Almost seven years after its initial approval, this Bradford development is getting a second extension, and a revised plan is in the works.
During its Feb. 4 meeting, council voted to provide a second three-year extension for the draft plan of subdivision approval to Millford Development and Mod-Aire Homes for their project at 690 Simcoe Rd.
That’s proposed to include 13 single-detached homes on a cul-de-sac off Gibson Circle, directly across from Lewis Avenue, as well as a commercial block fronting the west side of Simcoe Road, just north of the entrance to St. Charles Catholic School.
The extension is retroactive to 2024 and the approval will now last until March 4, 2027.
The previous approval lapsed last year, following council’s decision to defer approval extension during their March 5 meeting.
That was intended to give the developers more time to explain why they needed the extension, as a reason hadn’t been given.
In the wake of the approval lapsing, the developer applied to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) to appeal council’s lack of decision, but the OLT lists no record of that proceeding past the initial stages and the case is now considered closed.
Based on a recent report from town community planning manager Alan Wiebe, the developers have since provided an explanation for needing the extension, including that they’re looking to update their original plans to increase the number of homes.
While they’ve already made a submission to the town about those changes, staff are still reviewing it and as such the details were not included in the report. However, Wiebe confirmed that once the updated submission to the town is considered complete, a public planning meeting would be required, after which staff would report back to council for their approval of the changes.
As previously reported, Millford Development originally applied for approval to develop the 1.51-hectare property in July 2011, but the town didn’t consider the application complete until March 2016, with a public meeting held on June 21, 2016.
The development was originally approved by a previous council on March 6, 2018, including rezoning of the property to Residential One (R1-2) with exceptions, and Neighbourhood Commercial (C2) with exceptions.
The original approval was set to expire on March 6, 2021, and in December 2020 council granted a three-year extension to March 6, 2024.
In a letter to the town last year, Angela Orsi, a representative of Millford Development, said they planned to clear the conditions of the draft plan approval and enter into other necessary agreements sometime in 2024, and had already completed some of the necessary studies, including environmental studies relating to hydrology and geology.