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During a planning meeting on Wednesday, members of North Bay City Council heard passionate complaints from many homeowners in the "exclusive" Laurentian Heights section of North Bay, located on the escarpment overlooking Widdifield and the city itself.
The cause for the consternation is the proposed rezoning and development of three lots once owned by the Wallace family who spurred the Laurentian Heights development. They are located at 30, 32 and 34 Kenreta Drive, on the south side of the road. Laurentian Heights has been billed as "North Bay's most scenic residential development."
Instead of building three separate free-standing homes, the plan now is for present landholders Bay Builders to construct three semi-detached buildings resulting in six units. A major concern of the neighbourhood group is, with the new additional dwelling unit provisions in the municipal plan, each of those six units could conceivably be split into three separate units, creating a total of 18 units. Each structure would be limited to one storey according to the zoning by-law, to protect the city sightlines.
See: The History of Laurentian Heights
The nearby homeowners reminded all in attendance repeatedly they pay higher property taxes — some in the range of $12,000 per year. The irate owners also claim they paid for exclusivity, tranquility, and, as one presenter put it, "a different style of living," than those who live in semi-detached homes.
According to the report from the City of North Bay's Planning Department, "The subject properties’ current zoning permits only the use of the lands as single-detached dwellings. The property owner has submitted the proposed Zoning By-law Amendment to permit the lots to be developed with semidetached dwelling units.
"The Provincial Policy Statement and the Official Plan both encourage the concentration of new development within the Settlement Area where public services are available and the development is appropriate for the area. Intensification in this manner represents a more efficient use of public services."
Another aggravating factor is the restrictive covenants signed by the homeowners and the developers guaranteeing certain living standards in Laurentian Heights. The City of North Bay has made it clear it is not bound by those agreements between buyers and sellers.
As Senior Planner Peter Carello noted, the covenants do not prevent such a rezoning or semi-detached development.
"Restrictive covenants are agreements that are between a developer and individual property owners. The City is not a party to these agreements. We do not sign off on them and, therefore, we do not have any obligations under the restrictive covenants. The City does, however, have obligations under the Planning Act that would prevent the municipality from entering into an agreement that would prevent future uses ... entering into a restrictive covenant would contravene our responsibilities under the Planning Act."
Although the council did move the rezoning application to the council level after hearing several presentations in opposition, and a strong rebuttal of those points by the agent acting on behalf of the developer, this matter seems headed for mediation, the land tribunal or both.
Laurentian Heights resident Carlo Berardi — who says his family has enjoyed its time living in the neighbourhood for several years — objected to nearly every proposed change that would result from the rezoning to allow semi-detached homes in Laurentian Heights.
"I suggest, by changing the zoning here," Berardi stated from the podium, "this neighbourhood will change. It's not going to be the same. There are a number of realities that come with semi-detached homes.
"When we bought this property in 2002, over 20 years ago, we bought it because it was an exclusive neighbourhood and there was an expectation that everyone there would be held to a higher standard for property maintenance, the houses would be larger, the neighbourhood's lots are larger. [We have] the expectation that there is less property available and fewer houses, less people, less vehicles, leading to less noise, and less traffic issues."
Berardi also raised the restrictive covenant piece but those questions seemed better posed to the developer rather than the committee ruling on a rezoning application.
"When we bought this property we were forced to sign some restrictive covenants," Berardi offered. "If these covenants don't carry any water, why were they forced upon us? We signed those covenants for the reason that we were being protected and," the Wallace brothers from Laurentian Heights "assured everyone the covenants were to protect everyone — to ensure that the character of the neighbourhood would remain the same, that we would have a view of the city — that was why we bought. And these lots weren't cheap, they were pretty expensive, so we feel a little bit blindsided.
"I'm almost wondering if Mr. Wallace should be worried about any liability in the sense that he's not enforcing his own covenants that he enforced on all of us," Berardi added.
Berardi spoke at length about the group's dissatisfaction with the proposed development, raising traffic concerns, the lack of curbs and sidewalks, and drainage issues before turning back to his objection to the construction of semi-detached homes in this ritzy neighbourhood. Mind you, the proposal calls for custom-built homes likely to go to market in the $750,000 range.
