Plympton-Wyoming looks at development land supply

Heather Wright/The Independent

Plympton-Wyoming politicians are worried the lots becoming available for housing won’t be affordable.

Lambton County is updating its official plan and part of the study looks at what land is available in each community for development. Recently, Craig Ferguson of Parcel Economics laid out what is available in Plympton-Wyoming. He told council there will be 3,680 more people in the community by 2051 who will need 1,436 homes.

Ferguson says 93 per cent of those homes will be single-family houses. The study found there is enough land already designated for housing to create over 2,500 units.

Councillor Bob Woolvett pointed out that while there is enough residential land, it is not necessarily affordable. “Housing in this community is very expensive… the identified lots that we’re talking about here, the amount we have here, are certainly not affordable, way beyond what an ordinary person can pay for. Sometimes these lots are well in excess of $200,000,” he said.

It was a point CAO Adam Sobanski also highlighted in a report Dec. 15. Sobanski says “a number of developers” have approached the town hoping to build if their properties were in the settlement area.

Their land is not right now and wouldn’t be under the current suggestions for the new official plan.
Sobanski added “a notable portion of the town’s undeveloped residential lands are held by one developer which could limit the diversity of development opportunities.”

Sobanski says the town will “strongly encourage” the county to incorporate clear policy in the Official Plan to promote smaller lot sizes, semi-detached and multi-unit dwellings and look at incentives for developers to build affordable housing.

Councillor Alex Boughen is glad the county plan recognizes the abundance of residential land adding the housing goals for Plympton-Wyoming in the official plan study are “pretty lofty.
“We saw a recent boom when money was free…and everyone thought they would work from home…now you can drive three minutes and find a subdivision with not one house in it.”

Where Plympton-Wyoming could use more land is in the commercial and industrial sector, the study found. Ferguson says there is a “modest shortfall” of industrial lands, with about 3.3 hectares needed. There is also a need for about three hectares of commercial land and eight hectares of institutional land.
Ferguson suggested some agricultural land could be used be used for commercial, institutional and industrial use.

That did not sit well either with Councillor John Van Klaveren .

“We’re pretty sensitive to farmland around here, and sacrificing that up for industrial even to create housing units or subdivisions and farmland is we accept it, but somewhat reluctantly at times. If you can offer up any other ideas for industrial land, we’re all ears.”

The county was looking for municipal input and officials expect to look at those in the new year.