagement on what we
call round one and that occurred in
[5:06] November 2025 on the land use plan and
proposed policy directions. There was
[5:11] one public open house, one online
survey, four stakeholder meetings and we
[5:16] used a variety of tools to make sure
that people were aware
[5:21] of
of the project of what was going on
[5:23] including many of the notifications that
the clerk provided this evening. Total
[5:29] of 453 resident participants provided
input to us.
[5:34] Next slide, please.
So, from the round one engagement, we
[5:39] heard
and this has been a
[5:41] pretty consistent throughout the
project, the importance of housing and
[5:44] housing affordability and providing
housing for people who are choosing to
[5:48] call Central Elgin home and also
ensuring that
[5:52] as the VW battery plant opens and
related businesses that there's housing
[5:57] opportunities for those workers in
Central Elgin.
[6:00] We heard about the importance of parks
and making sure that parks were
[6:03] accessible and affordable for people to
access and protecting natural heritage
[6:07] features.
We heard a great deal about
[6:09] transportation and mobility including
the importance of walkable and bikeable
[6:13] streets making sure that both cars and
pedestrians and and as well cyclists
[6:18] have safe road network to use and
ensuring that we are looking to the
[6:23] future should transit come into this
community.
[6:26] For community facilities and services,
it is really important that people have
[6:30] a place to shop, that people have a
place to go get a coffee, a bank to go
[6:34] to, that there's community facilities
such as a school and a community center
[6:38] for residents to be able to access
within this neighborhood.
[6:42] And finally we heard the importance of
heritage and identity and recognizing
[6:45] the site's legacy and looking at options
for the existing heritage buildings as
[6:50] well.
We'll go to the next slide, please.
[6:55] The draft official plan amendment for
consideration includes the detailed set
[6:59] of policies with guidance and
policy requirements on things such as
[7:05] housing and parks and servicing,
community facilities, the downtown Main
[7:10] Street area that I'll touch on in a
little bit and more. There are series of
[7:14] maps that I will walk you through this
evening as well as an appendix that
[7:18] shows how the lands will build out and
some preliminary thinking on what that
[7:22] timing looks like for those lands.
As I mentioned, we did have a public
[7:26] open house on February 24th, which was
last Tuesday and we had um
[7:32] at last count I heard 117 people attend,
which we're very grateful for all of
[7:37] people who joined us and were able to
provide their input. And the input we
[7:41] received that night will be responded to
as we move forward. We're here tonight
[7:45] for the statutory public meeting and we
are working through all of this
[7:49] engagement to gather feedback and learn
more about changes and issues and
[7:55] opportunities members of the community
have.
[7:58] We are required to circulate to agencies
in this province when we do something
[8:02] like this, so that has
taken place. We are awaiting agency
[8:06] feedback. That is agencies like the
school boards, like the conservation
[8:10] authority, like of the county of Elgin
and we'll look forward to hearing from
[8:14] them as well.
We will be finalizing everything after
[8:18] the public consultation and agency
consultation is concluded and there will
[8:23] be responses as I mentioned and uh
in my experience through processes like
[8:28] these, there are always updates and
edits and changes that occur after we
[8:32] hear from people. So, we'll go to the
next slide, please.
[8:36] So, I want to start with the land use
plan and just to orient everyone, north
[8:41] is up to the top. The street on the left
is Sunset, across the bottom is John
[8:48] Wise and then turning at the end of the
colored map north on Fairview. So, let
[8:53] me start over at Sunset.
We have provided at the corner of John
[8:58] Wise and Sunset an institutional block
of land. This will be for facilities
[9:03] such as health care, nursing homes,
residential care facilities, government
[9:08] offices and things like that. The
province of Ontario has we retain a
[9:12] minimum of 42 acres of institutional
use, which is
[9:17] what they are going to retain for their
purposes to be determined in the future
[9:21] and this area achieves that plus a
little bit left over for something such
[9:25] as nursing home or a retirement home.
As we look just north of that pinky
[9:31] purple block, there is a road
connection. It comes in opposite Karen
[9:35] Street to line the streets up and be
able to provide good
[9:38] transportation access and that will
carry eastward but will not go directly
[9:43] through to Fairview.
The orange areas that you see just off
[9:47] of Sunset are medium density housing.
That would be three to six stories. It
[9:51] would be things like townhouses, stacked
townhouses and low-rise apartment
[9:56] buildings.
You'll see some green areas coming off
[9:59] of Sunset as well. Those are natural
heritage areas.
[10:03] There is a creek and a conservation
authority regulated area around that
[10:07] creek as well as
what we call an ephemeral creek. So it's
[10:11] there sometimes, it's there not there
all the time. It's dry but it has been
[10:16] identified in the natural heritage
study. It will require more work to
[10:19] understand how it is going to be
retained and protected and if it's going
[10:23] to be retained and protected because it
doesn't flow year-round.
[10:27] The very bright green area just east of
Sunset is a stormwater management pond
[10:32] which is required for stormwater
drainage.
[10:35] As we start to look to the interior, you
can see that the orange areas are medium
[10:39] density housing. That is that three to
six story housing
[10:42] and the yellow is low density housing
which is up to three three-ish stories
[10:48] and it would be single semis, some row
houses and
[10:53] would provide the ability for a lower
density form of housing.
[10:58] One thing to note in those yellow areas
which are connected and adjoining
[11:03] Miller's Pond as well as in the
southeast, there are some areas that are
[11:06] hatched. They will have access via a
rear lane because they front on a
[11:10] collector road and we just want to make
sure everybody has safe driveway
[11:13] movement. So those will be rear lane low
density homes.
[11:18] Within the middle, you can see that
there's some red areas. We heard very
[11:22] clearly from the market study that there
is a need for additional commercial
[11:26] space in this community
and through discussions in the council
[11:30] vision and workshop, it was determined
that the appropriate form would be what
[11:34] we call a downtown main street. So,
commercial uses on the ground floor and
[11:39] apartments above.
You'll also see
[11:42] an area that has in red that is outlined
and has a dotted outline and that is a
[11:47] location for a future grocery store.
