Guelph Tribune - August 07, 2009

Silvercreek OMB hearing gets underway

News

Aug 07, 2009

The fate of the former Lafarge lands is before the Ontario Municipal Board at a hearing that started on Tuesday at city hall.

A deal supported by city council and by the Howitt Park Residents' Association for developing the 54- acre former quarry site is being opposed by Armel Corp., which owns the West Hills commercial development that includes the west end Zehrs.

Armel, the city and the residents' association were originally on the same side. However, a deal with Silvercreek (Guelph) Developments Ltd. that was mediated by the OMB last fall won the support of council and the residents’ association in January.

At that time, Armel lawyer Gordon Petch predicted that if Silvercree's development proceeds on the vacant site south of Paisley Road and east of the Hanlon Expressway, commercial development at West Hills will be permanently stunted.

Petch also said there would be a big impact on the future of the surrounding west end community that Armel has been building over the past 30 years.

The mediated deal reduces the amount of commercial space that Silvercreek can build on the former Lafarge site, and it adds some other uses, including residential housing.

The deal aims to keep all of the large-format (sometimes called big box) retail development to the west of Silvercreek Parkway, which would be extended so that its current southern and northern sections are joined.

These stores would include one 145,000-sq.-ft. "warehouse membership club" or "home improvement retail warehouse," as well as four 25,000-sq.-ft. retail buildings to be phased in later.

Several service commercial buildings totalling 42,000 square feet would go east of Silvercreek, with a ring road around them.

The OMB hearing, scheduled for 40 days, is to continue all this month and into September.