"If the intention is to create more housing for people, these are expensive houses, they aren't going to be selling like hotcakes. The average price, from what I understand, is about a million dollars each. When you look at that, that's changing the character of the neighbourhood when you're bringing in semi-detached homes ... there is the potential that it is going to bring the values of our homes down, potentially people are not going to buy in the neighbourhood if there is a certain type of home built."
Berardi continued, "If we had wanted to buy on the water, we would have bought on the water. If we wanted to buy a semi-detached home down in Ferris, we would have done that. We didn't. We chose this area and I'm sure there are other people here who chose it because of the characteristics of that neighbourhood, which would be changed if we started with semi-detached homes."
Coun. Mark King, who chaired the planning meeting, thanked Berardi for his presentation and informed him the committee has "an obligation to move this forward to council for a vote. There are other alternatives in the middle of this. But, really this is a fact-finding mission, to listen to the community and give the community an opportunity to talk about what their concerns are."
For another nearby homeowner, Lew Westerlund, his concern also centred on property values.
"We could have chosen to live in a semi-detached neighbourhood ... My tax bill last year was $12,000 ... All of us in the neighbourhood would be greatly disappointed ... the semi-detached would reflect a lower value, bringing down the values of our homes. Would yous [sic] consider lowering our property taxes? Because we would want you to strongly consider doing that. I would no longer want to continue paying that kind of money to live in that neighbourhood."
Berardi then returned to the podium to double down on his earlier statement about neighbourhood character and its correlation with a home's number of free-standing walls — again juxtaposing chic Laurentian Heights with the supposed dregs of West Ferris.
"Whose perspective are we taking?" he asked. "The people that actually live in the neighbourhood or somebody else who doesn't live in the neighbourhood? It's a subjective statement. We can clearly show that neighbourhoods that are semi-detached, condensed, that have a lot of density — down in [West] Ferris as an example — you can see quite clearly that is different from our neighbourhood."
Steve McArthur a senior planner with Tulloch Geomatics Inc. appeared on behalf of Laurentian Heights and Bay Builders in an attempt to clear the air and address some of the concerns of the Laurentian Heights residents.
McArthur unveiled drawings of the "high-end dwellings with two-plus-two bedrooms, three bathrooms, open concept, ranging from 1,400 square feet to 1,530 square feet on the main floor. The only difference between this and single-detached dwellings is they share a common wall."
McArthur thanked those in attendance for their feedback, acknowledging how difficult it is for some to stand at the podium and speak publicly and then shifted to supporting his client's case to have the properties rezoned and to see the semi-detached builds move forward.
"We can agree on one thing, this is a very beautiful neighbourhood, there is no doubt about it," he said. "In addition to that, there is a lack of serviced, available building lots in the City of North Bay and we have a housing crisis in this province right now. Those that are available are expensive to build on and there is a demand, especially in this area.
"Our client, Laurentian Heights has sold most of the lots in the area and, through the creation of these semi-detached dwellings, we're allowing more people to live in this area."
McArthur echoed Carello's position on the restrictive covenants. "The conditions have been reviewed and do not limit the development to single-detached dwellings ... Condition one does state that only one building can be erected at any time and it's important to note, provincial rules supersede any local rules or covenants."
As far as the exclusivity valued by the Laurentian Heights residents, McArthur stated, "What is being described by many of the objectors is what we would call a 'gated community.' We don't have any gated communities in North Bay, this is a public street, this is a neighbourhood within the community and it's open to all."
McArthur, who once assessed properties as part of his work with MPAC, also addressed the fear of diminishing property values. "It's been proven through investment, development, redevelopment, and construction in existing neighbourhoods that re-investment has a desirable effect on property value — meaning it increases value — and the construction of these dwellings will have no adverse effect on the individual property owner's values."
The majority of the committee recommended moving the rezoning matter to the council level. Councillors Justine Mallah, Sara Inch and Chris Mayne voted against the recommendation.
