CBS apartment building proposal brings out both sides at public forum

By Craig Westcott

A plan to build a large apartment building on Rideouts Road near the Town Hall in CBS has some people ready to line up for spots to live, and others worried about the impact on their neighbourhood.

The subject arose, though very briefly, at the first meeting of the new CBS council last week, when Ward 3 councillor Gerard Tilley tabled a petition on behalf of residents.

It contained some 22 signatures of residents of Rideouts Road and nearby Braeside Lane who oppose the development.

In an interview later, Tilley explained the concept is in the very early stages. In order for it to go ahead, the developer, Jeremy Caines, would have to get that particular section of Rideouts Road rezoned from Residential 2 to Residential Multiuse.

“Before we make any decisions, we wanted to bring it out to the public,” said Tilley. “And so we had a public information session last Thursday. About two dozen people showed up, and there was about a 60/40 split of people in favour of the development and who I would say were not in favour. There were two who were most vocal, but I believe they are the two who are closest to the property. And they have every right to voice their opinion and that’s the reason we had this thing.”

Tilley said the petition was formally presented to council so that it can consider it if and when there is a formal application for rezoning the land.

Tilley wasn’t sure of the number of units proposed, but thinks it’s at least 50.

“He (the developer) could go in there without changing any zoning and probably put 20 homes in there, if he wants,” Tilley noted. ” But I guess he has a different aspiration, he wants to put an apartment building style building there.”

Tilley stressed the proposal is still in the very preliminary stages.

“This gentleman came to us a year ago, but we had some issues,” said Tilley. “He had to come up with a drainage plan, and look into whether or not we had the water and sewer capacity there, which we do. We actually asked the developer to go out and do that (test) and we had to go out at the same time as that, and when all the information came back, (it confirmed) our underground infrastructure system can handle that type of development there. But according to the developer, it’s still in the beginning stage, we’re not going to see something probably in the next 18 months, if and when all goes well.”

Tilley said among those who showed up to support the development the most common sentiment was that such a building is needed to accommodate retirees looking to downsize.

“One guy got up, who was from the Foxtrap Access Road, and he said, ‘I’m four years looking to downsize, but I can’t get anything. Every time that you approve one of these 10-unit dwellings, they’re all gone.'” said Tilley. “Other people got up and said they could understand how the residents on Rideouts Road feel and their reasons for not wanting it there, but again, they said, the positives outweigh the negatives. It was one of the few public information sessions that I’ve been to that there was a high degree of people who were in favour and a lot of people who spoke who were not in favour. So, it was pretty interesting. We’ll have our hands full on this one, but we’ll have to see how it all goes… The developer still wants to go through the application process, so we’re obliged to see that through.”