There are 171 new homes in the works in Petrolia.

Twenty-four townhouses are planned for a 2.8 acre plot of land on Eureka Street and 147 homes are in the works for a subdivision off Discovery Line.

Feb. 5, Petrolia council held a public meeting about the townhouse development. Lifetime Building Services of Mississauga wants to build eight units with six condos each behind homes on Eureka Street. The development would be served by a private road off of Eureka.

That concerns neighbour Brandon Cadman who wrote to council saying; This is a private lane that not only will need to accommodate the homeowners that come and go but all the visitors and deliveries,” he said adding they will be “passing very close to the bedroom windows of my children and myself.”

Two others in the area voiced concern about water issues in the neighbourhood. One person said a parking lot repair at Lambton County Developmental Services has led to the flooding of homes along Eureka. One homeowner said there had been standing water in her backyard most of last summer and she was unable to get the problem fixed.

“There is a water problem. There’s no doubt about it,” said Mayor Brad Loosley. But, the mayor says the developers’ engineers will have to convince council and the planning department “that they’re dealing with the water without affecting the neighbors.”

Meantime, council will be looking at a far larger proposal March 24.

MI 637 is planning a 147-lot subdivision on the 64 acres it owns, which butts up against the existing Giampietri subdivision Discovery Line and Stanley Street.

The new development is proposed to have six streets with entrances off Discovery Line, Stanley Street, and Ernest Street.

While the details of the development have not been know, the subdivision has been in the news.
MI 637 drew the ire of neighbours when they began pulling down trees in the area in May 2021.

Trees had been removed on Discovery Line sometime after 2019, according to photos on Google Maps. And the contractor had also worked on the right-of-way currently owned by the Town of Petrolia, Mayor Brad Loosely says.

The town purchased the land from Giampietri Construction in July 2020 for $200,000. When the Woodland subdivision was built, easements to build roadways into the Discovery Line area were not negotiated by the town. Council picked up the cost of the right-of-way in 2020, saying the new developer in the area would eventually bring in the revenue to cover the cost of repairing the mistake.

Loosley said at the time the money the town paid will be returned to the town in development fees.