A closer look at a couple election issues
By Mark Schadenberg
It is time to extrapolate.
In a previous posting I noted the complexities of approving residential
planning matters. My exact quote is included here, so I will add to those
thoughts below.
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The real reason I calmly and confidently think ahead . . . is that I have 30+ years of experience as a researcher, journalist, committee advisory member, volunteer leader and chair of several events, and simply the desire to study and learn all the facets of local government and its accompanying procedures.
Therefore, it's a personal moment to pass along to citizens my caring attitude, knowledge, connectivity, and love of this wonderful community. I can't begin to explain all the overlaps, provincial legislations, bylaws and policies which must be adhered to in making an important municipal decision. For example, for residential factors they range from intensification to zonings, additional residential units, multi-family properties, (low, medium and high) density, Oxford Official Plan, Provincial Policy Statement, provincial More Homes More Choices Act, traffic studies, a shadow study, central business area and entrepreneurial zone, registered easements (railway and industry such as Toyota are just two examples), in-fill parcels, development charges, parking, existing trees, the environment, flood plains, previous precedents . . . and of course the concerns of neighbours. Folks, it is not simple and that's why you elect people who know the guidelines.
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This past term
of council I was a member of 5 committees – recreation advisory, environment,
accessibility, boundary adjustments, and a board member of the Upper Thames
River Conservation Authority (UTRCA). It’s been a big-time commitment, but
enjoyable with the connections between environment, recreation and the
conservation authority.
The UTRCA has
strict flood plain maps, which can and do certainly dictate where homes and
commercial entities can be built. For example, Burgess Park and Standard Tube
parks for trails became a defined green space due to flooding possibilities.
Also, when the Downs At Cedar Creek golf course was closed by Golf North, it
was quickly determined that about 90% of that land could never be residential,
but there is a small portion off Salter which may be developed for homes (Time
will tell).
The rules become
etched in stone often since the Thames River is deemed to be a Canadian Heritage
River. As a UTRCA board member I can tell you about the long list of our Section
28 approvals we see reported at monthly meetings and these passed proposals
have been under a microscope for all considerations within the watershed so
that also includes Embro, Ingersoll, Beachville, Dorchester, St. Marys, Stratford,
numerous London neighbourhoods such as the Sifton Bog or The Cove or The Forks
or . . . .
Dams, drains and
dykes are UTRCA agenda items.
In Woodstock, the City has an agreement with the UTRCA which permits the Pittock Conservation Area Day-Use park to be free – no admission. It is a complex contract, but the City improves structural items like bathrooms and playground equipment, while the UTRCA cuts the grass and maintains its dam.
The protection of the Thames is
very important and that’s why there is a large campground, parks and a trail
system surrounding the river, and not homes. I believe that if the UTRCA
existed before 1947, the City’s map around Tecumseh Street would be much
different as historically (Many generations ago) there was a fairgrounds there
and Erastus Burgess (Park named after his family) trained Queen’s Plate
thoroughbreds on this property.
This entry will
be divided into two as I realize there is a ‘tune-out factor’, but my opinion
on the term intensification can also be mentioned here.
The City has and must utilize all its available residential space in the inventory before pushing the boundaries north of County Road 17 (Tollgate road) or west of the 11th Line. However, long-term Woodstock growth for the next 20 years must include negotiations now.
I was quite frankly ecstatic (Yes, excited and
exuberant) when a proposal for an apartment building at Alberta and Juliana was
presented to City Council. This parcel is part of a triangle which includes
Cedarview Retirement and then lots of grass, but its zoning is residential, and
it’s a close proximity to the community complex which opened in 1996, so that’s
more than 25 years of idle land, which I do admit was utilized for farm fields
but not for the past 10 years approximately. (Run-on sentence - Sorry)
City Council has
also approved, but not yet built by its developers, several other residential
opportunities, including Hunter and Oxford, Adelaide and Victoria, and Devonshire
and Lansdowne.
I offer this
list to those reading because there sometimes seems to be a sense that the
current council is not doing enough to alleviate the overall lack of residential units.
That is simply NOT true.
In the hopper or
on the drawing board are Main and Wellington, Juliana and Athlone, former
lighthouse lot on Ferguson, the lot just south of Woodingford Lodge, a small townhome
project at Park Row and Mill, the former Woodstock Meadows golf course, and of course
(pun intended) the site of the old hospital at Riddell and Vincent.
There are
additional homes (units) under construction, including Oxford and Drew, Pittock Park
Road, Parkinson Road, and the east edge of Nellis, which all loosely fit the
definition of in-fill or brownfields.
Over the years,
many empty buildings have been re-purposed for dwellings – Paquettes, Harvey
Woods, Broadway School, Chapel School, a church across the street from WCI at
Riddell and Adelaide, and an Anglican Church on Winniett. No wrecking balls,
but maintaining the heritage ‘look’ of the City by using brownfield buildings
to a new use.
This list does
not include the on-going subdivisions such as Havelock Corners, Sally Creek, the Hartley Farm, and
the Neighbourhoods of Devonshire, and the pending new streets in the old SouthWest
Oxford north of Karn Road and west of Anderson Street.
The point I’m making
is that the inventory of possibilities within our current boundaries exist, but
some day those lines will modestly move north and west.
I am not on a township council obviously, but while I see the sense in increasing the size of the footprint of Tavistock, I disagree with any large expansions in Innerkip. However, those are map items for their residents (and voters) to contemplate, and both are a current election issue in East-Zorra Tavistock township.
Next time, thoughts on the Civic Centre Arena.
LINKS
https://thamesriver.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/Publications/Thames-CHRS-BackgroundStudy.pdf
https://thekingsmen.ca/new-homes/woodstock/havelock-corners/
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CigizPaNPHL/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Mark Schadenberg
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg - Re-Elect for Woodstock City Council in 2022
Contact me: (519) 537-1553
www.marklivesinwoodstock.blogspot.com
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markschadenberg
Instagram: electmarkschadenberg
Picture of me this past April participating in the annual Thames River Clean-Up for the UTRCA and also volunteering with the Lions Club of Woodstock.
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