[0:01] okay good evening everyone and welcome
to everyone joining the live stream I
[0:06] will call to order this uh public
hearing to consider an amendment to
[0:12] bylaw 2-10 the Ross a zoning bylaw to
rezone lands located at school Avenue
[0:18] and Caitlyn Street P IDs 301
6708 and 3014
[0:25] 6674 and these will be shown shown on
the map here um from single family
[0:31] residential standard Zone r1b to
multi-unit residential R4 to allow for a
[0:38] 54 unit Town Home Development subject to
the execution of a development agreement
[0:43] in accordance with Community planning
act Supra so
[0:48] um just the procedure tonight I will
review the
[0:53] documentation and then the developer
Steven mby will present his project and
[0:58] we'll take questions from Council
Town manager jarvey will appear for the
[1:02] town and uh questions from councel I
will then call for those wishing to
[1:07] speak against the project and then those
wishing to speak for the project and if
[1:13] there any if there are any objections I
will allow the developer to have the
[1:18] last word and we will then adjourn the
meeting then Council will not be
[1:23] considering this um proposal this
evening so the documentation um the town
[1:30] clerk prepared a memorandum advertising
the meeting and it was posted twice to
[1:34] the website it was also posted to social
media on October 30th November 1st 7th
[1:41] 9th 15th 17th and 20th you have the
draft by law 2-
[1:47] p-36 and you have a draft development
agreement you have a recommendation from
[1:53] the planning advisory committee November
the 15th and a staff report to the
[1:59] planning advisory committee November the
3D and no comments were received on the
[2:04] proposal and so with that I will ask um
Steven Maly the developer to present his
[2:10] proposal
[2:22] please can I Advance the slides from
[2:28] here
good evening mayor Grant Council staff
[2:33] and citizens my name is Steven Malby I'm
the owner operator of Mr Investments Inc
[2:40] a real estate development company
operating here in Ros tonight I'll be
[2:44] presenting an opportunity for the
development of a new residential
[2:48] subdivision Our Town Glen Gary Estates
it will address the need for more
[2:54] housing in our community more
specifically it will provide much needed
[2:58] options for both longtime residents
looking to
[3:02] downsize and young families searching
for their first
[3:08] home we are all well aware of the many
housing challenges our country is facing
[3:12] coast to coast and we're not immune here
at home the challenge in Ros is that
[3:18] there are very few housing options for
seniors looking to downsize and young
[3:23] families seeking home
[3:28] ownership so the question is do you know
how many homes are currently for sale in
[3:36] Ras 15 this was the number on November
the 15th when my presentation was uh
[3:44] presented for
[3:47] tonight how about the average price of
currently listed home in
[3:55] Ras over
$700,000 was the average price of a home
[3:59] home currently listed in mls in Ros on
November the
[4:04] 15th that's not a lot of options for
existing residents who are looking to
[4:09] find a new home that meets their current
needs while also staying in our
[4:13] community and it's not a lot of options
for newcomers wishing to enjoy the many
[4:18] benefits our town has to
offer and let's not forget about our
[4:22] kids who might want to settle down with
their young
[4:28] families for a significant portion of
our
[4:33] citizens with an average home price over
$700,000 this means home ownership is
[4:39] simply not
[4:44] attainable the definitely is an
opportunity however to make this better
[4:49] tonight I'm asking for your support of
our town home subdivision glenar States
[4:55] we envision glenara States as a
community where attainability
[5:00] is at the heart of every home we build
it's a place designed where seniors can
[5:05] Embrace a new chapter without forfeiting
the Comforts they've earned where young
[5:10] families can put down roots in an
environment that's as nurturing as it is
[5:16] secure and where ease and accessibility
come standard with one level
[5:21] living our focus is on making such an
inclusive community a reality for our
[5:26] citizens where every generation can find
a home that fits their lifestyle and
[5:34] budget as recognized earlier everybody
is well aware of the many housing
[5:39] challenges currently facing all
Canadians just recently the cmhc warned
[5:46] all of us of the significant challenge
ahead Canada will need 3.5 million more
[5:53] units on top of what's already being
built by
[5:57] 2030 we were also recently reminded that
the cost of housing whether home
[6:02] ownership or renting is getting very
[6:09] expensive new brunwick is not immune to
this housing crisis we too are feeling
[6:14] the effects of housing
shortages since covid we have seen a
[6:19] record number of people continuing to
move in our Province and as the
