Mayor Robert Quaiff speaks to Highway 33 transfer at the committee of the whole meeting on Thursday February 16, 2017. (Photo: Nicole Kleinsteuber / Quinte News)
Aggressive development is driving the County to continue in its request to have the province transfer ownership of a section of Highway 33.
At Thursday’s committee of the whole meeting, Mayor Robert Quaiff said he came up against a brick wall with Ministry of Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca at the recent Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference, in his effort to attain the section of Loyalist Parkway from Cold Storage Road to just before Home Hardware.
There is a developer working with the County to build a 350 unit subdivision on Loyalist Parkway on the Jenkins Farm behind Stormy’s Automotive in Picton.
“We don’t want to lose the developer,” expressed Quaiff. “We need an entrance and exit to be able to service that area.
“I’m getting excited that I can start to see a shovel appear in the ground,” the mayor said in an interview. “These residential units have the potential to help assist with the burdening debt that we have with water and wastewater.”
Quaiff said complying with the Ministry of Transportation’s stringent rules goes against the County’s entire secondary plan regarding growth and expanding services.
The committee of the whole carried a motion requesting the MTO transfer 1,800 metres in roadway and that it be designated as a Highway Connecting Link under Section 21 of the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act.
Mayor Quaiff will be taking the resolution with him to a follow up meeting with Kathy Moore of the MTO on Tuesday.
He said he is prepared to bring the request to the Ontario Good Roads Conference in Toronto that’s taking place from February 26 to March 1.
Meanwhile, the committee also carried a motion that could see the approval and execution of a site plan for development at Downes Avenue and Washburn Street.
The plan calls for 16 condo units within three townhouse blocks and two semi-detached units.
Access to the units will be from an internal private road that connects to Downes Avenue at the new LYFE apartment building, connecting with the end of Washburn Street.
