Guelph Tribune - January 02, 2009

Lafarge deal going to vote

News
Jan 02, 2009

The 120-member Howitt Park Neighbourhood Residents' Association plans to vote Jan. 11 on a tentative deal for development of the former Lafarge quarry site.

The "offer of settlement" that emerged from mediation conducted by the Ontario Municipal Board could eliminate the need for an OMB hearing on the issue, which was scheduled to run for about 10 weeks starting later this month.

"There is an offer of settlement on the table at the moment that people are reviewing," said Ron Foley, president of the Howitt Park Neighbourhood Residents' Association.

Parties involved in the OMB mediation are still "massaging" the wording of the offer of settlement proposed by the developer, he said in an interview this week.

Several sessions led by an OMB mediator began in late September and ended in December.

Parties to the OMB case that were represented at the mediation sessions included the residents' association, the city, Armel Corp. and Silvercreek (Guelph) Developments Ltd., which wants to develop the 54-acre former gravel pit site in central Guelph.

The developer's most recent public proposal, which city council voted to oppose last June, was for a 400,000- sq.-ft. commercial development that would include big box stores.

Armel Corp., a major local developer, has argued that commercial development shouldn't be allowed on the Lafarge site until four commercial developments on the city's outskirts that were approved in 2005 as part of a new commercial policy for Guelph are built.

One of these four sites, owned by Armel, is the West Hills commercial development that includes the west end Zehrs.

Foley said the offer of settlement is still being reviewed by his association. Details of the proposed deal are confidential at this point, he said.

There will be a vote on the offer of settlement at the meeting of the residents' association at the Guelph Bible Chapel on Jan. 11 in the evening, he said.

The developer launched the OMB challenge last year against what it claimed was city council's "refusal or neglect" to rezone the vacant land, which now has industrial zoning.

Both a zoning change and a change to the city's Official Plan would be needed for the development to happen.