A public meeting under the Planning Act was held at BWG Town Council on Tuesday evening, as part of the application process for a sales pavilion to be built at the northwest corner of County Road 88 and Sideroad 5.
The pavilion would facilitate the sales of the new homes being built in Bond Head. The applicant, KLM Planning Partners, has submitted an application for a Temporary Use zoning by-law amendment for the property at 3778 County Road 88, to rezone from 'Agricultural' to 'Temporary Use', permitting construction of a sales pavilion and accompanying parking lot.
The full property is 38.26 hectares in size, and includes a farmhouse which is on the Heritage Registry, several accessory buildings, and farmland. Only the southeast corner of the property, totalling 0.6 hectares, would be subject to the rezoning.
Keith MacKinnon with KLM Planning Partners said the property would accommodate sales offices for three different builders, selling homes in the new subdivisions in Bond Head.
"I look forward to seeing this done," said Deputy Mayor James Leduc, noting that the home sales would be part of the town's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It will attract more people past our employment lands," he added. "It's a good start for Bradford to get some housing opportunities and jobs moving forward. I look forward to seeing this move through."
Coun. Peter Ferragine was in support of the new sales site, but questioned what would happen to the farm after the three-year temporary use ends. He expressed his concern over protecting the heritage property and the use of land.
"Why did they choose this location?" he asked MacKinnon. "Will that farm in operation be impacted by this? Being that it is temporary use, and it will cease to exist, will the land be put back as to what it was?"
MacKinnon confirmed that his client, Roseau Corporation, is a subsidiary company of DG Group, one of the landowners. The property was chosen because "we wanted to utilize the visibility of that intersection," he said. "The balance of the lands will continue to be farmed."
He noted that after the three-year period, the land would revert to Agricultural use.
Council received the report but did not make a decision on the application on Tuesday night. Staff will review the comments, and report back with a recommendation to Council at a later date.