[6:23] telegraph Journal reported between July
2021 and
[6:28] 2023 New Brunswick's population grew by
41,000 that's the same amount of growth
[6:35] in two years as our Province experienced
in 37 years Between
[6:40] 1979 and
2016 many Canadians from Ontario and
[6:46] other parts of Canada along with
immigrants from around the world are
[6:50] starting to recognize the value that we
have to offer and is driving up both the
[6:55] demand and cost for housing of all types
and it is not not going away anytime
[7:02] soon as an example of the impact impact
of the increased population the Greater
[7:08] St John area will need to sustain 1,500
new housing starts per year currently
[7:16] that number sits at 670 new starts in
2023 so there's a lot of hard work ahead
[7:23] and it's going to take an unprecedented
effort from government developers and
[7:28] builders
in our own
[7:32] town we have very limited
options of the 15 homes currently listed
[7:39] for sale in Ras there were only three
under
[7:44] $400,000 and these three homes were
built in
[7:48] 1960 1974 and
1975 it's apparent we need more homes
[7:56] for
downsizers young families and those
[7:59] looking for one level
living I realize that what I'm sharing
[8:04] tonight is not a surprise it's not a
surprise to our town staff and councel
[8:09] earlier this year Our Town submitted an
application to the federal government's
[8:14] housing accelerator fund for $5.6
million to support infrastructure and
[8:20] Housing Development as a developer I'm
hopeful this request is
[8:25] realized just a few days ago it was
announced that monton received CE $15
[8:30] million from this very same fund as you
can see in this Telegraph Journal
[8:35] Telegraph Journal article published on
September 17th mayor Grant specifically
[8:40] pointed out there is a need in our town
for housing that one addresses the
[8:44] missing middle and two makes effective
use of existing infrastructure I.E
[8:50] infill
[8:53] development that is exactly what our
development Glen Gary Estates will
[8:58] achieve
we will increase density in an area that
[9:01] is perfectly situated as we capitalize
on the existing
[9:05] infrastructure and our new development
will consist of the types of homes that
[9:09] are considered the missing Middle Town
Homes with two different models Glen
[9:15] Gary Estates will provide homes that
offer longtime residents and downsizers
[9:20] one level living also homes will also
offer two Lev living for families and
[9:27] first home time homeowners
these homes will be homes that are
[9:34] attainable so what does attainable
mean it means it's people would be able
[9:41] to move into a home that is more
affordable than a detached single family
[9:46] home they are homes that will have
mortgages that are similar to
[9:51] two-bedroom apartment
rentals there are homes that would be an
[9:55] option for young families with full-time
employment earning 20 to $25 an hour
[10:01] there are homes that will allow seniors
to sell their existing homes and move
[10:05] into homes that match their current
needs without leaving the town of
[10:12] Ros our proposal is to develop a
subdivision consisting of the missing
[10:16] middle in an area that has been
designated by Council for medium density
[10:20] residential development as you can see
on the future land use map from page 126
[10:26] in the municipal plan Glen garas States
is proposed for land that is next to
[10:31] existing town homes and would be located
in the heart of a much wider medium
[10:36] density designated area of our community
so if you can see where I wrote on it or
[10:41] highlighted it that's where we're
proposing to the left of it are town
[10:46] homes on Caitlyn and to the right is
future development for medium density
[10:53] housing and this is page 37 of the
municipal plan that clearly outlines the
[10:58] details of medium density housing and
its Associated
[11:01] benefits currently only 3% of the entire
land mass in Ras contains medium density
[11:08] housing and this is exactly why it's
called the missing
[11:13] middle the home in this picture is an
actual picture of one of the garden
[11:17] homes on Caitlyn Street which connects
to our property that we wish to
[11:27] develop
can you oh there we go so our
[11:34] request we request approval of a
resoning and subsequent development of a
[11:38] 54 unit Town Home Development on land
that has already been designated
[11:43] thoroughly investigated and designated
for medium density residential
[11:47] development as recognized in the
municipal plan in our subdivision there
[11:51] will be eight
blocks each block will have either six
[11:56] or seven units within it and there will
be a b as mentioned before there will be
[11:59] a mix of one level and two level
[12:03] units so what is our
motivation infill development increased
[12:10] density and reduced footprint are all
necessary if we want to address our
