Village A to bring 458 homes at Base31 in initial phase

By Sharon Harrison
“Our community is facing an undeniable challenge in the form of a massive shortage of quality, affordable, attainable housing,” said Hazzem Koudsi, CEO for Habitat for Humanity Prince Edward-Hastings. “Too many individuals and families who work, volunteer and contribute here are being priced out, or forced to leave in search of suitable homes… This development offers a responsible forward-thinking solution that balances growth with the values that make our community so special.”

It was a unanimous decision by council at Wednesday’s planning and development committee meeting to approve Base 31’s latest development plans for housing, in a 11-0 recorded vote (with councillors Chris Braney, Roy Pennell and Janice Maynard absent).

Village A, the first of a number of new village developments proposed for the site by PEC Community Partners Inc., is to bring a mixed-use development sub-division with 458 units (800 to 3,000-square-feet in size), to start. The 458 units are be made up of 257 single detached homes, 171 townhouses and 30 stacked townhouses.

The development will include rear laneways, a first for the County, which essentially means an improved streetscape with no forward facing driveways or garages, although that met with some concern by at least one councillor. The proposal will also bring laneway housing, essentially as-of-right secondary suites (more on both topics below).

Also approved for the Village A sub-division were two future medium-density residential blocks in the form of small apartment buildings, although specifics were not shared at this time given their future nature.

Under a two-step process adopted in January 2025, details of the proposed planning application came before council at a first statutory (overview) meeting held July 16 intended as information-gathering only. That story here  Wednesday’s statutory public meeting, the second part of the two-step process came with a report and recommendation for approval of the application of draft plan of sub-division by the planning department for council’s discussion, debate and decision.

Consultant for the County, Stephen Willis with Stantec Consulting Limited, said the development will provide a wide variety of market housing options and diversity with a fairly extensive range and mix of housing, including rentals, and price points (starting at $399,000).

“The focus of Village A is attainable housing, while diversifying and addressing different affordability and income levels,” said Willis, who noted lot sizes range from 20-feet, 25-feet, 30-feet, 38-feet, up to 50-feet.

If approved, servicing can commerce in the first part of next year, said Mike Pettigrew with the Biglieri Group Ltd., consultants representing PEC Community Partners. “We are ready to get started, despite the threats to the economy from tariffs, and the sluggishness of the new home market elsewhere: we have confidence in PEC, and in our project,” shared Jack Winberg, Rockport Group CEO. “The spring of 2026 will see earth moving on the site, and we will be opening our sales centre.”

Pettigrew noted the development will bring 391 full-time equivalent sustained locally-procured jobs in the County over the 11-year period of development of Village A.

Willis and Pettigrew both provided presentations, with Winberg adding to the conversation, along with some significant discussion around the horse shoe in what was a full public gallery.

Councillor questions, concerns and comments were largely positive, ranging from the new larger centralized park, additional road maintenance costs, the definition of affordable versus attainable housing, the mix and density of housing, lack of parking, health care options, and increased traffic issues.

Eight members of the public spoke at the meeting, all in support of the proposed application, which included representation from Habitat for Humanity, the Prince Edward County Chamber of Commerce, the HUB Child and Family Centre and several local businesses, including shared thoughts from local historian Peter Lockyer, among the speakers.

Koudsi also noted how the project emphasizes diversity with higher-density apartment blocks providing desperately-needed purpose-built rentals and affordable home ownership opportunities, as well as different styles of townhomes and units with secondary suites. He confirmed that Habitat for Humanity are in preliminary discussions with the County to look at ways of working together.

“What stands out about this proposal is that it is not just about adding more houses, it’s about building the right kind of homes,” he said. “This is smart, responsible growth… in short, this project represents progress with purpose, and respect for the past.”

A local historian and storyteller, Lockyer spoke to the need to preserve the County’s rich history, where he also highlighted how history can become an economic driver in the County, a concept he calls the “heritage economy”.

“What really needs to happen is we turn this dormant asset, our history and heritage, into a community business. If we want history to matter, it needs to make money,” shared Lockyer.

“This large-scale, multi-million dollar initiative celebrates how we made history during the Second World War as a training facility for flight crews from all across the Commonwealth. An essential element of the project is to preserve the 50 some buildings on the property, transforming them for a new life as sites for local businesses as a major tourist attraction, event venue and destination.”

The 30.82 hectare vacant parcel of land is located north of Kingsley Road and east of Church Street (County Road 22) and is north of the Revitalization District. The entire site comprises 750 acres overall.

Proposed for the parkland dedication, Willis explained that there will be a new significant two-acre central park, which is greater than the minimum five percent required under the planning act, and also accounts for the area for the apartment building. While there were more parks in the initial concept plan, he explained that staff had asked that all the parklands be consolidated in one larger usable park.

