Property owners hope to overturn Woodstock PAC’s decision to approve residential development in their neighbourhood
Residents of Helen Street in Woodstock will go before an appeals board on Friday, Dec. 6, hoping to overturn the town’s planning advisory committee’s decision to allow the construction of multi-unit residential buildings in their neighbourhood.
In his update to the council at the Nov. 28 regular meeting, Woodstock CAO Allan Walker confirmed that the appeals hearing will begin at 9 a.m. Friday morning at the AYR Motor Centre. He said the meeting was scheduled for the entire day but doubted it would take that long.
Helen Street residents Bob Stokes and Bill Hogan, representing several property owners in the neighbourhood, appealed the PAC’s June 17 decision allowing the construction of a pair of multi-unit residential buildings.
The development company, partially owned by Woodstock Coun. Mike Martin, plans to construct one four-unit and one three-unit townhouse on Helen Street. Martin’s firm already owns a 12-unit apartment building on Helen Street.
Martin recused himself from discussions of the project during council meetings.
The PAC made its decision at the June 17 meeting after taking in several objections from neighbourhood residents at a public meeting on the issue held on May 21.
The PAC’s decision included variances allowing the developer to reduce the front and back setbacks required under Woodstock’s Municipal Plan.
Woodstock Planning and Development Director Andrew Garnett said the three-member provincial appeals board will hear arguments from the project opponents and the developer.
He explained that the process should allow one side to speak and field questions, and then the other side would share its arguments.
Garnett said the board would not provide its decision on Friday, suggesting it could take one to three months before ruling on the appeal.
He said the entire approval process could cause frustration for everyone involved, noting this approval could take seven to nine months from start to finish.
During their arguments before PAC in May and June, Hogan, Stokes and other Helen Street residents raised several concerns, including safety. They noted the dead-end street, which ends next to the Townsview School, is already overflowing with traffic as parents drop their children off for school.
Hogan, who serves as Woodstock-Hartland MLA and previously sat on the Woodstock council, questioned the process leading to PAC’s approval.
The former councillor objected to a council decision at a May 14 regular council meeting to move a motion declaring the council did not object to PAC approving the variances.
“I’m very disappointed in the process,” he told the PAC at its June 17 meeting.