[12:14] housing needs and when I think about our
proposal and its potential I think back
[12:19] about my own personal housing situation
as a young family I remember how
[12:24] stressful it was renting a two-bedroom
apartment in uptown St John with my wife
[12:28] and then 18-month-old daughter we had
tenants living above us and
[12:33] unfortunately my daughter was Kaki so
each night when she woke crying the
[12:38] tenants would stomp on the ceiling above
our bedroom and scream to have us
[12:42] quieted our daughter it was awful and it
caused a lot of stress for all of us it
[12:48] is one of our goals to prevent this from
happening to others by building
[12:53] attainable housing we seek to provide
young families with their own home for a
[12:57] similar cost of rent ing a new
two-bedroom apartment in the
[13:01] valley except it we'll have a backyard a
place for a barbecue and the peace of
[13:05] mind that their child can cry without
bothering
[13:10] anyone to
summarize this development is important
[13:15] for many
reasons IT addresses the need for
[13:18] housing in
general it answers our prime minister's
[13:22] call to
action it answers our mayor's call to
[13:25] action for missing middle and infill
development it provides housing that is
[13:31] attainable provides an option for
downsizing for young families and for
[13:35] firsttime buyers versus renting and it
makes effective use of existing
[13:41] infrastructure blang area states
complies with and is supported by the
[13:46] municipal plan is supported and
recommended by the staff is supported by
[13:52] local residents after face-to-face
visits and it's time a comparable model
[13:58] in of Shadow Hill which was established
40 years ago
[14:07] 1983 thank you for the opportunity to
present Laria
[14:11] States thank you Mr Malby um I will open
it to questions from
[14:19] Council councilor Shay I just have the
one question um thank you for your
[14:25] presentation
um I think before pacu had indicated
[14:30] this was going to be a several year
construction phase with several phases
[14:36] with those phases be continuous I.E like
over seven years but steady or do you
[14:42] see it
as two years and maybe a year break and
[14:46] two years again down the
road no so to answer your question uh
[14:52] Our intention is to have this completed
within 36 months after approval the
[14:57] whole thing the whole thing oh oh
beautiful thank
[15:00] you Deputy
Mayor yeah thank you for your
[15:05] presentation and uh you know thank you
for um identifying the uh the need for
[15:09] these uh units in our in our community
it's uh is definitely a need there's
[15:14] town homes are few and far between and
uh this is an excellent uh idea that
[15:19] you're presenting um one question I or
two questions I had one was you have the
[15:24] different blocks and you have option
buildings A and buildings B so I'm
[15:28] assuming that the one levels are the
ones that are sort the option b which is
[15:33] the front few streets and then building
up to level twos correct okay that is
[15:38] correct okay that's good and the second
one is just looking at the conceptual
[15:43] plan um I know there's limited space on
the one end but the trail comes really
[15:50] close to the buildings I guess was there
an option to move the trail a little bit
[15:54] outside the to give the backyard I guess
a little bit more room and and those
[15:58] areas I guess there yes I'm actually
working with staff on moving there is
[16:03] some flexibility and Mr jarvey could
also answer that question but we we did
[16:07] look at how we could make the the rear
yard bigger okay great thank you
[16:14] y anyone else councelor Lewis councelor
Bo councelor Brown any questions my
[16:20] light on councelor Lewis um just on the
single level units what's square footage
[16:26] we're we're anticipating around 14 1,00
on one single level and what about the
[16:31] two level the two level could be a
similar we're looking we're we're we're
[16:37] testing from 1,200 to 1500 square feet
whether it's one level and or two
[16:45] levels thank
[16:50] you councilor
Brown um my question is with seniors if
[16:56] uh there's we have older people that are
moving out of their house to uh move
[17:01] into somewhere um are are these
obviously not going to be barrier free
[17:07] units for the for the seniors but is is
there going to be some provision so if
[17:12] somebody did wind up in a in a
wheelchair or something like that that
[17:15] they would be able to to live there
without having to move again I guess
[17:20] would be you know like wider doors wider
hallways anything like that is there
[17:24] Provisions for some stuff like that or I
just my fear is if the elderly people
[17:29] move somewhere think this is where we're
going to spend our days and then uh
[17:34] something happens and they have to move
again or not maybe able to renovate or
[17:38] something like that yes so we we are
looking at making some of these units
