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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNovember 22, 2007 CiUI o~ Minutes I Meeting Summary Seaton Advisory Committee Thursday, November 22, 2007 10:30 am Pickering City Hall, Main Committee Room Attendees: Councillor Rick Johnson, Chair Mayor Ryan Councillor Doug Dickerson Neil Carroll Tom Melymuk Gil Paterson Catherine Rose Robert Starr Grant McGregor Steve Gaunt Graham Martin, ORC Ash Kothiyal, ORC Reg Webster, Sernas Associates John Connolly, Transport Canada Bruce Fisher, Metrus Development Lloyd Cherniak, Lebovic Enterprises Tim Warner, Mattamy Homes Dave Madeira, Mattamy Homes Tom Albani, Metrus Development Christopher Matson, Matson, McConnell Ltd. Gordon Willson, Whitevale Resident Absent: Council/or Bonnie Littley, Vice-Chair Tom Quinn Ron Taylor Bruce Sing bush, MMAH Dorothy Skinner, Region of Durham Extensive data has been collected on the existing environment; the data is being analyzed; this background information will be presented to the public at a Public Information Centre scheduled for January 10, 2008 (presentation at 7pm); Page 1 CORP0228-2/02 With respect to the Energy Management Strategy component of the MESP, Reg advised that he completed the Terms of Reference and has received a quotation from a consultant; there will be a meeting with the landowners during the week of November 26th to discuss the matter; Reg advised that there may not be much available on this topic for the January 10th public meeting. Tom enquired if any progress has been made on discussions for the community facilities. Reg stated that he attempted to organize a meeting with the City, the School Boards, the Region and other providers of major facilities; the amount of land for these uses need to be identified. Background work by John Van Nostrand was done for the CPDP addressing community facilities. This work should be reviewed to see if it is still current. From the City's perspective, a list of facilities is yet to be finalized. T om indicated that at a recent meeting with Culture & Recreation staff, staff advised that the City needs a Parks & Recreation Master Plan for Seaton, as input to the Neighbourhood Planning study and MESP. C & R staff noted they do not have a copy of the earlier work by Van Nostrand. Reg advised that they can forward the document to Tom for circulation. The landowners' group indicated at an earlier meeting that they were prepared to fund a consultant to assist the City in determining its community facility needs. Councillor Dickerson enquired if energy was included as a component of the MESP. Reg confirmed that it is part of the MESP and advised that he is following up with one of the consultants who participated at the FCM Mission held last July. City to SE!t out scope of work and anticipated cost for retaining consultant for Parks & Recreation Master Plan for Seaton for discussion at upcoming meeting on Community Facilities. Catherine mentioned that they are finalizing the draft Terms of Reference which should be availablei for review and comment by the end of the year. The challenge for City staff is conceptualizing the study, recognizing the three key components of neighbourhood plans, sustainable performance measures and urban design are highly integrated. And a further important decision to make at this time is determining which sub-studies (such as the housing strategy, the retail market impact analysis and the parks and recreation master plan) are inputs to the main part of tlhe study, which studies already underway (such as the trail plan and part of the MESP) are input to the main part of the study, and which items are outputs or parallel matters (such as the CMHC research analysis). I I I ______J________. The RFP will be forwarded to Council for approval in the new year. CORP0228-2/02 Page 2 Reg enquired about the funding, and acknowledged the City had I provided a figure for the neighbourhood planning studies for the I consideration of the developers' group. Tom advised that the details I of funding have not been completely sorted, yet there are a number of options. For example, an upfront sum could be provided to the City (same as the City's Growth Management Study) or the invoices could be paid by the City and the City be reimbursed by the developers' group (current process for the technical/peer review assistance for Duffin Heights). Tom noted there is an agreement being used at the Region for study funding, and suggested that it may be simpler if the City and the developers' group used a similar agreement! memorandum of understanding. Reg, on behalf of the developers' group, suggested that the details of the funding mechanism and the specific agreement!MOU wording should be discussed at a separate meeting. Lloyd Cherniak enquired if the City plans to use any information gathered from previous studies or whether we are hiring other consultants to conduct similar studies. In particular, Lloyd noted that a retail analysis was completed during the preparation of the CPDP, and that he thought the City and the Region had a copy. Catherine advised that the City does not have a copy. T om mentioned that any work completed from previous studies will be used as the basis for the new study and some components may not have to be redone. At the same time, under the CPDP, the City is required to do a retail market analysis study. Lloyd indicated that some builders are almost ready to file subdivision plans and is worried that the consultants are leading the development. He would like some clarification on what the process is. Reg advised that once the draft Terms of References for the Neighbourhood Planning process are circulated, it will provide everyone with a better understanding of what will be expected. Councillor Dickerson asked if provisions will be in place to determine street widths to maintain heritage look and achieve greater sustainability. He suggested that we should look at other communities which have been built on narrower street right-of-ways. Catherine noted that the CPDP advocates for minimized rights of way whenever possible. Councilor Dickerson suggested right-of-way widths be discussed with the Sustainable Pickering Committee. Neil Carroll indicated that new road right-of-way widths are currently under discussion with Mattamy Homes for their lands in Duffin Hei hts. These ri ht-of-wa widths ma be considered for Seaton. CORP0228-2/02 Tom M. to set up meeting with appropriate City staff and developers' group representative, re: funding. Lloyd to forward copy of retail study as background. Catherine to ensure all work the City has is available for consultants to review. Page 3 IBI and Sernas would like this clarifiEld as soon as possible. IBI consultants have contacted Gil Paterson about reactivating the Financial Impact Study for the City. Gil mentioned that Seaton warrants :area-specific development charges, as these could be quite significant and would create a burden for development in the rest of the City if combined as a City- wide charge. Gil also stated that the City's basic position is that no extra financial pressure should be placed on the existing Pickering residents for the development of Seaton. The City will be hiring a consultant to update its existing development charges study and by-law. Timeline is for the work program to be presented at Council early in 2008, with study expected to be com leted b mid 2009. 