The very bright blue color will be
[11:52] future community services, things like a
community center and schools.
[11:57] We have a couple of higher density areas
in the future pink that is on John Wise
[12:02] line and those would be high density
apartments. They would be up to eight
[12:06] stories in height, but no higher than
that.
[12:10] There are a number of parks throughout
the community of various sizes. This is
[12:13] to provide different opportunities for
different users. The smaller park would
[12:17] be children's play equipment and and
seating areas. The larger
[12:22] ones would be
for sports facilities such as soccer
[12:25] fields and baseball diamonds and things
like that.
[12:28] And within the downtown main street
area, we also have a small green area
[12:32] that will be
future public plaza in that area.
[12:37] And then as we moved just a little bit
further east, you can see that
[12:42] there are two blue areas. Those have
been identified as having indigenous
[12:47] archaeological interest, so they will
not be developed and they will be
[12:52] maintained as they are now. There are a
couple of other areas that also have a
[12:56] similar
archaeological issue. One is a park and
[13:00] one is the high density area. Those are
European um
[13:05] interests and they will be dealt with
through future archaeological work.
[13:10] And finally, just up in the very
northeast area, there is a provincially
[13:15] significant wetland surrounded by that
blue
[13:19] archaeological area and that wetland
will not be developed. It will be
[13:23] protected. And finally, there is a storm
water pond adjacent to
[13:28] Fairview Street.
We can go to the next slide, please.
[13:32] Just want to touch on this. We have set
building heights in the schedule. It
[13:36] just makes it easier for people to see
visually. The lighter the color, the
[13:40] lower the height. The darker the color,
the higher the height. Everything is
[13:45] either three or four stories, three to
six stories, maximum of eight, which is
[13:48] the darkest blue.
And that is appropriate for the size of
[13:53] community and this nature of community.
We'll go to the next slide, please.
[13:58] This is the road network schedule. It is
very similar, exactly the same actually,
[14:03] to what you saw on the land use plan. We
have included in it
[14:09] where the roads are going to be and how
the community is going to connect. These
[14:13] roads will be very similar to what you
see in other typical subdivisions,
[14:17] whether in St. Thomas or in Central
Elgin.
[14:21] Just ensuring that there's safe movement
of roads, but not creating the
[14:24] opportunity for cut-through traffic and
speeding. If you want to cut through
[14:28] this future neighborhood,
it's going to take you some time, and
[14:31] that is purposeful.
We'll go to the next slide, please.
[14:36] So, this is the public realm and active
transportation plan. And it's important
[14:39] that we understand that streets will
have sidewalks on both sides. We will
[14:43] have bicycling lanes and facilities for
cyclists, but we will also have trail
[14:49] system, which is shown in green. You can
see some of the connections, especially
[14:53] in the northwest area. We just want to
make sure that as we're building this
[14:57] community, that people have the ability
to walk through it, to walk to where
[15:00] they want to go, and and don't
necessarily need to choose a vehicle.
[15:05] You can see
John Wise and on Sunset, there's circles
[15:09] at some of the intersections. Those will
be gateways. They may be roundabouts,
[15:13] but they'll be something that defines
that you're coming into this community.
[15:17] Sometimes it's public art or banners.
There's a lot of different wonderful
[15:20] opportunities for that. Next slide,
please.
[15:25] This is the preliminary phasing plan and
it is um one that we are
[15:33] continuing to look at. It is very much
tied to how much servicing capacity will
[15:37] be coming in white years. The
development is proposed to start at
[15:41] sunset and move eastward in phase one,
which will be to approximately 2031.
[15:47] Phase two will be 2031 to 2041. Sort of
that middle piece with the downtown Main
[15:53] Street. Downtowns need people living
around and they need just customers
[15:57] close by to be successful. And then the
third phase will be the balance um south
[16:02] of the downtown Main Street and eastward
over to Fairview. We don't have timing
[16:07] for the institutional block uh from the
province, so we've left the phasing as
[16:11] to be determined.
I'd like to now turn to some of the key
[16:15] policy highlights from the official plan
amendment that would be found in the
[16:19] text of the official plan amendment. As
I mentioned at the beginning, housing
[16:23] and housing affordability was a key
priority for council. It's uh something
[16:27] that we've continued to hear about about
the availability and affordability of
[16:30] housing. So, we've put in place a series
of policies that um provide
[16:35] opportunities for housing and housing
across what we call the continuum of
[16:38] housing. So, whether it's people who
need assisted housing right through to
[16:43] um ownership. It includes rental and
does provide the ability for people of
[16:48] all ages and incomes to uh obtain
housing in this community. We focus the
[16:53] residential areas around parks and
making sure that all residential areas
[16:57] are within a 15-minute walk of a park.
We've put in place uh policies for
[17:02] buildings greater than three stories to
ensure compatibility with adjoining land
[17:06] uses, particularly where there is
development adjoining that use. We've
[17:11] put in place requirements uh for
additional residential units to be
[17:15] included in the construction of the low
density residential housing to create
[17:19] the opportunity for more units within
the neighborhoods. And finally, although
[17:24] it's a policy, a housing impact
statement is important to help Central
[17:28] Elgin track goals towards achieving the
housing numbers for this plan. We'll go
[17:34] to the next slide, please.
The downtown Main Street was that red
[17:38] area that I showed you on the land use
plan and it is a community focal
[17:42] focal point. You can see some similar
images from other similar sized
[17:46] communities of what this would look
like. As I said, means main floor
[17:49] commercial with residential above it. It
could have office above it. The building
[17:54] heights will be two to six stories. We
find that that's a good relationship to
[17:58] the street and walkability and creating
a really wonderful environment for the
[18:03] businesses and the people who are
visiting those businesses. Parking will
[18:07] be located behind the buildings or
underground, but I will caution that
[18:10] underground parking is very expensive to
build and it may just not be able to be
[18:14] achieved. Big box retail and large
retail plazas will not be permitted and
[18:19] as I mentioned earlier, we are planning
for a grocery store. Next slide, please.