[17:43] barrier free much like new multi-unit uh
buildings that require or encourage some
[17:49] and we are looking at doing the same
thing because for the same reason you're
[17:52] suggesting we're we're trying to address
a concern and that is where does our
[17:57] seniors go where where can they go in
our community without having to leave
[18:01] but have the home that works for them
and so instead of going 90% of the way
[18:06] we're going to try to go 100% of the way
for those people I think of my mother
[18:10] for example who lives in a two- Lev home
by herself and eventually that going
[18:16] upstairs to to the B to the one bathroom
and to to the bedroom is not doesn't
[18:21] work so yes we we're having an open mind
but that is the audience we're targeting
[18:26] and we're going to try to make it such
that when they move in they can stay
[18:31] Thank you and along that same line is it
proposed that property care will be part
[18:36] of this yes yes like a home ownership
ship Association where the services will
[18:43] be provided package there will be a fee
like a home ownership fee and I did I
[18:47] did meet with the people um at uh Shadow
Hill to understand how they've been
[18:54] doing it they've been 40 years doing it
and I spoke with the gentleman that's
[18:57] been in charge of it it um and they've
probably got one of the best methods of
[19:04] organization and and making sure that
one their Community is well serviced and
[19:09] everybody understands the services that
they are receiving and what they're
[19:12] responsible for so I'm going to be
leaning on them to help with that but to
[19:16] answer your question yes good thank you
anyone
[19:22] else so I will ask Town manager jarvey
to speak for the town please thank you
[19:36] worship staff have reviewed this
proposal and worked with Mr Maly on some
[19:42] of the
details and what's up on the screen now
[19:45] is the parcel land at the foot of school
[19:50] Avenue
the row of houses at the at the right of
[19:56] the of the land is Kon
Street and there is Municipal Water in
[20:01] cavan street so this site can be
serviced the path that you saw on the
[20:08] previous diagram you bring that
[20:13] up it runs over a sanitary sewer a trunk
sewer that comes from a wban CIS sewer
[20:20] lagon and we expect that that servicing
of this property is relatively
[20:27] straightforward
also paralleling the path and the tracks
[20:31] the uh Salmon Creek runs there and with
some
[20:36] detention to keep the land to keep
the the banks
[20:44] uh stable we would be able to drain the
lot the lands directly into Salmon Creek
[20:51] and from there down to the river so
there's no drainage issues as far as
[20:55] surrounding land is concerned the site
is
[20:59] serviced there's a road Network there
and one of the one of the advantages of
[21:06] this site as far as long-term
development is the possibility of
[21:13] extending extending East or what is left
on this
[21:19] figure and uh eventually that would
allow us to connect roads on some of the
[21:25] roads like uh Jones and uh Ellis that
are F the E so we would get more than
[21:31] one entrance into this neighborhood we
right now we're limited to a single
[21:38] entrance so we've reviewed the
project prepared the development
[21:43] agreement that you have in your package
the developer would be responsible for
[21:48] all the cost to connect to the services
and to develop the roads and the
[21:53] services on
site we've had comments from the fire
[21:58] fire department and I'm not sure about
the police but the fire department and
[22:02] there doesn't seem to be any any issues
there so from the staff standpoint this
[22:08] project meets and we agree with Mr Mal's
presentation this meets a need in the
[22:14] community it's a need that otherwise
isn't being addressed right at the
[22:18] moment so we would support the project
the planning advisory committee has
[22:23] voted to support the project you see the
recommendation in your
[22:26] package and so ultimately the Motions
that would be in front of you would be
[22:31] to support uh the the rezoning of the
parcel to of the two Parcels together
[22:38] both owned by Mr
Investments uh from from the current
[22:43] zoning to r1b to R4
multi-unit there's also the requirement
[22:50] for development agreement that you'll be
asked to
[22:53] authorize and the can we bring up the
next
[22:59] next one goes to that the dark green on
this uh on this
[23:05] scretch shows the land that the
developer proposes to give to the
[23:10] town as part of land for public purposes
so there's a requirement for land for
[23:15] public purposes this is not uh land
that'll be used for play fields or
[23:20] anything like that in its current I
State and it's not this won't change
[23:26] the salon Creek runs through this land
so this is primarily a buffer from the
[23:32] railroad and uh does allow as it as I
was saying earlier um an opportunity to
