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HB NEWS COUNCIL APPROVES ONCE-DENIED ACTON TOWNHOUSES PLANS MET WITH OPPOSITION FROM AREA RESIDENTS MELANIE HENNESSEY mhennessey@ metroland.com It's not something local residents see every day — plans for a housing devel- opment that were turned down by council earlier this year are back on the table and forging ahead. ing tak, its Dec. 13 meet- m Hills council arora ‘revised plans for nine townhome v nits at 20 Ransom St. — the 10-unit propel previ. ously denied by the local politicians after hearing concerns from the commu- nity. Coun. Clark Somer- ville voted against the mo- The developer 2 appealed the original ci sion to the Ontario tand Tribunal (OLT) and recent- ly proposed a settlement with the town to avoid a : AN Alexandra Heck/Metroland "I cannot emphasize hard enough to turn this proposal down because it's such a beautiful area for us," said Jaspal Brar, who just moved back to Acton to retire. outlined concerns abont increased pat] congestion in the area and the potential loss of enjoy- ent of his backyard, that's currently occupied which will face the develop- by one house. ment. the revised plans "One of the selling fea- stilldon't sit well withnear- _ tures for our family was the by residents, who turned .ckyard. It gives us peace out to the ‘tual council and serenity.” meeting i voice their oppo- While the developer has sition to taken out one Sovereign Ransom St. Ltd. photo Above: a conceptual rendering of the townhouses being planned for 20 Ransom St. in Acton. Left: Clark Somerville was the lone member of council to vote against the revised townhouse plans. "| cannot emphasize hard enough to turn this proposal down because it's such a beautiful area for us.” increase the number of vis- itor parking spaces from four to nine, with two resi- one in the garage), those in the nei con- - Jaspal Brar houses. Other issues raised in- clude removal of trees on the property to make way for the houses, in- creased traffic, and the im- th col tend it's not enough, and that most people don't use their garages for parking. main issue is the volume of parking that this development ‘brings to such mall area," said Sean Tompson pointing to the parking we that already exist around | the corner at the Kingham Road town- Wisit nofrills.ca or download the Express app to place an order today! i have on the character of the neighbourhood. For Somerville — the Jone councillor who voted against the settlement offer — parking was also a con- cern, in addition to the de- velopment's distance from stores and the GO transit system. “To me, it's not the right fi@lucianoandsarahsnofrills wexpress < Gh 388 Queen Steet East, Acton location for that type of de- velopment," he said. The other Acton coun- cillors around the table — Mike Albano and Jon Hurst — made it clear they wres- tled to make a decision on the plans that are so clearly opposed by their constitu- ents. “Based on the staff rec- ommendation (to approve the settlement offer), it is difficult to say no to this,” said Albano. "I don't like it. I didn't like it originally, but it's go- ing to be difficult not to ap- prove it.” Hurst shared similar sentiments. Both men pointed to thee fact A would be challe: ccess- fully defend coun posi- tion at an OLT hearing, in light of staff's recommenda- tion for approval and the ef- UONEH - dl UL | 2 forts put forth by the devel oper to revise the plans solicitor David Z ? cermin, who advised that 2 council should approve the = g settlement as it "addresses the most significant con- g Ef council and the meas eS- timated such a hearing \ . could cost the municipality 8 ‘up to $35,00( Coun. Moya Johnson said the addition of visitor parking spots satisfies he her initial parking She noted there's 's already medium- and high-density development in the neigh- bourhood, and the provin- cial government has direct- ed mi ipalities to make way for intensification de- velopments. Coun. Jane Fogal said she's in favour of the settle- ment for the same reasons. "The people who live in the neighbourhood will not be thanking us at all, but I don't think we've got a lot of choice here," she said. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With Acton resi- dents continuing to oppose this townhouse develop- ment, we wanted to take a closer look at what the revised plans call for and why council ultimately approved them. ‘SCAN FOR MORE Scan this code for more local news.