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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPD-194-87.,.,...m„ ~, ,~, . ~'~ - ,,~,,,V1 TOWN OF NEWCASTLE REPORT (v~I~;; General Purpose and Administration Committee pq~; Tuesday, September 8, 1987 T #: PD-194-87 FILE #: CT: COURTICE URBAN AREA LAND USE DESIGNATIONS EAST OF COURTICE ROAD ~~y~ ~ ~. • - e~; File # ,• ,~:F Res. #~~~ ~"~ By-Law # RECOF~IENDATIONS: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: 1. TNAT Report PD-194-87 be received; and 2. THAT Staff be provided with further direction. BACKGOUND AND COMP1E NT At the General Purpose and Administration Committee meeting of March 16, 1987•, the Committee resolved (Resolution #GPA-251-87) to request Staff to bring for•war•d a r•epor•t on the implications of changing 'the land use designations of the area east of Cour•tice Road within the Cour•tice Urban Area and recommendations on how to proceed. This resolution arose from public delegations made in respect of application for• rezoning and suhdivision approval DEV 86-82 and 18T-86073 respectively. In accordance with Council direction, Staff initiated a review of the implications of changing the land use designation and sought public input as part of this review through a public meeting held on June 29, 1987 . ...?_ T"C~> REPORT NO.: PD-194-87 Page 2 The areas subject to the review include all those lands presently designated within the Courtice Urban Area and located east of Courtice Road. This area has been designated for• urban residential development since 1960 when the Darlington Official Plan was approved by the then f~linister• of Municipal Affairs. This designation was reaffirmed by the Durham Regional Official Plan which was approved by the Region in 1976 and the R1inister• of Municipal Affairs in 1978. The Courtice Ur•han Area Plan, which was approved as amendment No. 12 to the Official Plan of the for•mer• Township of Darlington in October 1979 and subsequently approved by the Minister of Municipal Affai r•s and Housing on June 6, 1980, fur•ther• designated thi s area as "lJr•ban Residential" with a "Special Purpose Commercial" node located at the intersection of Highvray No. ?_ and Courtice Road and "Major Open Space" systems followed the creek beds of the Black Creek and its tr•ibutar•ies. In Febr•uar•y, 1982 the Phi ni ster• of Municipal Affai r•s and Housing approved an amendment to the Durham Regional Official Plan (Amendment Plo. 19) dealing with the designation of environmentally sensitive lands. Roughly 50% of the area subject to this review was identified as possessing envir•onmentall,y sensitive char•acter•i sties . Simi 1 ar•i ly i n October of 1982 , Counci 1 r•esol ved to request a review of the Courtice Urban Area as it related to the proposed extension of GO Rail service to the Oshawa/Newcastle Townline. That review included among other things, an assessment of the impacts of existing land use designations upon the environmentally sensitive areas of Courtice in consideration of an environmental impact analysis initiated by the Town in April 1981 and subsequently adopted by Council in November of that year. That analysis also identified a large portion of this a.r•ea as being environmentally sensitive and not suitable for• urban development. In December of 1983 Staff r•epor•ted to the General Purpose and Administration Committee on the results of our Courtice review (PD-182-83) and recommended that significant. portions of the Courtice Urban Area he deleted from the Urban envelope due to the environmentally sensitive nature of the lands. * Attachment 1 hereto, depicts the amendments to the Courtice Official Plan that were being contemplated at that time. The effect upon the area subject ...3 ~C~) REPORT NO.: PD-194-87 Page 3 of the current review would have been to delete from the Urban envelope all of those lands located between Cour•tice Road and Hancock Road, north of Nash Road and not pr•esentl•y occupied by residential development. The balance of these lands were to be retained for• Urban development in accordance with the policies of the Durham Regional and Newcastle Offical Plans. At the meeting of March 16, 1987 specific concerns were identified relative to the proximity of existing agr•icultur•al operations and the appropriateness of the residential designation in consideration of these operations. In that r•egar•d, the Durham Regional Official Plan r•ecluir•es residential development within urban areas to comply with the agr•icultur•al code of pr•acti ce. At the present point i n time, the Mi ni str•y of Agr•icul tur•e and Food has not identified a concern with respect to the code of practice r•el ati ve to any application cur•r•ently under consi der•ation by the Town within the area subject of the review. Liven the history of the urban designation and cur•r•ent development applications within this area, Staff would suggest that there ar•e specific