[23:39] manage the drainage to the question
about the the dep mayor's question about
[23:45] the trail lying close to the back of the
properties the
[23:49] trail sits on the easement for the
sanitary sewer name however we think
[23:56] there is room to move the trail itself
we wouldn't be moving the the main but
[24:00] we could move the trail a little bit
toward the creek and uh make for better
[24:06] backyards and a couple of those
[24:10] units I think that's all for now your
worship I can try and answer questions
[24:15] if Council hasn't okay open up for
questions Council councilor Shay um just
[24:21] the one question um John you mentioned
the possibility of taking um I take it
[24:28] to be storm water or whatever over to
Salmon Creek is
[24:32] that nobe I'll point out Salmon
[24:38] Creek this is Salmon Creek running here
go under the tracks
[24:45] here under the tracks here and then down
so that's that's essentially what we're
[24:52] talking
about in decree the proper drop
[24:56] structure and so so the infrastructure
under the tracks is already there yes
[25:01] yes okay thank you Deputy
Mayor okay thank you your worship just
[25:08] looking at the um the the developers
agreement uh item number three it states
[25:14] that the developer agrees that only
Caitlyn Street shall be used for for all
[25:17] construction Machinery heavy equipment
and related construction vehicles during
[25:21] week days from September until June June
inclusive but I guess how are they going
[25:26] to get to Caitlyn street because Caitlyn
runs set the back so are they accessing
[25:31] it via Isaac Street or School Avenue it
would be Isa Street okay the concept
[25:38] there is that we do have the children
are in school from September until June
[25:44] and there would be the traffic is
congested there as it is we think that
[25:48] moving construction traffic in the
immediate vicinity of the school is
[25:53] bound to cause some safety issues and
some problems and some of which perhaps
[25:59] would be just traffic congestion but
there's also certainly safety issue so
[26:03] the developer Mr Maly is agreed that
that's a reasonable
[26:08] approach okay and then uh to the town
engineer I guess just uh looking at the
[26:13] water supply sanitary and uh fire water
supply I'm assuming that we've we have
[26:18] ample supply for all all uh all of that
correct three your worship at this point
[26:25] yeah that's the Assumption the
calculations have done yet but we
[26:29] anticipate that that will be fine great
thank
[26:32] you anyone
[26:38] else okay I will now then call for
anyone wishing to speak against this
[26:46] proposal would you come to the
microphone and state your name sure okay
[26:56] please
[27:01] my name is Russell McDonald I live at 30
Caitlyn uh I'm not necessarily
[27:05] completely opposed to the project but I
do have some questions on it um I had
[27:10] never received a letter in the mail
which I thought was surprising uh the
[27:14] only reason I knew about it is I don't
go check the town website every day but
[27:17] uh counselor told me that this meeting
was going on tonight but coming down
[27:22] Isaac coming out of Isaac in the morning
is almost impossible now uh you're
[27:26] showing the road going up school Avenue
which is going right by the school which
[27:30] joins on to Isaac where's all the
traffic going to go are we going to have
[27:34] traffic lights on the good Point Road
and Isaac because right now getting out
[27:38] of there in the morning is impossible
because even though you're supposed to
[27:42] be going 30 down gooda Point nobody goes
30 down G point so I don't know if
[27:47] that's been addressed I'm assuming it
has but I didn't hear anything about it
[27:50] tonight so I just had some concerns
about the traffic not so much on the
[27:54] construction side because I mean it's
construction um but afterwards when
[27:57] there's 58 new residents in pretty much
less of a footprint than what our
[28:02] Caitlyn town homes are over 24
units thank you Mr McDon I think maybe
[28:08] I'll ask Town manager if he'll respond
to that well there's a couple things to
[28:12] worship I think the point's well taken
and I'm sure a number of the people in
[28:15] the room have that same
question we think the traffic volumes in
[28:21] that area are sufficient now even
without this development to generate the
[28:26] need for some traffic control so some
sort of a traffic control device now the
[28:32] exact location we're still looking at
there may be a better location than the
[28:36] is Condola point intersection that would
still kind of relieve the traffic there
[28:41] so that's one aspect the uh and and that
wouldn't wait until the end of this
[28:47] project necessarily could be sooner than
that the the other thing was what I
[28:52] mentioned
earlier we are in a little bit of a
[28:56] thing now where we can't can't do we can
introduce traffic signals but we still