[18:25] I spoke earlier about the institutional
area on Sunset and part of the reason
[18:29] for that is there's a number of
institutional uses along Sunset. I mean
[18:32] this building is is part of it, but you
can also see on the opposite side and
[18:37] it's important to create that continuity
particularly as it's
[18:40] a very busy traveled road and you want
to keep the the traffic to those
[18:44] institutional uses on that, but also
provide a really really well designed
[18:49] building and quality landscaping. So
those policies are in there.
[18:53] In this section of the plan as well as
addressing the heritage conservation and
[18:57] adaptive reuse of the existing
buildings.
[19:00] For cultural heritage and archaeology,
as I mentioned, there
[19:03] there are some areas that have been
identified with First Nations interest
[19:07] as well as European settler
artifacts and those will both be dealt
[19:11] with appropriately. For the First
Nations, it will be
[19:15] in partnership and working with those
nations on what needs to happen in those
[19:20] areas, and there will be a commemoration
and an interpretation plan with the
[19:24] rights-holding First Nations
prepared. We'll go to the next slide,
[19:28] please.
[19:31] For the round two public engagement, as
I mentioned, we started it earlier this
[19:36] year on February 9th, we brought a
series of reports to council releasing
[19:40] all the
things that we've been talking about,
[19:42] policy directions, and the draft
official plan amendment. We had the open
[19:46] house, as I mentioned last week, as well
as the two stakeholder meetings, and we
[19:51] are here this evening for this public
meeting. You can continue to engage by
[19:56] sending us your comments in writing. We
welcome them, and we will be providing a
[20:00] response to them. So, this is not your
only opportunity to share your thoughts
[20:05] with us.
Um let's turn to the next slide, please.
[20:09] So, our next steps.
Last week was the open house. Tonight,
[20:13] we are here for the public meeting. The
final official plan amendment is
[20:16] targeted for next month.
While this is going on, we continue to
[20:21] engage with council, agencies, First
Nations, as well as the community. We
[20:27] are committed to
listening and responding thoughtfully to
[20:31] all the feedback that we receive, and we
certainly welcome people to provide
[20:36] their comments, as well as their
suggestions, because they are most
[20:39] welcome, and they will help us
uh
[20:43] incorporate into the plan the
community's feedback and
[20:46] assist with responding to concerns
individuals may have.
[20:50] That concludes my presentation. Thank
you.
[20:53] Thank you very much, Mary Lou.
I will ask the clerk next. Ms. Leach,
[20:58] have you received any written
submissions on the proposal, please?
[21:02] Mayor Sloan, correspondence has been
received from the following: from Shane
[21:05] and Breanna Reitsma with 12 listed
questions regarding the impacts of the
[21:09] proposed development, the proposed
downtown portion of the new community,
[21:13] studies and data.
From Bernie Shuet with concerns
[21:16] regarding increased traffic and safety
issues, water quality and environmental
[21:20] impact, loss of wildlife habitat and
diversity, cultural and indigenous
[21:25] significance.
Incompatibility with sustainable and
[21:28] responsible development and impacts to
taxpayers.
[21:32] From Southwestern Public Health
outlining services and regulatory
[21:35] oversight considerations that may apply
to the future development. And from Ted
[21:39] Hallwa regarding use of the existing
former hospital buildings.
[21:45] Thank you, Ms. Leach.
I appreciate that.
[21:55] That's okay. Um, I'm going to ask now,
we have a a pretty
[22:00] um, robust group in the uh, gallery. Um,
I'm going to open the floor now for
[22:04] questions. So, Mary Lou, if you just uh,
I'm not sure if uh, anyone here would
[22:09] like to come forward.
As Mary Lou says, this is the
[22:12] opportunity for your feedback to be
heard on the record.
[22:16] We are being televised and we have the
ability now to hear some suggestions,
[22:19] comments, and feedback.
And all I would ask when you come to the
[22:22] microphone is press the button so that
the folks online can hear it. And uh,
[22:26] give us your name. So, would anyone like
to come forward, please?
[22:30] Welcome, sir.
[22:35] I think we should base it on seniority
and since I'm in the eighth decade, I
[22:39] think I think I'm the oldest here,
maybe.
[22:42] Just state your name for the record,
please.
[22:43] » My name is Bernie Shuet and I'm
associated with the Norma subdivision
[22:47] here.
And we have some major concerns and we
[22:50] had put in originally in '017
a objection and you and your response
[22:56] was no development on the lands.
So, and I'll get into some of the
[23:01] details in a moment, and I'll try not to
take forever.
[23:04] And uh, we don't consider that as
surplus or useless land. We consider
[23:08] that agriculture, and we would like to
keep it as agriculture. So, I had
[23:12] trouble getting my our objection in with
40 to 50 people signed. And Delaney, Ms.
[23:17] Delaney did not take it in in December.
And I was quite disappointed with the
[23:22] the process. I understand things are
usually set in stone and things behind
[23:26] the scenes. We understand that. But, I
think you should be a little more more
[23:30] facilitating. And And when you send
correspondence, when I asked, "Did you
[23:34] receive this?" And you don't. So, I
think you what you're doing there's 2
[23:38] and 1/2 thousand years
of taxpayers value here, and they're
[23:42] good people, and they're concerned. One
of the main concerns is your aquifer
[23:46] here. And if you study any geo and
you're going to put buildings in there,
[23:50] so
we're against that. We're going to
[23:52] continue with that objection. We won't
have much say in the matter. So, I think
[23:56] you should be talking the council should
be talking to your rep people that you
[24:00] represent, and you're going to find with
my
[24:02] your you've done a poor job of
communicating. All of a sudden it comes
[24:05] out there's a new city.
Well, here's what I'd like to read. And
[24:09] so, did you do have our petition, do
you?
[24:12] I'm sure the clerk is who's very
confident of her abilities.
[24:16] If If you haven't, you can file it with
us tonight. We'll make sure it's
[24:19] registered originally. I already sent
it, and here's your your return mail.
[24:23] So, I'm not I don't appreciate to being
treated with disrespect in paperwork,
[24:27] okay? So, we'll move on, and here's what
I'd like to read. So,
[24:31] that is all here, and the planning lady
can read all that. So, we're still
[24:36] sticking to an objection. We don't
consider it We consider you can still do
[24:40] the Ontario hospital with the existing
zoning, which you have years to do. And
[24:44] then, I'll just read some more details.