5. Natural Heritage Study (NHS) - The first draft of the management plan should be released in early January 2008. Consultation process is underway, with the stakeholders' session on Monday, November 26, 2007 @ 7 pm. Consultation sessions with First Nation are scheduled for December 4th, at Queen's Park. A public meeting is scheduled for December 5th at the O'Brien Room at the Pickering Recreation Centre. Bruce Fisher enquired whether it was the MESP or the Natural Heritage Management and Trail study that would determine the location of stormwater management facilities. Steve explained that a preliminary trail concept plan included stormwater pond locations, but that those locations were based on old information. The MESP is the main determinant locating the stormwater management facility. These facilities are permissible in the NHS, so long as they are not in a feature. The NHS and Trail study includes a review of locations where trail heads could be co-located with stormwater ponds. Page 4 CORP0228-2/02 It was noted that some stormwater pond and trail locations may not be decided until the neighbourhood plan is completed since the processes are interrelated. Catherine stated that the principle of co- located storm ponds and trail heads in the NHS buffers is reasonable. York-Durham- Toronto Transportation Study - Graham Martin advised that a representative has been assigned from MPIR (Ralph Eades), but he was not available to attend the meeting today. John Connolly representing Transport Canada advised that they have had discussions with MTO with regards to the proposed interchanges and they are still reviewing the locations. I Lloyd mentioned that the locations of the interchanges were identified as part of the Central Pickering Development Plan. The Environmental Assessment has been done - only Design Construction Reports are required. The York-Durham-Toronto study is providing a list of early priorities to be undertaken. Seaton Economic Development Study - Tom advised that the City will be posting a copy of the completed Hemson study on the City's Seaton website. The Seaton website will be launched in January 2008. Staff is available to make a presentation at the next SAC meeting. Addressing Graham Matin, Councillor Johnson enquired about the letter the City sent to aRC in July requesting their commitment to ensure jobs are created before houses are built. Graham advised that although there has been no written response to the City, there have been ongoing discussions at the Province at the political level to address these issues. Graham stated that aRC is committed to the development of the Seaton employment lands as set out in the Study. Further discussions are needed between the Region, the City and aRC respecting a joint effort in marketing the lands according to the vision. John Connolly advised that Transport Canada would be interested in attending any meetings about the employment lands. It was suggested that Transport Canada and the GT AA be invited to marketing meetings. Councillor Johnson suggested that we also extend an invitation to the Region's Economic Development Department to attend these meetings. The Chair mentioned that this is a very comprehensive process and that we need to work together. However, jobs must be created first CORP0228-2/02 City to post Highway 407 (Seaton Lands) Economic Development Study on Seaton section of City's website. Presentation of Seaton section of City's Website to be done at next Seaton Advisory Committee meeting. Page 5 before houses are built. A copy of Council's resolution #207/07 was distributed. This resolution ties building permit issuance north of Taunton Road to the creation of commercial and industrial floor space. Bruce commented that, as a developer, it is not surprising that they would be expected to build the infrastructure to sustain employment lands first and that residential development would only be approved 3-4 years later. But, this is a huge investment for developers. The infrastructure will not be created without residential development Lloyd commented that they will not build the infrastructure if they can't build the houses. The City can not expect them to build Pickering's infrastructure without building houses. Councillor Dickerson mentioned that the retail areas within the residential developments can also plrOvide employment. Mayor Ryan explained that although the motion states construction of square footage, the real intent is to create jobs. The reason we are standing firm on 'no houses without jobs' is because it will only create a suburban community where people buy homes and travel to other areas for work. Lloyd stated that the infrastructure is a huge cost for the developers and we have to be pragmatic and work together to achieve a common ground. It was suggested that bringing the Fiscal Impact Study forward now is timely as discussions can start once the results are known. 6. It was suggested by Reg Webster that the next meeting be held during the 3fd week of January, after the MESP consultation sessions. MTO and its consultants TSH have Gompleted the stage the development of a model to determine the impact of Seaton on an inter-regional transportation scale. The boundaries of the model are the OV.P to the west, Oshawa to thl~ east, north end of the airport lands to the north and Lake Ontario to the South. The first run of the model was complleted which showed present picture (and also helped to identify gaps/problems with the.m. odel). i The next step is to run the model assigning person trips to/from Seaton based on population and employment forecasts f~~_~eaton,___ __ Page 6 CORP0228-2/02 location of population and employment and staging of population and employment. This stage is anticipated to be completed with 2-3 weeks. Following that, the analysis of transportation priorities, costs etc. will begin. Meeting Adjourned: 12 noon Copy: Members of Council CAO Directors Division Heads Page 7 CORP0228-2/02