[29:01] only have one way in and out of that
subdivision so this this project in the
[29:07] opinion of Staff would be the first step
in getting us an alternate exit an
[29:12] alternate exit can be valuable from a
number of standpoints certainly in case
[29:15] of emergencies and and traffic
congestion and so forth so that's the
[29:20] that's kind of the Long View is that
there will be an an alternate ultimately
[29:25] an alternate way of getting in and out
the subdivision but in the short short
[29:29] range we'd be looking at some kind of
traffic signals somewhere in that
[29:35] somewhere in the Gondola Point Vincent
road to Isaac Street area most
[29:41] likely is there anyone else wishing to
speak against the
[29:46] project yes could you come to the
microphone
[29:52] please hi my name is Tracy Davis and
thank you for the opportunity to ask a
[29:56] question and thank you for the present
ation for the information it's nice to
[29:59] have that context um I just want to
reinforce the point about traffic and
[30:03] congestion just to add into perspective
that we have probably around 50 plus
[30:10] houses right now in like the Isaac page
Caitlyn area and it's a small footprint
[30:15] for those homes on Caitlyn so we're
looking to add 54 homes with just say
[30:21] two vehicles per home then you're
looking at D you know you're looking at
[30:25] doubling the traffic that's already
there and I just want to put into
[30:28] perspective as well to add context for
the traffic side that you have school
[30:31] buses and you have a lot of people with
the work brushes like leaving early in
[30:35] the morning so it is already quite
congested on top of activities such as
[30:39] like construction further down Clark
Road where it intersects with Gondola
[30:43] Point I believe they're looking at
adding um a traffic signal of some sort
[30:48] there as well so I appreciate that there
is a gap and like a real need for
[30:52] seniors and the homes that were
mentioned um I don't believe that the
[30:57] area that we're looking at would solve
all of that without really impacting the
[31:01] people who do live in that area as well
um I am new to Ras I've only been living
[31:07] here about a year but what I love about
it is that it feels like a small
[31:12] community with all of the amenities but
you keep that small community feel with
[31:16] the pockets of subdivisions that we have
because they aren't expansive or mass
[31:22] traffic volumes and you know we're we're
fortunate to have the school where we do
[31:26] but it's also a great location because
it's at the beginning of the subdivision
[31:30] from a traffic congestion standpoint for
those of us back but for buses and
[31:34] everything so I just wanted to add that
context for some sort of additional food
[31:39] for thought as well thank you thank you
so traffic
[31:44] concerns is there anyone else wishing to
speak against the
[31:56] project hi my name is Wendy Barrett I
live at 33 Isaac I have a couple of
[32:01] things actually um this is being
referred to as affordable housing can
[32:05] you give me some idea what you're
looking at real estate cost for these to
[32:09] sell
them ask yes um affordable is not I
[32:16] didn't say affordable I don't want to
confuse it with affordable I said it's
[32:20] attainable
housing okay so affordable housing
[32:24] according to cmhc is 30% pre-tax income
this doesn't meet the qualification for
[32:31] affordable housing okay we're looking to
build these homes for 400 in the low
[32:36] $400,000
range okay so in your presentation you
[32:41] said all majority of the homes in the
valley are now selling for rasi sorry
[32:45] are selling for the 700,000
range I would dispute that the homes in
[32:50] this District that you're looking at are
selling at that price we've had a couple
[32:55] within the last few years that have sold
for 400 or up most of those homes are
[33:00] 300 or
lower um this property is going to
[33:05] immensely impact our property
taxes um which I mean if we build in
[33:12] there and there's other residential
homes that may or may not have the same
[33:16] impact it's hard to say but when you're
looking at Building 54 Homes at 400,000
[33:21] plus it's definitely going to impact our
taxes um so that's one thing I have the
[33:26] other question is I'm not
sure that it's actually attainable
[33:31] housing I'm speaking from a personal
perspective I have a parent who has been
[33:37] looking for somewhere to go as a senior
this is not affordable housing for
[33:43] seniors I work in the community I deal a
lot with seniors it's not affordable
[33:48] housing for any of the seniors that I
work with in the
[33:51] community um they're all saying the same
thing now where do we go we can't
[33:56] downsize because because we can't afford
to Brent we can't downsize because to
[33:59] buy something new is more expensive than
what we have so we have to stay where we
[34:03] are which isn't
feasible so I'm not sure that I agree
