HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2009-09-02, Page 9News
The Huron Expositor • September 2, 2009 Page 9
Gateway receives approval for zoning for new building
Neighbours complain about Increased traffic and reduced property values
Susan HQndertmarh
While there were complaints about -
increased traffic flow and reduced
property values, a rezoning request
by Gateway Rural Health Research
ns
titute on a 2.36 -acre lot west of
the hospital for a new medical build-
ingand lecture hall was granted by
Huron East council.
A handful of neighbours who live in
the adjoining subdivision attended
the Aug. 25 council meeting to ex-
press concerns and letters were re-
ceived from neighbour Alf Ross' and
the Seaforth Community Hospital
Trust.
The amendment changing the zon-
ing from low density residential to
community facility will allow Gate-
way to combine 12 lots of a 24 -lot
plan of subdivision, donated to Gate-
way by the family of the late A.Y. and
Winn McLean.
Lin Steflier, president of the Gate-
way board, explained that the recent
donation from the McLean family
happened after a successful meeting
between Gateway and the University
of Waterloo. She said Gateway vice
president Gwen 'Devereaux received
a phone call from McLean's daugh-
ter, Susan White, indicating she was
pleased with the direction Gateway
was going and wanted to talk' about
donating land.
"We will do everything we can to
meet the needsof the county and
this council. We'll do whatever we
can to make it work," said Steffler.
Ross, along with neighbours Deb
Williamson and Carolyn Griffin, said
they were concerned about the value
and comfort of their properties.
"I definitely feel one of the nega-
tives of this project is it will lessen
the value of my property when all of
a sudden a parking lot is attached to
my backyard," said Griffin, adding
she was worried about the noise of
increased traffic travelling to a lec-
ture hall.
Griffin added that with the old
medical clinic currently empty after
the new Huron East Health Centre
was built, she didn't understand why
another building is needed and she
worried that if the funding is not re-
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ceived for a new Gateway building,
the town could erect a community
centre, one of the other allowed uses
with.community facility zoning.
Brussels Coun. David Blaney point-
ed out that the municipality doesn't
own or control the empty medical
clinic or the land where the research
institute will be erected.
"I can't imagine a situation when
we would want to build another com-
munity centre. We're already over
community-facilitied, if you will,
in " Huron East with three," said
Blaney.
Steffler added that the municipal-
ity is putting no money towards the
Gateway building.
"It's all Gateway," she said, add-
ing that Gateway's corporate char-
ter will not allow anything else to be
built but a medical building.
Ross asked that a buffer zone and
greenbelt area be planned between
his property and the new develop-
ment and the opportunity to review
the site plan control before approv-
al.
Williamson complained about the
sidewalks that are currently being
installed on the east side of Centen-
nial Drive to the hospital.
"We have some of the highest taxes
with no sidewalks and I've raised
two children without any. Who is
putting in the sidewalks? The town?"
she asked.
Deputy -Mayor Bernie MacLellan
answered that the sidewalks have
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nothing to do with the Gateway de- Blaney also pointed out that the de-
velopment. cision to put in traffic lights would be
"The hospital has been asking for determined by the Ministry of Trans-
these sidewalks for the past 20 years portation, not the municipality.
and a lot more people are walking to Huron County planner Carol Leem-
the hospital than ever before," added ing said the concerns of neighbours
Mayor Joe Seili. - can mostly be addressed through site
The letter from- the hospital true"plan control. She said community
facility zoning requires that 30 per
cent of the lot be landscaped open
space, which doesn't include parking
and the building can only take up 40
per cent of the lot.
Leeming added that the amount
of traffic coming into the area to a
medical building might not be much
different from the traffic coming in
to the 12 houses originally planned
for the land.
Steffler added that Gateway cur-
rently has two employees with two
more planned to be hired in the next
six months. She admitted that the
traffic would increase gradually as
use of the building increased.
"This -is not a factory with three
eight-hour shifts and people coming
See COUNCIL, Page 10
also expressed concern about in-
creased traffic flow and asked for a
traffic light at Centennial Drive and
Goderich Street, a sidewalk for pe-
destrian traffic and a second access
road. -
Steffler said • there is not enough
land to put in a second access but.
would be in favour of one.
Seili •pointed out that the hospital
trust owns the land where a second
access would need to be located.
"To ask for a second access when
you control the land is a conflict," he
said, adding that permission would
need to be granted from the trust to
use their land.
MacLellan added that if the hospi-
tal trust were willing to give the land
to the municipality, he'd be willing to
put in a second access.
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