Lapsed Cork & Vine Wellington sub-division decision deferred by council

By Sharon Harrison
Having been allowed to lapse (by the applicant), the previously-approved application of proposed draft plan of sub-division for Cork and Vine (specifically phases 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A), was before council Thursday afternoon for re-approval.

“The draft approval included a lapsing provision expiring on Nov. 25, 2025. The applicant has been making significant progress towards clearing the conditions of draft approval; however, the owner did not request an extension to draft approval prior to the lapsing date,” stated planning co-ordinator, Samantha Deck.

On the recommendation of planning staff, council was to consider the North-York based Kaitlin Corporation (2238052 Ontario Ltd.) application deemed not to have lapsed at the special planning and development committee meeting.

Calling the lapsed application a “relatively trivial housekeeping matter”, Kaitlin’s Devon Daniell was asked how the lapse happened in the first place.

“It makes me worried that this project is on the backburner for you guys,” said Wellington ward councillor Corey Engelsdorfer.

Daniell explained how it slipped through the cracks and got lost in the mix. “It’s a little embarrassing frankly, an oversight,” said Daniell. “This is not on the backburner; this is on the front burner as it can be.” Answering a direct question about rumours swirling about Kaitlin trying to sell the land, Daniell said, “No. it’s the first I’ve heard of it”.

The meeting began with council entering into a closed session (not open to the public) to consider the implications of the deemed not to have lapsed proposal, which was further delayed by another half an hour once the meeting was open to the public.

It was confirmed that in the closed session (lasting around 90 minutes of the just over two-hour meeting) that council provided direction to staff and legal counsel.

However, a motion by Engelsdorfer saw the matter deferred to the next feasible meeting to implement legal counsel direction.

The 10-4 recorded vote in favour of deferral saw councillors John Hirsch, Bill Roberts, Janice Maynard and mayor Steve Ferguson opposed.

Had the decision gone the other way, with County infrastructure works expected to be completed in June, Kaitlin could have had shovels in the ground this summer.

Applications for draft plan of sub-division and zoning bylaw amendment were submitted in January 2019, to facilitate the development known as Cork and Vine, previously known as Country Club Estates. Consisting of approximately 460 residential units, the proposed development is to comprise a mix of single detached dwellings, semi-detached dwellings, townhouses and apartment units.

The sub-division cannot advance until the County’s capital works projects have been completed, including the sewer trunk main and pumping station.

Along with Daniell, council also heard from Paul Mondell of Stirling Homes, another proposed Wellington sub-division awaiting water and wastewater installation and connection before development can begin (see background story below).

Mondell spoke to Sterling’s desire to try to successfully get some allocation for their Wellington property.

“We are not here today, in any way, shape or form, to try to suggest that council shouldn’t extend the draft plan of approval, we think that’s proper and it’s something that should be done,” shared Mondell. “However, we are very concerned about how this [Kaitlin’s lapsed application] has happened.”

He said they have been continually told that there is no capacity available, given that all of it has been allocated to Kaitlin, but Mondell said they were advised in September 2024 that “if allocation became available, if the Kaitlin sub-division agreement is not signed… which allocation hasn’t happened”.

Mondell said the County should take this lapsing as an opportunity to reassess the water and wastewater allocation.

“Given the current housing market and the situation we find ourselves in now, Kaitlin cannot possibly use this capacity in a timely way,” expressed Mondell. “We believe that we are in a point of time that its use it or lose it.”

“Let’s just stop playing games here, this is the opportunity to reassess, there are others that are prepared to move forward and to proceed effectively and efficiently and to utilize the capacity that’s in Wellington.”

Councillor Phil St-Jean asked if allocation of some kind was made available, would Sterling Homes be willing to commit to a pre-servicing agreement with up-front payment of development charges, to which Mondell answered “yes”.

Mondell added that they don’t need all of their capacity in one full swoop, and would very happy to get capacity for the first phase, of approximately 140 units.

Daniell provided a brief update on the Kaitlin project where he outlined how they had entered a sub-division agreement and have paid over $12 million in area-specific development charges for the project.

Explaining how all the conditions are being worked through (with most completed), he said they are ready to obtain final approval.

“We are pretty much shovel ready, and as soon as the works the County is finishing up now is complete, we are ready to go,” said Daniell. “There’s over 12 million reasons why we want to get shovels into the ground here.”

Councillor Brad Nieman said the burning question is, “how soon are you going to use up those 460 units, there is nothing moving, nothing selling?”.

“We feel really good about where the markets are about to go. We are ready to hit the ground running, and we are going to re-launch the sales, and we intend to use all our capacity in fairly short order,” Daniell said.

St-Jean asked how many units they expect to build in year one, two and three. “I struggle with the ability to build more than 100 units a year, any one developer, even in the very best of times…you said you would use it all, so how many?”

Danniel said a sweet spot for them is in the 100 to 120 units a year range, but stressed that year one may not reach that.

Councillor Chris Braney agreed with Mondell that it is “either a use it or lose it scenario. I have great concern… it appears like delusions of grandeur to me that make me believe that we are going to have this kind of growth that you are anticipating when we are not selling a single thing in the GTA. It just doesn’t feel feasible”.

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