[34:08] with being attainable for housing for
seniors maybe town houses I don't know
[34:14] but um yes we need housing not sure that
I think this is the
[34:20] answer for that
area um I also agree that traffic is a
[34:25] huge issue
and it's a safety risk for the schools
[34:30] for the
school and it doesn't matter which way
[34:33] you go through I mean you're
taking she said there's roughly 50
[34:37] houses in that area now most houses have
two cars Building 54 more units that's
[34:43] another 108 cars
minimum so now we've got a surplus of
[34:49] vehicles a huge influx of people which
means traffic itself not just people
[34:53] living there visitors guests delivery
trucks yada yada yada um it's just a
[35:00] huge influx on traffic which is more
again putting a risk at the kids because
[35:05] that subdivision alone has a huge amount
of kids in there just in the residence
[35:09] let alone not the school so that's my
concerns I guess thank you is there
[35:15] anyone else wishing to speak against the
[35:20] project second time is there anyone else
wishing to speak against the
[35:25] project
third and final time is there anyone
[35:30] else wishing to speak against the
project hearing none I will call for
[35:36] people wishing to speak in favor of the
project is there anyone wishing to speak
[35:42] in favor of the
project yeah if you would state your
[35:47] name please yes my name is Shirley Goen
and I live on Caitlyn Street very close
[35:53] to the end of the street and I am
very much in favor of this project
[36:01] um I
think the days of getting a home for
[36:06] $200,000 are over and
$400,000 is not
[36:14] unreasonable for young families
especially and seniors have their own
[36:21] homes that they're selling and their
savings and and Investments and I'm sure
[36:26] that it's very attainable for a great
majority of
[36:30] seniors so I really am in favor of this
project I think it
[36:37] makes it makes a home for young families
far more attainable and
[36:44] accessible I have my own grandson who's
um saving for a house now and he keeps
[36:51] saying Nan I don't understand how I'm
ever going to be able to afford a home
[36:55] if there's six and
700,000 but this is the type of housing
[37:02] that we need it's really good for the
town I mean it's 54 more
[37:09] homes that you're going to have on your
tax base I think it's a great concept
[37:14] for young families and and seniors to
live in close proximity to be able to
[37:22] enjoy each other if you're if you're
living in a house on a three quarter
[37:27] acre lot you're going to put up a fence
you're going to have your pool in the
[37:30] backyard and you're not going to bother
with any of your neighbors I live in
[37:34] that kind of housing that is being
proposed and it's a really nice
[37:39] Community you just feel you feel a part
of your your neighborhood and your
[37:45] community it's a great
concept and I think a a good marketing
[37:50] strategy is going to attract good people
and I don't I don't see anything better
[37:57] for the town of Ros than to have this
type of development and that atmosphere
[38:03] so I'm very much in favor thank you
thank you is there anyone else wishing
[38:09] to speak in favor of the
[38:15] project Jeff can you take the microphone
hi har you Jeff's here I'm the executive
[38:20] director of our economic intelligence 10
minutes oh I won't take 10 minutes don't
[38:24] worry we heard you
yeah don't worry I'll I'll be quick but
[38:29] uh with vision St John I'm just here to
speak in favor of the project we work
[38:33] with developers in the region and we
work quite a bit on trying to understand
[38:37] the regional housing market and what the
challenges and you know quite frankly
[38:41] it's it's not news but um you know it's
we're certainly in a housing crisis uh
[38:46] we've heard talk about unprecedented
demand um last year we did about three
[38:52] we grew by about 3,000 people regionally
and we built about 600 homes we doubled
[38:57] going into 600 you know we doubled what
we built a few years ago we probably
[39:01] need to get to, 1500 we uh we need the
support of every developer we can in the
[39:07] region if we're going to get anywhere
near close to that we're probably
[39:10] running at about 40 to 50% of where we
need to be as a region right now so it's
[39:16] an immense Hill decline um but it's been
a bit of a perfect storm we've been hit
[39:22] with significant increase construction
costs rapidly over the last three three
[39:26] and a half years we've seen about a 40
to 60% increase in the cost to uh to
[39:31] build homes which is a significant
challenge when you take factor in that
[39:36] incomes have gone up about 8% um
interest rates for people looking to buy
[39:43] homes uh average household makes about
90,000 90 plus thousand a year in the
[39:48] region um when you factor in the change
in interest rates the buying power of
[39:53] that average household declined about by