So, I I would
[24:49] really be nice if you read what we put
in our petition. And I think the
[24:54] communication was broken down, and I
don't appreciate not calling back. I
[24:58] feel ghosted totally. All right. And we
have no power. We know that. We're just
[25:02] a small guy. It's okay. So, here's what
I'd like to read if I can quickly get
[25:06] there and I'll be to almost though.
I think there's a lot of industry being
[25:11] driven right now for for by command not
demand. And Chrysler, we put billions in
[25:16] that plant in Windsor and that's not a
no go. So, we don't agree fundamentally
[25:21] that you put all your eggs in one basket
with Volkswagen. So, you that's what
[25:25] you're saying. That's fine. But to call
that useless land is not. It's quite
[25:29] valuable land. And it's farmed It's been
farmed for 50 years. And
[25:34] I I think I'm concerned that I see all
these municipalities developing
[25:37] developing, but the housing situation at
635 a unit isn't even break even for the
[25:42] builders. So, we've kind of hurt a lot
of people with this whole rental housing
[25:47] is issue. That's a separate issue. But
the a small one bedroom in St. Thomas is
[25:52] 21,000 a year. How many people do you
think can afford that? So, we've got
[25:56] some real structural issues.
Uh
[25:59] now, I think you mischaracterized.
That's not on useless land. It's
[26:02] productive agricultural land. And and I
think when I heard Mr.
[26:05] uh
that that that the land uh uh
[26:09] the
this land does not live forever and Mr.
[26:13] Martin was vocal against that. And of
course, there's acquisition. You gave
[26:17] them 1,500 acres. So, I think one thing
you should consider for the norm it will
[26:21] affect their ground water. It's the best
well water you could ever get. It's an
[26:25] aquifer that runs through the Ontario
Hospital. All right. It used to feed the
[26:28] Ford plant. And I've been drinking it
for years and nothing's wrong with me.
[26:32] » [laughter]
>> You got some humor. Attaboy.
[26:35] So, moving ahead. So, we believe it's
still major institutional. It's still
[26:39] agricultural. It's still open space. And
I agree all those natural heritages
[26:42] great and the river that that runs dry.
But we're not ready to accept a new
[26:46] city. All right. And I'm going to read a
couple more things that if I can find
[26:51] notes properly, here we go.
[26:55] And so basically we're we're framing it
country versus city.
[26:58] And the way I see the cities being
developed and I don't understand it
[27:01] because it's not affordable. And we go
to Talbotville, you got 6,000 square
[27:04] foot homes on a little lot. So your
banking is the bank act is pretty
[27:08] strong. So moving ahead,
we if you remember the Townshend fiasco,
[27:13] it's about 1,200 acres and it was
guaranteed to steel boom. So when you go
[27:16] to one industries and there's no
guarantee Volkswagen is true to their
[27:20] commitment. All right. So a lot of these
corporations get government funding and
[27:25] the government's happy with the jobs cuz
you have 40% of your money back. So this
[27:29] is it's gone too far.
All right. I see too much suffering and
[27:32] too many people at the bottom. So let's
finish with this issue. Sorry I threw
[27:35] that in there. I was wrong.
Transportation safety. Who owns
[27:38] Southdale? You want to walk down there
and then you put that new subdivision,
[27:41] you haven't put a dime in it and my
friends are almost killed with the
[27:44] traffic. I know it's 60, but there's not
a sidewalk, there's not a walkway. And
[27:48] then when you did the new subdivision,
there all the water went to everybody's
[27:51] basements and they're too afraid to sue
for 20 or 40 grand. So now you have
[27:55] trouble problems with your water issues.
So and some people are paying 350 for
[28:00] water coming in and out. What do you
think? Do do do you use your AI to do a
[28:03] budget? So I think you're going too far.
We want the right to object. That's all.
[28:07] We probably don't have much say past
that knowing that changes in the land
[28:11] tribunal act, but I think there's some
other issues of of of
[28:15] of uh
ethics involved. So I feel that's
[28:19] important to know. I don't think you've
done the safe conditions there and and
[28:22] the effort it took just to change to 70
km shows there's too much stickiness.
[28:26] There's too much, but it's everywhere.
Not just blaming you fellows
[28:29] or women personally,
but I think you should be talking to
[28:32] your base and I think you should be
doing a survey of everybody within a
[28:35] mile of here. I don't I felt that whole
program was one-sided. You couldn't have
[28:39] an opposites you couldn't have the open
mic to say the opposite and nobody said
[28:43] anything the opposite. Nobody could
speak against it. So what's the point?
[28:46] So I want to put my objection in for
this group of people and they've spent
[28:50] over 2 and 1/2 thousand years of tax
paying, so that should be respected. And
[28:54] that's the main concern for this. And
I'm sorry, counselor woman, if I didn't
[28:58] talk to you about it, okay?
Because I've I'm kind of doing other
[29:01] things. So, the other thing is with this
water fiasco of 400 million dollars, I
[29:06] have no clue on the water on the plant,
and all that I know is the people that
[29:10] live to the east of that plant are going
to struggle. Because that's So, there's
[29:13] going to be a lot of chemicals, a lot of
issues. I know you want to main-
[29:16] maintain, but it seems every time these
big projects, they run out of money,
[29:21] they shut down.
And NextStar, which is right here,
[29:26] put over a billion dollars of Canadian
dollar money in it, and they sold their
[29:29] share for a hundred dollars.
And that's not right. So, let's get our
[29:32] business affairs in order. I know it
starts from the top, and we're nobody. I
[29:37] mean, I
I lost the vote, but please listen to
[29:40] people and don't ghost us like that.
