Hartington subdivision debate coming to a head

Jeff Green and Wilma Kenny | Aug 25, 2016

SF Council rejects  zoning bylaw for project, Frontenac County suports plan of subdivision

(Note - The first two paragraphs of this article have been updated from the one printed in the Frontenac News on August 25 to reflect the decision taken by Frontenac County Council on August 24)

South Frontenac Council met on Tuesday (august 24) and voted down a proposed bylaw to change the zoning for a parcel of land in the hamlet of Hartington from R-U-46 (Special Rural Zone) to R-U 29 (Special Residential Zone). At a meeting of Frontenac County Council the following morning (august 25),  the council, voted to support the plan of subdivision that is tied to the zoning byklaw amendment.

These two bylaws, which were recommendations bythe planning departments of both South Frontenac and Frontenac County, were to be forwarded to a  pre-hearing of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) on September 6th at the South Frontenac Township Office. The township and county are now sending diverging messages to the OMB, which is the approval authority for both the zoning and plan of subdivision applications. 

The development is a smaller version of a larger proposal that was made by Terry Grant, who initially applied in July, 2015 for zoning and planning approval to build 47 new houses in and adjacent to the hamlet.

Opposition was fierce from the start, centering on the capacity of the local aquifer to support 47 additional wells.

The proposal was later whittled down to 13 lots, all within the designated hamlet, dovetailing with the clearly stated intentions of the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) which underpins all planning decisions in the Province of Ontario.

A series of sometimes contradictory hydro-geological and planning reports have been prepared at the behest of Terry Grant, the local opposition group, the township and the county.

These reports took time to prepare, delaying the process until, on February 1st, Terry Grant launched an appeal of the process with the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), the final authority for all planning decisions in the Province, on the grounds that the process had taken longer than six months, which contravenes provincial regulations.

As the first stage of the appeal looms, South Frontenac and Frontenac County Council's have both been working towards having their own decisions in place to present to the appeal board for consideration.

Another complicating issue in the process is the existence of contaminated soil from a former gas station, just across Road 38 from the proposed subdivision.

In the spring of this year, members of South Frontenac Council were faced with a set of conflicting planning opinions. Reviews of all the hydro-geological studies, test well results, impact assessments by the Quinte Region Conservation Authority, etc. led the peer reviewer hired by Frontenac County to conclude the proposal was acceptable, and reviewers for the opposition to conclude it was not.

They commissioned a literature review, by Hydrogeologist Christopher Rancourt from exp services, a large consulting firm with an office in Kingston.

Rancourt reviews 20 documents as well as the PPS and came to the conclusion that the 13 unit subdivision was appropriate, with the stipulation that each of the 13 wells that are drilled “be evaluated by a certified hydro-geologist.” He added that “a detailed scope of testing requirements be established that is acceptable to the planning authority in advance of approval.”

Later, he made the further recommendation that “given the hydrogeological sensitivity associated with the site/hamlet the township should consider restricting agricultural use in close proximity to the site/hamlet.”

Opponents of the project point to two documents, a letter by the geologist Wilf Ruland, dated July 28th/2016, concerning the impacts on groundwater from the hydrocarbons that were found at the site of the foremr gas station. In addition to detailed recommendations about how the township and the Ministry of the Enviroment should deal with the potential spread of contamination in the immediate area, he said that no new deveopment should be contemplated until all of the other concerns he expressed are dealt with.

“The prudent thing to do would be to place a temporary moratorium on development in Hartington” until the remediation of the contaminated site is complete, he said.

The second document is a letter of opinion by the planning consultant they hired, Mark Dorfman from Waterloo.

“In my opinion, this planning application is premature and should not be approved. The uncertainty of the evidence supporting the application are sufficient to conclude that as a matter of precaution, the municiapity and the board should not approve this application,” he wrote.

In his own report, South Frontenac Township Planner recommended that council approve the zoning change, subject to 28 conditions.