about
[39:57] $80,000 so at the same time that housing
prices have gone up about 50% the
[40:03] ability for people to pay for it they've
lost about $80,000 so you know we looked
[40:08] at numbers you know 2019 we estimated
typical single family home new
[40:14] construction probably could hit the
market 4 to 450 that same product in a
[40:19] very short period of time is now 600,000
to
[40:23] $650,000 per unit it's gone from maybe
40 to 50% population being able to carry
[40:29] that mortgage to about 10 to 15 um so we
expect as we've seen in other
[40:35] communities that the model development
might change uh it might have to adapt
[40:40] one of the key ways of developer can
make housing more affordable is density
[40:46] uh so having more units spreads the cost
of land it spreads the cost of building
[40:50] the street infrastructure generally
speaking for a townhouse development
[40:55] like this probably could mean anywhere
between 50 and $775,000 less spent a
[41:01] unit so the difference between
$425,000 home and a $500,000 home for a
[41:07] first-time home
buyer nationally this is the trend um in
[41:13] terms of where the housing market has
been going as a country uh you know
[41:17] we've seen a 200% increase in apartment
construction a 60% increase in townhouse
[41:23] development a 20% decrease roughly in
semi- detached and an almost 50%
[41:28] decrease in single family homes and
generally speaking most of those have
[41:33] been on smaller and smaller Lots so you
know just in conclusion you know
[41:39] generally
speaking what we're seeing preliminarily
[41:43] and what we're trying to advise
municipalities is that the general form
[41:48] of Housing and Development that we see
in the region may change we may see a
[41:52] lot more town houses roow houses semi-
detached and fewer single families it's
[41:58] been the trend in areas that dealt with
the affordability issue because the cost
[42:03] to build has jumped up so quickly um in
the past couple of years it means that
[42:08] as a region we've got to adjust to it
overnight and so with that you know
[42:14] we're trying to encourage municipalities
that you know we might need to think
[42:18] about different housing forms than
perhaps we may have used to obviously
[42:22] you still need to find the right place
and and communities need to understand
[42:26] what they want where they want it but uh
overall from Market perspective you know
[42:30] that's how we see attainable housing
being uh being achieved I'll leave that
[42:35] thank you is there anyone else wishing
to speak in favor of the
[42:42] project is there anyone else wishing to
speak in favor of the
[42:48] project third and final time is anyone
else willing or wishing to speak in
[42:53] favor of the
project hearing none since there were
[42:58] some uh issues raised I will uh give Mr
Mal be the final word here if you wishes
[43:04] to respond to those comments
[43:09] um no I appreciate the feedback and I I
recognize the concern for the traffic
[43:15] undoubtedly just just a few things and
um our to manager touched on it briefly
[43:22] in that as the land continues to be
developed
[43:26] as the future map shows we are now
eliminating what is currently a very
[43:31] long culdesac which in itself creates
issues for safety getting in and out Etc
[43:39] with this proposal and the future
development to come we would remove that
[43:43] long called the saac and eventually have
another exit out of this community so
[43:49] that that would be one thing on the
traffic um the other is this type of
[43:54] development is a little different than
a multi-unit apartment building for
[43:58] example with let's say 54 units when
it's finished boom you get everything
[44:03] all at once this development's over
three years it gives us time as Mr
[44:08] jarvey had indicated that there probably
already needs some sort of traffic
[44:13] signal uh signal and control and so we
have the time to do what is necessary
[44:21] with regards to that as the traffic
builds over three years
[44:29] um and and that's that that's it um I
just want to say truly we we there's a
[44:35] certainly a need for housing for young
families and for
[44:40] seniors is there a perfect spot there's
only so much land
[44:46] available this I believe in my opinion
this is a very very good location it has
[44:53] existing infrastructure it has water it
has
[44:57] sewer it's got the same type of housing
adjacent to it it has a school feet away
[45:04] M feet away for young families it's got
a well-known well-used play area it's
[45:11] got a walking trail for all for seniors
for young people so I do believe it is a
[45:18] very good location for this type of
development and I'll leave it at that
[45:22] and thank you for your time thank you uh
thank you for your Pres ation thank you
[45:26] Council thank you folks for coming and
commenting and with that I will adjourn
[45:32] this public
[45:41] hearing