That's not polite. Uh So, if they're
[29:44] really scarce land, you've got 110 acres
with apparently Can-Am says they sold it
[29:48] to a developer. So, why can't we slow it
down a bit? Because I don't believe in
[29:51] this new city. Other people don't. And
if you want to do an independent survey
[29:55] of everything within two miles of it, I
asked people in Port Stanley all over,
[29:59] are you asking your your your
constituents, or are you just dictating
[30:03] from top down? That's how we feel. So,
it's not going to bother me what you do,
[30:07] but I think you should be a little bit
more held to task, but it's the way it
[30:11] is, and I understand that. And I don't I
don't appreciate that. With when there's
[30:16] an economic I understand you you want to
have more tax dollars. That's going to
[30:20] be a half a billion dollars. If if
they're successful, great. But if you
[30:24] would believe in the EV industry,
where's everybody driving their EV cars?
[30:28] All right. So, I've been in US industry
and Canadian industry for 20 years, and
[30:32] I think this country should not be
supporting the losers and subsidizing
[30:36] the ones that are not guaranteed.
There's a lot of environment issues
[30:39] there, too. So, I'm not in in that.
That's already said and done. So, if you
[30:43] said you're going to ameliorate the
people's water here, that's fine. I
[30:47] don't even know if your water supply is
going down there. Your developers gave
[30:50] me 30 years ago a map that they had all
planned out. So, you can't change.
[30:55] So, I think you guys are all being
controlled, and I don't think you're
[30:58] standing up for the
individual taxpayer, 100% of it.
[31:02] And
anything I could one of the thing the
[31:05] our 50 signatures have been ghosted by
municipal set. They're not even saying,
[31:08] "Oh, thank you for your letter."
Why? How do you communicate? Why is it
[31:11] so difficult? And I say, "Did you get
it?" No. And then you say something here
[31:15] and you kind of repeat it, but that
wasn't the crux. The crux was we were
[31:18] objecting and we're sticking to and we
objected in
[31:21] 1917 or 2017 and we're objecting today.
I know and so I say, "Put it off another
[31:28] 2 months and have more consultation
before you start getting all these
[31:31] quotes in. All right? And that you're
going to find a lots here. So, they're
[31:35] going to say the same thing that
they're concerned. And so, you we have
[31:40] to accept your vision, but I don't agree
with your vision, okay?
[31:44] Sorry, sir. Okay. All right, the button
again. I'm all Okay. Thank you, Mr.
[31:49] Shur. We chatted at the open house.
No, no. I'm not cutting you off. I'm
[31:53] just going to reply to a couple of
points. We chatted at the open house.
[31:57] You're an active, amiable
person who very nicely told me last week
[32:02] your concerns. I listened to them.
They're now on the record. So, I do
[32:05] believe that this is an opportunity for
that to come forward. I'm not
[32:09] knowledgeable enough to speak on the
water issues. I think you would agree
[32:12] that the building of a plant to the
north of St. Thomas in former Central
[32:16] Elgin land wasn't something that this
council exactly, how shall I put it,
[32:20] expected when they ran for this term.
So, I'm just I just with with just give
[32:25] me 60 seconds. You You You make good
points, but at the end of the day, this
[32:30] is the opportunity for you to object. Um
I I put you firmly in the object
[32:35] category. Um
and I realize that there's a lot of um
[32:39] I unease about the development that's
going on there, the money that's being
[32:42] spent.
You know, I quoted the other day them
[32:45] saying that $11 billion in foreign
direct investment is coming to St.
[32:48] Thomas, and that's not just PowerCo, but
that's the
[32:52] graphite place that I can never remember
the name of. Find out.
[32:55] So, think about this for a council
perspective with respect to the calls we
[32:59] already get about traffic, right? So,
the development that will come with
[33:03] that, regardless if it's across the
street, north of St. Thomas, east, west,
[33:07] or you name it, you have to admit that
the full full build-out of that
[33:12] facility, what they call Yarmouth Yards,
was nice of them to give us a name, will
[33:17] change this community, right? And the
people at this table, and the people at,
[33:22] you know, the provincial and federal
levels, don't always come knocking on
[33:25] our door finding out exactly how we'd
like to see that happen. So,
[33:29] I I I And the only other comment that I
have is I don't consider it a new city,
[33:33] I consider it a new community, and I'm
not sure if my colleagues agree with me
[33:36] or the folks that are here, but
ultimately, if there's going to be the
[33:39] growth that's coming, there's going to
be, as was stated very clearly, who do
[33:45] we want people,
where do we want them to choose to call
[33:48] home? Now, if it's Central Elgin, we
have to prepare. I will say to you and
[33:53] to the people that are here this
evening, our as a council, our first
[33:56] concern at the start of this project was
that if Central Elgin wasn't left
[34:00] holding the bag of a of a development
that wasn't going to be paid for, and
[34:03] that somehow the citizens here, or
anybody that lives in Central Elgin,
[34:06] would
be negatively affected. And I attest to
[34:09] you today that that will not happen.
And that's not because of happenstance,
[34:13] that's because of the last 18 months in
working on a deal that firmly gives
[34:18] Central Elgin the ability to recover
costs, to work in phases, and at the end
[34:23] of the day, I I do believe that there
are concerns about how quickly things
[34:27] will happen. We heard at the start that
PowerCo would be, uh, you know, three
[34:31] phases, or three terminals. Now it's two
terminals, or one, and we hear different
[34:34] things. So, I believe that we've done
our best to try and respond to something
[34:40] that came along that we never knew would
be here when we started.
[34:43] Appreciate you always being very kind,
and I will give you another shot here,
[34:47] but you have my number. You can, and I
have to turn mine off first, but you're
[34:51] always You live in Portland, I know
exactly, and you're very always very
[34:55] nice when you see me, and I I I sense
your passion frustration, but thank you
[34:59] for keeping your to that to that level
of you're always It's a good idea. I
[35:03] don't look for you forward to your
calls, but I actually, at the end of the
[35:06] day, uh, I respect you very much.
[35:11] Respect is usually earned, so I'm not
sure, but I would just like to ask one
[35:14] question. What did you guys anticipate
uh, of your property taxes? If you said
[35:19] 5,000 homes times, you know, so 5,000 a
year, my math shows it's a half a
[35:23] billion over 30 years. Isn't that a
fairly significant responsibility? So,
[35:27] do you have that figure just as a
question? Have you ever forecasted that
[35:30] over 30 years? Just So, that's what I'm
saying. It's a lot of money for
[35:34] taxpayers to come up with.