“County staff felt it was more helpful for operations, and even usefulness of the park, if we had it all consolidated in one primary space.”

The applicant is proposing publicly-owned rear laneways, in addition to local street cross-sections, designed to provide an urban design benefit as it cuts driveways out from the streets and makes the sidewalks more pleasant to be on, he said. These laneways also provide access to the rear of the sites for vehicles, waste collection and emergency access.

Willis explained that the laneways are narrower than local streets and a different class of public right-of-way, but are not the same as private laneways. The laneways will be shorter and straighter, as there will be two travel lanes, boulevard space (for lighting, signage, solid waste collection, snow storage), and parking will be prohibited on them.

“Anyone who purchases has the ability to get those units built at the time of construction, or add them later on, on their own as-of-right, so there could be additional units within the main house themselves, or it could be in the laneway houses as well,” Willis explained.

“The reason why this makes it more affordable, if I know I can get rental from one of the units to help me pay my mortgage, that makes it fundamentally more affordable for me. This is a actually a really new good supply of housing that doesn’t exist today, so more supply, more opportunity.”

Councillor Brad Nieman said the County’s operating budget will be increasing with having to plow twice with extra roads, an extra cost that all taxpayers will have to bear, he said. “We are asking the taxpayers to pay more for a sub-division.”

“We acknowledge that especially on the snow plowing there is some additional cost for laneway housing,” said Willis, “and that is the trade-off you have for laneways to get a diverse housing typologies, so it is an additional cost.”

Willis also said a way to mitigate the cost is to have a different level of service.

While not every laneway unit will provide the opportunity for an additional suite (garden/secondary suite), a large portion of the site will, confirmed Willis. Pettigrew noted there will be up to 193 potential laneway houses that can happen, and there is opportunity for 125 different garden suites, for over 300 potential additional units.

Pettigrew also spoke to how the floor plans will offer internal units, which means additional dwelling units inside the units (not just in the laneways) bringing even more opportunities for additional housing.

Parking was also on the mind of Nieman who raised concern about where people would park, since parking will not be allowed on the laneways.

“What I’m hearing is additional units inside housing, there are additional units for the laneways… if you’ve got the second one in there, you’ve got a spot for two cars in the garage, if you’ve got three units with maybe four or five cars, so where is all the parking happening?” he asked.

Pettigrew answered by saying with the driveways being removed at the front, that allows for more on-street parking, with Nieman countering that on-street parking in winter would not work as cars would be towed.

“I don’t understand where we are putting all the cars.. there is no parking on the street, there is no parking on the property…”

Willis acknowledged it an operational concern, but “it’s not so big that it would outdo all of the other benefits”.

Pettigrew confirmed there is a minimum requirement of one parking space per unit on the main dwelling, so there has to be 458 parking spaces for 458 units, he said.

“The province has mandated the offset of additional dwelling units to conquer affordability and attainability, and they have made the implementation that additional dwelling units did not require additional parking spaces, and that’s within our MZO.”

He confirmed there will be 458 parking spaces, and said while there is no parking on the lane, there are garages out of the attic for every parking space for every unit.

Councillor Kate MacNaughton also raised street parking, but said she thought it could be worked out.

“If we do see that many additional units added, we have already got transportation choke points at the York, Union area, Lake Street, and with some outlet at Sandy Hook, as far as moving through the County,” voiced MacNaughton, who said she did have concerns.

“I don’t see any potential solutions other than, and I would hate to see road widening on either of those roads which already have an established streetscape,” she said. “If there is going to be upwards of 700 units, and potential for more, plus all the other development going on in the other areas, we are going to have a very serious transportation problem; very serious which could be gridlock at those two points.”

Speaking to the traffic issues, Pettigrew said TYLin in the transportation impact assessment evaluated a full build-out (7,500 units) and the requirements for that.

He said, the first phase of development requires zero external improvements to intersections. For Village A to come forward, there are three external intersections that are needed that will be at the cost of the developer.

“The traffic counts, the volume and the trips would be adequate and there would be no impact above what’s expected or allowed through the development of Base31.”

With the last word going to mayor Steve Ferguson, he expressed how the commitments made by Base31 from the start have been lived up to.

“What we have before us tonight, and what we have seen, is that vision coming to life and what that site could be,” Ferguson said. “What we are seeing is not a sub-division, but the development of neighbourhood, and large neighbourhoods within neighbourhoods in the first phase with Village A.”

Expressing his appreciation and offering congratulations, Ferguson said Base31 have ticked all the boxes.

“It will be a wonderful place for families and people to reside in Prince Edward County.”

Planning documentation relating to this application (and all Base31 development applications) can be found on the County’s website.

Base 31’s Revitalization District Block Plan sub-division was approved by council on Sep. 18. Click here for that story .