A large-scale village-style development is being proposed on lands between Meaford and Thornbury near Christie Beach.
At its meeting on Aug. 8, Grey County council received its first glimpse of the 1,250-unit development being proposed just off of Highway 26 in the Municipality of Meaford.
Parkbridge is proposing the village development on 135 hectares of land near Christie Beach.
The proposal includes up to 1,250 units of housing, commercial uses, public parks and trails, a public community centre and a village centre.
The proposal requires county and local municipal official plan amendments to proceed and is in the preliminary stages of the planning process. The land on which the development would be located is currently vacant, except for a single dwelling, and is currently zoned rural and hazard.
“This is a very large development being proposed,” said Scott Taylor, the county’s director of planning. “We’re still in the very early stages.”
Taylor said the residential units proposed would include single detached, multi-attached and apartments. The development would also include 25,000 square feet of retail/service space.
The proponents are proposing that the new village would be serviced with water and sewage services extended either from Meaford to the west or The Blue Mountains to the east. A third option for servicing would be water and sewage treatment plants being constructed on the site of the development.
“There are certainly many policy areas we’ll want to dig further into,” Taylor said of the proposal.
Taylor said as part of the planning process for this proposed development the county will be reviewing a number of policy areas including: expansion of settlement areas, servicing and transportation, housing and density and environmental and archaeological resources.
County council did not make any decision on the matter other than to unanimously accept the staff report about the proposal. The next step will be for the county and local planners in Meaford to schedule a joint public meeting about the proposal to hear comments from local residents.