I'm sorry.
[35:39] Appreciate it. Understood. It's
difficult to know how the phases will go
[35:41] forward, but I appreciate your comments,
and look forward to chatting with you
[35:44] again.
[35:49] I'd ask if there's anyone else who'd
like to come forward. The mic is yours.
[35:57] Mr. Leech, welcome.
[36:01] Uh, your your worship, members of
council, staff, um, I'm Donald Leech,
[36:06] and I'm the chair of the Municipal
Heritage Committee.
[36:09] Um,
we have a number of other committee
[36:11] members here in attendance, as well.
Um, we had the opportunity last week for
[36:16] our second stakeholder meeting with the
consultants, and we thank uh, council
[36:20] for the opportunity to consult with us,
and ask questions, receive answers, and
[36:25] provide input into the process.
As Council may recall,
[36:31] uh sometime ago, uh myself and Mike
Baker from the committee made a
[36:34] presentation to Council about the
history of the building,
[36:38] um its role in the Second World War as
um a training facility as part of the
[36:43] Commonwealth Air Training Plan where Air
Air Force personnel from across the
[36:48] Commonwealth came to this community to
receive training that uh assisted us to
[36:54] uh win the Second World War.
In addition, the uh building was
[36:58] noteworthy. It was built during the
tenure of local MPP and Premier Mitch
[37:03] Hepburn. So, Mitch Hepburn ensured that
uh
[37:06] a fine structural building was built
with the uh best of architects, William
[37:11] Lyon Somerville, um uh
noted English architect that moved to
[37:16] Canada, Jacobin Jones, and um with
materials like Queenston limestone,
[37:21] terrazzo floors.
So, in looking at the uh specific
[37:25] overlay policies
in section 4.7.10.26,
[37:31] um we were pleased to see that uh there
is wording that reflects Council's
[37:36] commitment to see the
uh Westerly buildings that have been
[37:41] designated on the Ontario Heritage
Heritage Act repurposed. Um
[37:46] that site alteration will conserve
significant built heritage resources,
[37:51] and that uh there'll be encouragement
for adaptive reuses of significant built
[37:55] heritage resources.
Uh one thing that we would ask that
[38:00] Council consider is perhaps expanding
the permitted uses in the OPA to also
[38:07] include some type of housing.
Um we see that as by including um
[38:14] housing as a permitted use, that may
assist with the uh repurposing of those
[38:20] buildings. That it ex- provides expanded
range of uses.
[38:24] Something that may be assisted housing
or something along that type of lines
[38:27] that may be appropriate for those
buildings.
[38:32] Um we'd also ask council to consider
it's beyond the official plan amendment
[38:37] we understand, but um
in 2019 there was negotiations between
[38:42] the municipality and the province about
a heritage easement agreement. The
[38:46] heritage easement agreement intent was
that
[38:48] when the province sold the building to a
third party that there would be
[38:52] additional protection for the building.
And um
[38:56] that agreement was um went through a
number of back and forth sessions, but
[39:01] um
would provide additional uh
[39:04] protection and reaffirm council's
commitment to see those buildings
[39:09] develop because we recognize if you know
the
[39:11] if the building remains in the province
ownership the heritage act bylaw doesn't
[39:15] apply,
um the official plan doesn't apply, uh
[39:19] the province can do what it wishes.
Um and I guess the final point I'd raise
[39:24] is uh we learned through our stakeholder
meeting uh about the consultation with
[39:30] the various First Nations that may have
an interest. The committee recognizes
[39:34] that um
you know the heritage of Central Algoma
[39:37] didn't begin with uh European settlement
a few hundred years ago, but goes back
[39:41] thousands of years.
So you know the committee would welcome
[39:45] the opportunity to um
work with any interested First Nations
[39:49] that are looking at commemoration
activities
[39:52] um
you know as the First Nations would deem
[39:54] it appropriate and in the spirit of
reconciliation.
[39:58] So
thank you for the opportunity to to
[40:01] speak to council.
Thank you, Mr. Leach. We appreciate
[40:04] those comments.
[40:12] Former Mayor Martin.
[40:16] Thank you, Mayor and council members. Um
I just
[40:20] I'm very familiar with the building and
and and I agree with like Mr. Leech has
[40:25] made the point that we really would like
to have the council here tell the
[40:28] province we want to see the building
maintained and and retained the parts
[40:33] that were designated
um when I was on Mayor at that time.
[40:39] The the re-purposing of that building is
there's so it's so easy to re-purpose.
[40:44] The um you know, they want to they in
the plan there is a section for a
[40:48] community center possibly. There's a
gymnasium, there's cafeterias, there's
[40:54] um an auditorium, there's chapel,
there's libraries. They're all in that
[40:58] building already and they're right at
the back part of the designated part. So
[41:02] they'd be perfect for a community center
already. Um as Mr. Leech said, there are
[41:07] sections at the ends that could easily
be housing. We took Indwell through that
[41:13] building in 2019.
Um and they were just excited. They were
[41:17] so thrilled. They wanted to jump right
in immediately and start doing housing
[41:22] and uh
Um the only stipulation they wanted was
[41:26] some transportation from there into St.
Thomas and and we had to get cooperation
[41:31] from St. Thomas for that. But
um it didn't happen. St. Thomas jumped
[41:37] on Indwell and got them to do a few
things in St. Thomas. And it's great
[41:40] that they've done that. I'm not
criticizing them that they have done
[41:43] that. I think that's very important. But
there could also be luxury apartments in
[41:47] there and there's tremendous park space
in between all these sections of
[41:52] building and I know there's the
hospital. They're looking for possibly a
[41:57] hospital. There is that field at the
south end that could and but you could
[42:01] still incorporate the offices in the
current
[42:05] The current building is extremely strong
and well-built and and it was a real
[42:09] testament of course to Mitch Hepburn.
They said at the time that if the
[42:13] building if a normal building cost
dollars a square foot to build, he this
[42:17] one cost $10 a square foot cuz he put
the most expensive material in there.
