R
rdaner
Guest
Development battle brewing in idyllic Creemore
JAMES RUSK
When Alex Troop looked for a place for his company, Alliance Homes, to build an adult lifestyle community, he thought he had found an ideal location in Creemore, 35 kilometres west of Barrie.
Creemore, a village of 1,300 nestled alongside the Mad River close to the Niagara Escarpment, has in recent years become an attractive location for people looking to escape the bustle of big-city life.
Creemore Springs, a popular microbrewery, has spurred trendy main-street development, skiing is 10 minutes away at Devil's Glen, and Collingwood and Blue Mountain Resort are a 23-kilometre hop up the road.
And so Mr. Troop took an option on a farm at the edge of Creemore. Part of it was zoned residential and the remainder designated for future urban development. He began the process of getting his project approved by Clearview Township, where Creemore is located.
But instead of being welcomed, Mr. Troop walked into a buzz saw of opposition.
"I'm getting crucified up there," he said in an interview at Alliance's headquarters in Vaughan.
Two public meetings about the project drew about 300 people each, and Mr. Troop is now putting the finishing touches on a third version of his plan to try to meet local objections and township planning concerns.
The project is no longer an adult lifestyle community, even though critics of an earlier proposal to build a subdivision on the land suggested that is what should be there. It is now a mix that includes single-family houses and low-rise condominiums.
While most development fights pit long-time locals against arriviste interlopers, the leaders of the fight against the Alliance development are mainly newcomers drawn to Creemore or its environs, either to live or as weekenders.
One of those fighting the Alliance project is John Crispo, a retired University of Toronto professor who won his spurs as a public-opinion warrior in the battle over free trade in the late 1980s.
"The question that really rattles me is: Is there no place for preservation any more?," Mr. Crispo said in an interview at his country estate overlooking the town.
"Are villages like this not worth preserving, not in the sense of no development, but in the sense that development is very compatible and consistent with the existing village? "
Whether the project's opponents like it or not, Creemore is under heavy development pressure, said Michael Wynia, Clearview Township's chief planner.
Simcoe County, where Clearview Township is located, is under heavy growth pressure for a number of reasons.
Urban expansion is leapfrogging the provincially imposed greenbelt around the Greater Toronto Area.
Resort-style growth is pushing up housing prices along the shore of Georgian Bay, creating a demand for less expensive options in close-by towns such as Creemore or Stayner.
And even if people may not want to commute all the way to Toronto from Creemore, many do go from there to jobs in Brampton or Alliston, where Honda has just announced an expansion.
The Alliance proposal is not the only one for Creemore. During the winter, the township rejected a development proposal for a site near the Alliance project because it was deemed too dense, and another, even denser project, is looming on a site in the centre of the village.
Density is the critical issue in the battle over development in Creemore. The changes to the planning system that the provincial government is making will require a much denser form of development than Ontarians have been used to, particularly in small towns.
Thom Paterson, an engineer who retired to Creemore a couple of years ago and is president of the Creemore Area Ratepayers Association, said the group's opposition to the project is that "it is not in character with the village."
The fight comes down to what is consistent with a village built on a plan laid out in the 1800s with lots big enough for a stable behind a house. When indoor plumbing supplanted outhouses, the lots were also large enough to support septic-tank waste disposal systems.
But Creemore has had a new sewage treatment plant since 2001, and with it, the village's traditional rate of development of a few houses a year "is in the past," said Mr. Wynia, the township planner.
Mr. Troop said his project is unique in trying to meet the twin goals of integration into the village and density levels in line with current planning in the province.
Alliance plans to vary the width of lots, set back houses in a staggered fashion, intersperse four- and six-plexes on blocks with single-family houses, and impose architectural controls to give buildings a Victorian flavour.
"I don't know where this has ever been done," he said.
He is not likely to satisfy critics.
"That is too dense," said Mr. Paterson of the ratepayers' association.
He believes the project should be primarily single-family houses on lots that are in the 8,000 to 10,000-square-foot range, a size well above the 1960s subdivision's norm of 6,000 square feet.
Clearview council will likely make its final decision on the project in the next couple of months, Mr. Wynia said.
Whatever the decision, the one thing on which both sides agree is that it will be appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board.
