In Tuesday night's meeting of BWG Council, councillors approved a zoning by-law amendment to allow for two semi-detached dwellings to be built at 2547 Line 6.
The homes are intended to be occupied by the owner's family members.
The property is an irregular shape and has a total site area of approximately 2,354.3 square metres with frontage along Line 6 of approximately 40.42 metres. The lands are located in Bradford's Urban Area and are designated 'Residential' as per the town's Official Plan.
The lands are identified as a "settlement area" under provincial policies, which encourages mixed-use type housing development.
On the lands currently is a single detached dwelling, a detached wooden garage (workshop), a chicken coop, a woodshed, and a metal shed, and would remain as is.
The majority of the property is within an area regulated by the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA). The grade of the property declines from the Line 6 frontage to an existing creek just behind the rear property line.
The developable lands would be rezoned to a site-specific Residential Two Exception zone (R2-1*X) and the remaining environmentally sensitive lands would be zoned Environmental Protection Exception (EP*X).
Both the applicant and town staff have worked with the LSRCA to determine what portions of the property are located in the floodplain and what portions may be developed.
As per the report to council, town staff have no issues with the application. There are no neighbours to disturb on the north, east and south side where the lot division will occur. A naturalized buffer (to be zoned Environmental Protection) will line the south and east property lines to ensure natural habitats and ecosystem are not disturbed or hindered.
Coun. Gary Lamb vouched for the applicants, noting the husband and wife owners are hoping to have their sons move into the homes.
"They (the applicants) can enjoy their golden years together supported by their family, I fully support this," he said.
"I think it's a great opportunity for a family to produce the homes so the kids can be there and take care of the parents, it's kind of what you want with your family right there," said Deputy Mayor James Leduc.
"At the end of the day this is no different than a developer taking a larger lot and severing it...except they are doing it for their family," added Coun. Peter Ferragine.
Mayor Rob Keffer thanked staff and the applicant for working together to come up with a solution.
"It is quite a complicated endeavour that they (the applicants) went through," he noted.
"We have been working with the applicant... the intent was to produce gentle intensification to allow multigenerational family development to occur," said town senior planner Brandon Slopack. "I believe the owner is happy and will be moving to the next step on severances to get these amenities constructed."
To view the full report, click here.