[42:22] And if you go in, you can see the brick
walls inside as well as the glass bricks
[42:27] everywhere to let light go through the
building and and of course the Queenston
[42:31] limestone walls. So, all I'm
saying to you tonight is I really would
[42:35] like you to encourage the province to
let us repurpose that building, the
[42:39] parts that were designated. We did not
designate the far back parts.
[42:43] Only In the Well thought they could do
those, too.
[42:46] They said that was no problem. They've
looked at so many
[42:49] you know, they've they've taken and done
um
[42:52] things in factories, etc. But the the
nice thing about repurposing those
[42:58] things there as well is
you don't have the cost tearing it down,
[43:02] and it would be extremely costly to
remove.
[43:06] And you're making good use of our
heritage. And that is as Don said, that
[43:11] was the air training you know, ground
training space for all of the
[43:15] Commonwealth. That's not just Canada.
That's England and and all over. They
[43:20] came here to be trained from all over
the Commonwealth.
[43:24] And so, that's really makes it a
significant building for the for the um
[43:30] country of Canada as well.
So. May I ask a question, Mrs. Martin?
[43:34] When was this building built? Because I
noticed when I when they started doing
[43:37] the the construction here, it's not a
heri- heritage designation. So, when was
[43:41] the county building here built? This one
here um this one here was built right
[43:45] just shortly after that one. It was the
nurses residence. But that one was
[43:49] completed first and taken over, as you
know, during the war before it actually
[43:54] became a hospital. But once it became a
hospital, then the nurses residence is
[43:58] built. Yeah, I've been very concerned. I
will say Mr. Kneckt called me and asked
[44:02] me what I thought of what they were
doing on the outside.
[44:05] Uh me, too. And I I think we both have
concerns, but I was very surprised this
[44:08] building was not heritage designated.
It's because it belongs to the county,
[44:12] and the county have to be willing.
The province asked us to designate that
[44:17] building.
They approached us, did as you've
[44:20] probably seen the 80-page document that
they provided with all the heritage and
[44:24] structure and everything that they asked
us to designate it, and so that's why
[44:29] when I was mayor, it was designated. And
we convinced them not to designate every
[44:34] part of the buildings
to do the front, to just give more
[44:38] options for the back buildings. May I
ask why would they come to you and have
[44:41] you designate partially the buildings? I
I I just like the background cuz I
[44:44] didn't know that they came to you.
Okay. Um they they came I'm Don might be
[44:50] better cuz he was the certain CAO at the
time, but um they came to us because
[44:55] Infrastructure Ontario, which is what
they were called, they wanted that they
[44:59] wanted originally the whole farm
preserved, everything, because it was
[45:03] the last psychiatric hospital and farm
that fed, you know, their patients,
[45:08] their I mean, when I worked there as a
summer student when I was in university,
[45:11] there were over 2,000 patients in that
hospital. And they fed them. They
[45:15] provided all their meat, their
vegetables, everything. And and the
[45:19] patients all helped with that. They
helped farm then my ladies used to go
[45:23] out and pick vegetables and prepare them
for supper. So, I mean
[45:27] Don, if you want, I can uh maybe Don can
speak to exactly why the province, but I
[45:31] know Infrastructure Ontario did want it
preserved. Very strongly felt that way.
[45:37] I'm afraid um
Premier Ford has replaced all the people
[45:41] on Infrastructure Ontario from that
time. Probably deliberately.
[45:45] Thank you for clarifying.
[45:53] Ms. Sanders, please come along.
Thanks. Nora Sanders, and uh
[45:59] I'm also part of the Municipal Heritage
Committee, but I think I'm here more
[46:03] just as myself, a resident of Port
Stanley, cuz others from the committee
[46:08] have expressed so well, and I just want
to add a little bit cuz I I uh
[46:14] back in the day, early '80s, I was on
the community advisory board for uh the
[46:18] psych hospital. So, I was familiar with
it in that way. I used to represent some
[46:23] of the people that were uh as clients,
some of the people that were uh in
[46:27] there, but um
I'm enough of a conservative to have the
[46:33] instinct that um
when you've already got something, you
[46:37] think about how to use it
rather than replace it.
[46:42] And I would
be hard put to think of a more solid
[46:47] building in the county of Elgin
than what's right across the street
[46:51] here.
Now, Sally's just explained, you know,
[46:54] Mitch Hepburn and this was his, you
know, uh
[46:58] his balliwick
and his uh
[47:01] you know, great great contribution to
our county. Um
[47:07] We were part of a state couple
stakeholder meetings, one just a couple
[47:10] days ago, and I was at the public
meeting last week. Today's the first
[47:15] time I've heard it mentioned that the
development
[47:18] in stages is going to start from Sunset
and end up and move the other direction,
[47:23] because I had had, I guess, the false
impression that decisions weren't made
[47:28] yet about the buildings. So, that I I I
assume that the reason the whole picture
[47:34] shows all the way back to Fairview was
that they'd start from
[47:38] where there's nothing there, and
if we need housing, you know, get going
[47:42] building it. So,
I just say, I've been part of different
[47:46] consultations. That was the first I'd
heard of it. And and I just think
[47:51] if if housing's the priority, uh
those buildings are there, and as Sally
[47:57] said could be
could be luxury places, could be
[48:01] you know, if they can make Balaclava
Street School into a housing which is a
[48:05] beautiful it's going to be a beautiful
thing. There's huge capacity here. Um
[48:11] and I was privileged and grateful to
have a tour there back in October.
[48:16] Um
little bit sad when we were there a few
[48:19] weeks ago late January to see that
Infrastructure Ontario has uh let it go
[48:26] in that short time.
Um I mean the damage to it is in that
[48:31] time is superficial. You know, paint and
ceiling and
[48:35] uh broken glass and stuff, but but uh
the building's been sitting empty a long
[48:41] time and so I guess I should have said I
meant to say first I'm grateful to see
[48:45] some planning happening to use it or to
do something here because it's it's kind
[48:50] of sad to have that place sitting empty
all these years and so on, but I I would
[48:56] encourage you to think through
uh
[49:00] whether it can't be used and and why on
earth it wouldn't be. Uh
[49:05] I'm pretty sure whatever they build out
here
[49:09] uh houses or or apartment buildings
won't be of the quality of what's
[49:14] already there.