JAMES RUSK
When Alex Troop looked for a place for his company, Alliance Homes, to build an adult lifestyle community, he thought he had found an ideal location in Creemore, 35 kilometres west of Barrie.
Creemore, a village of 1,300 nestled alongside the Mad River close to the Niagara Escarpment, has in recent years become an attractive location for people looking to escape the bustle of big-city life.
Creemore Springs, a popular microbrewery, has spurred trendy main-street development, skiing is 10 minutes away at Devil's Glen, and Collingwood and Blue Mountain Resort are a 23-kilometre hop up the road.
And so Mr. Troop took an option on a farm at the edge of Creemore. Part of it was zoned residential and the remainder designated for future urban development. He began the process of getting his project approved by Clearview Township, where Creemore is located.
But instead of being welcomed, Mr. Troop walked into a buzz saw of opposition.
"I'm getting crucified up there," he said in an interview at Alliance's headquarters in Vaughan.
Two public meetings about the project drew about 300 people each, and Mr. Troop is now putting the finishing touches on a third version of his plan to try to meet local objections and township planning concerns.
The project is no longer an adult lifestyle community, even though critics of an earlier proposal to build a subdivision on the land suggested that is what should be there. It is now a mix that includes single-family houses and low-rise condominiums.
While most development fights pit long-time locals against arriviste interlopers, the leaders of the fight against the Alliance development are mainly newcomers drawn to Creemore or its environs, either to live or as weekenders.
One of those fighting the Alliance project is John Crispo, a retired University of Toronto professor who won his spurs as a public-opinion warrior in the battle over free trade in the late 1980s.
"The question that really rattles me is: Is there no place for preservation any more?," Mr. Crispo said in an interview at his country estate overlooking the town.
"Are villages like this not worth preserving, not in the sense of no development, but in the sense that development is very compatible and consistent with the existing village? "
Whether the project's opponents like it or not, Creemore is under heavy development pressure, said Michael Wynia, Clearview Township's chief planner.
Simcoe County, where Clearview Township is located, is under heavy growth pressure for a number of reasons.
Urban expansion is leapfrogging the provincially imposed greenbelt around the Greater Toronto Area.
Resort-style growth is pushing up housing prices along the shore of Georgian Bay, creating a demand for less expensive options in close-by towns such as Creemore or Stayner.
And even if people may not want to commute all the way to Toronto from Creemore, many do go from there to jobs in Brampton or Alliston, where Honda has just announced an expansion.
The Alliance proposal is not the only one for Creemore. During the winter, the township rejected a development proposal for a site near the Alliance project because it was deemed too dense, and another, even denser project, is looming on a site in the centre of the village.
Density is the critical issue in the battle over development in Creemore. The changes to the planning system that the provincial government is making will require a much denser form of development than Ontarians have been used to, particularly in small towns.
Thom Paterson, an engineer who retired to Creemore a couple of years ago and is president of the Creemore Area Ratepayers Association, said the group's opposition to the project is that "it is not in character with the village."
The fight comes down to what is consistent with a village built on a plan laid out in the 1800s with lots big enough for a stable behind a house. When indoor plumbing supplanted outhouses, the lots were also large enough to support septic-tank waste disposal systems.
But Creemore has had a new sewage treatment plant since 2001, and with it, the village's traditional rate of development of a few houses a year "is in the past," said Mr. Wynia, the township planner.
Mr. Troop said his project is unique in trying to meet the twin goals of integration into the village and density levels in line with current planning in the province.
Alliance plans to vary the width of lots, set back houses in a staggered fashion, intersperse four- and six-plexes on blocks with single-family houses, and impose architectural controls to give buildings a Victorian flavour.
"I don't know where this has ever been done," he said.
He is not likely to satisfy critics.
"That is too dense," said Mr. Paterson of the ratepayers' association.
He believes the project should be primarily single-family houses on lots that are in the 8,000 to 10,000-square-foot range, a size well above the 1960s subdivision's norm of 6,000 square feet.
Clearview council will likely make its final decision on the project in the next couple of months, Mr. Wynia said.
Whatever the decision, the one thing on which both sides agree is that it will be appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board.
