Heather Wright/The Independent

Southside Construction has cleared a major hurdle as it plans to build a 426 home subdivision in Petrolia, despite concerns about the location of a planned park.

Monday, town council approved the zoning and official plan changes which will allow the London developer to build 332 single-detached homes and 96 townhouse units in a number of phases. There are two main accesses onto Oil Heritage Road and 10 new residential streets in the entire plan.

The developer is using “compact forms” of homes on smaller lots which, according to Planner Trevor Benjamins “allows different levels of affordability for people with different levels of household income.”

Benjamins says the subdivision will need a left turn lane for northbound traffic on Oil Heritage Line and there will need to be a 10 meter buffer zone between the homes and Oil Heritage Road. The now-closed Petrolia landfill is directly across the street and continues to be used to generate energy from waste.

While councillors welcomed the additional housing, both Liz Welsh and Chad Hyatt raised concerns again Monday about the location of a 1.83 acre park. It’s in the centre of the development on what Hyatt believes will be one of the busiest streets of the new neighbourhood.

Hyatt and Welsh questioned whether the zoning changes could be approved without the exact location of the park pinpointed. Southside Planner Taylor Whitney told council Southside was “flexible” on the location of the park, however town officials wanted that location so it could be a regional park for the other developments planned in the First St. area. Benjamins added the builder would have to go through another planning hearing if its exact location of the park was not approved.

Concerns another 20-lot development on land owned by Walt Brand might be land locked were also eased by the developer. Whitney said the lots are accessible through a municipally owned road allowance.
Before any construction of the new subdivision moves forward, the public will have a chance to comment on the design of the plan of subdivision. A time frame for that has not been set.