implications should Council wish to revise land use designations east of Cour•tice Road. It would appear from our• review that there is sufficient rationale for• deleting or• altering the designations as they relate to environmentally sensitive lands north of Nash Road. Similar•ily, there is some rationale for• deleting the urban residential designations to the south of Highvray Two. However, Staff find it difficult to justify or•r•ationalize a deletion of the designated lands between Nash Road and the Black Creek save and except that deletion of the area north of Nash Road and the area south of Highway Two would result in an unusual configuration for• the urban boundary in this area and an isolated neighbourhood bounded on three sides by r•ur•al development. Deletion of the areas east of Cour•tice Road would necessitate revision to servicing schemes for• the north-eastern portion of Cour•tice and provide additional capacity within the Cour•tice Urban Area which conceivably could permit increased densities in some locations and thus more efficient use of urban lands or• the expansion of the urban boundary in other areas at present densities. ...4 ~~) REPORT NO.: PD-194-87 Page 4 In comments to Town Staff, the Region of Durham Planning Department noted that it would be possible to utilize some of the excess capacities of existing trunk facilities to service other areas outside tl~e Urban Area or to increase the development density within the remaining Urban Area. However, it was their concern that it would not be possible to utilize the existing trunk facilities as efficiently as intended, resulting in some loss of capital expenditure already invested in existing trunk facilities. Regional Planning Staff noted as well, that the current urban boundary also relates to landuse, transportation and urban features such as Central Areas, schools and parks, and that any redesignation of lands would adversely affect the structure of the urban form. A further Staff concern with respect to complete deletion of the areas east of Courtice Road is relative to possible suggestions that the Town has not proceeded in a consistent manner with respect to its prior commitment, particularly, since we are presently considering two development applications, one residential in nature and the other commercial within this area. As a compromise, we would suggest that Council give consideration to the possibility of deleting from the urban boundary only those lands presently used for agricultural purposes south of Highway Two and those lands north o~f existing development along Nash Road and Courtice Road due to their environmental sensitivity. We note however that there are presently a number of holdings within this latter area under the control of development interests and any attempt to delete these areas could result in Ontario P~iunicipal Board Hearings, which the Town may be hard pressed to defend against given past development approvals on lands exhibiting similar environmentally sensitive characteristics. Regional Planning Staff have a1 so expressed a concern with justifying such a redesignation. bde would therefore suggest that consideration only be given to deleting the area south of Highway Two, save and except those lands presently under consideration for commercial development, and retaining within the urban area those lands north of the Creek and deferring development of same pending preparation of a neighbourhood development plan and submission by development proponents of ...5 ~~2~ REPORT NO.: PD-194-87 Page 5 fur•ther• detai 1 ed i nfor•mati on r•el ati ve to mi tagati ve measures for• environmentally sensitive lands. Staff would ther'efor'e request that fur'ther' direction be provided relative to Council's objectives for• this area so that we might proceed with any necessary amendments to the Official Plan. CC: Mr•. Don Bernstein, Solicitor 1500 Don Mills Road DON MILLS, Ontario M3B 3K4 Mr•. Ron Jones Jones & Jones Bar•r•i ster•s & Sol i ci tors 130 Kinq Street East OSHAWA, Ontario L1H 1B6 Mr•. Ken Srnith R.R. #5 BOWMANVILLE, Ontario I_1C 3K6 Mr•. Bi 11 Manson W.D.M. Consultants 20 Clematis Drive WILLOWDALE, Ontario M2J 4X2 Recommended for• pr•esentati on to the Committee ~~~ r -'~ L-'awr•ence Kotseff Chief A iinistr•ative Officer G.P.A. REPORT PAGE 5. 20. OOUF~PICE URBAN AREA LAND USE DESIQ~IATIONS EAST OF OOURTICE ROAD That Report PD-194-87 be received; and That pro~:;eessing of subdivision applications east of Courtice Road within the Courtice Urban Area, be deferred as premature at this time. i! _ ~ lJ ~ ~ ~ yu1. ~ U Z ~ _ o~ E d ` A _ ~ C r d Q c~ LQ p- ~ G ~ T N ~ ~ ~ ~ g. C m C z O a ~ C N v ~O y v d O p ?~ U~ ~ J c~ g ~ ~ a d g ~ O 4. c O~ 6. ~y W c ~ a ~ e o E 0 EE 0o ~E no o« 10'- f~ ~ m E E g ~ 'm ~E xA' ww x w~ ~G I ~ ~ ¢ v vv vc~ s c z T ~+ --- - - - w N Y W W C W C ~ Q ~ ~ ro W ...a U ~ Z i a Y c ~ 0 g. 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