Um and
[49:17] uh
you know,
[49:20] why not? Why not use it in some way? And
and you know, when we've had these
[49:25] stakeholder meetings, we've asked in the
one last fall and again this week it was
[49:31] and now it's more clear, but we said
how can you be planning about community
[49:35] facilities, about park space cuz there's
all those courtyard areas there
[49:40] and all that without taking into account
what's already there? And and it wasn't
[49:46] clear to me why they're not except the
excuse was, well, that's up to the
[49:49] province.
So it it it still it needs to be done
[49:53] together and and
with the map we've been shown, the
[49:58] purple part uh
is part of it, but the buildings are
[50:02] partly on the purple part and partly on
the other part and and to show that it's
[50:08] going to be communities something or
other without taking into account
[50:12] there's a building already there. So, I
would just maybe like slow down a little
[50:16] bit and think about that would be my
wish and my hope um if it isn't too
[50:21] late.
The other thing I wanted to talk about
[50:25] uh
it's just my own thinking uh and it's
[50:28] not about the building so much, but
this whole idea of a whole downtown and
[50:33] stores and so on. And I guess my
question on that is is what
[50:38] uh research has been done
as to the impacts on Port Stanley
[50:43] businesses
and yeah, even St. Thomas. Like my hope
[50:48] has been and I'm I'm proud resident of
Central Elgin, but I mean I'm one that
[50:53] does remember St. Thomas having a
downtown that you went to to get shoes
[50:57] or clothes or whatever. And my hope was
with the battery plant that we might see
[51:02] some revival. And now I see this being
planned to kind of cut into that. So, I
[51:08] guess I just I just raise that question.
I'm assuming with all the work that the
[51:13] researchers, the consultants have done
that they've done that kind of analysis,
[51:16] but I haven't heard it reported on. So,
those are the things I want to say. Very
[51:20] grateful for the chance to speak
tonight.
[51:24] Thanks very much. Just quickly the the
first phase will be to the north of the
[51:28] site. So, for building the 26 to 31.
Second, with regards to this community
[51:34] and there being a quote downtown,
um I mean it it if you didn't do some
[51:38] planning at the start uh Nora, you might
get variety stores on some corners. So,
[51:43] I think you would look at it as the
quote downtown, which is just putting
[51:47] together some, you know, a cluster of
commercial
[51:52] entities would be that it would
complement either Port Stanley or St.
[51:55] Thomas as opposed to compete with. Just
my looking at it and and again, I mean,
[51:59] that that build out of that phase is
until I'm I don't know where Mary Lou
[52:03] is, 20 that's 2031 plus, so we do have
some time for some sober second thought
[52:07] on that, but I appreciate your comments
very much.
[52:15] I'm scanning the crowd.
[52:18] Please come forward. Thank you.
[52:25] Hello, I'm Diana Stana. This is my first
meeting. Um
[52:29] I have a unique perspective because I
live on John Wise Line, right across
[52:33] from this proposal. And um it just seems
I just sitting here at my first meeting
[52:38] just aghast at the
the planning that's already happening
[52:43] here and I heard a number that was over
400 um responses that you've gotten so
[52:49] far. I'd like to hear what those are.
Are you going to publish those?
[52:55] Uh Mary Lou would know that. I think
that they um
[52:59] Where's Mary Lou? Are we How do we Could
you just quickly help me on that one cuz
[53:02] I'm not sure. I know that you compiled
them. Do you mind just saying what the
[53:06] process is, Mary Lou? Thank you. Mary
Lou, you can take this microphone right
[53:09] next to Jack Jeff if you wish.
[53:18] Uh thank you very much. The um summary
from the open house will be prepared by
[53:22] Lower Consulting. They're working on it
now. All of the questions and comments
[53:26] we get tonight, we're taking notes on
and we will prepare a summary of what we
[53:30] were asked and what the response is. So,
we may not have all the answers tonight,
[53:34] but we're committing to get committed to
getting answers to all of the comments
[53:38] and questions and releasing it. The
question though, if I may just help you
[53:41] out here, It's said on one of the slides
that we had 400 responses. I think
[53:45] that's what you're referring to. So,
those 400 responses, is that aggregated?
[53:49] How does that information come forward?
Please, Mary.
[53:53] Uh thank you. Um and thank you for
clarifying. So, the um
[53:58] the summary from round one is available
publicly. Um you can find it on the
[54:03] February 9th Council agenda. Or if you
want to connect with one of us from the
[54:08] project team, we can get you a copy of
it.
[54:13] Very good. Any further comments or
questions? Go ahead.
[54:17] I I just I don't really hear the support
of all these good folks that have come
[54:22] forward and and spoken thus far. And I I
just don't see the positive
[54:29] going forwardness
with this. Like where this comes from.
[54:34] Um
you know, I'm on a farm directly across
[54:38] from where all this is going to happen.
And I just view that as excellent
[54:42] farmland.
And
[54:45] um just the history uh that Mrs. Martin
spoke of um and how it was used, why can
[54:52] it not go forward and be used in in that
in that way.
[54:57] Um I I just want to go on the record
that I'm completely opposed to all of
[55:01] this.
[55:03] Thank you.
Thanks for attending tonight. You said
[55:07] it was your first meeting. We appreciate
that.
[55:10] » [snorts]
>> Others?
[55:18] Any of the council colleagues have any
questions?
[55:33] Everyone has been provided a fair
opportunity to be heard. Any person
[55:36] wishing further information on the
actions of council regarding the
[55:39] proposed amendment should contact the
municipality. Before I adjourn the
[55:42] meeting, I will say that the process is
all available through Mary Ellen and is
[55:46] on or Mary Lou rather, we have a Mary
Lou and a Mary Ellen,
[55:48] uh available online. We come back and
Mary Lou in this presentation talks
[55:52] about what the statutory um regulations
are and when the meetings will be held.
[55:57] So, without further ado, I will
ask to adjourn this meeting at 6:55. All
[56:05] those in favor?
Opposed. Thank you very much.