“What we have ultimately ended up with was two victories out of many requests… Councillor Qadri worked really hard, along with some of the other councillors, to negotiate the motion. It’s been a long battle. It was by far the best we were able to get Minto to agree to.” –Omar Sultan, Jackson Trails
The city’s Planning Committee gave their blessing Minto’s Potter’s Key development today, along with several conditions to address some of the concerns from neighbouring residents.
Those conditions include maintaining a gravel road for construction vehicles until at least 2019, and requiring that any homes backing onto existing residential areas must be single family homes.
Residents were hoping for additional measures such as a guaranteed permanent link to Hazeldean Road to mitigate traffic from the new subdivision. A motion from Councillor Qadri recognizes that a link will be built in the future, but there’s no timeframe attached.
Today’s decision doesn’t mean full approval. City staff have been delegated to work with Minto to finalize the subdivision plan, and changes to zoning will still need to be approved by City Council.
“We had an excellent turnout with approximately five speakers. The council also received 100 written comments which they all reviewed,” said Jackson Trails Community Association president Omar Sultan via email.
“As for the outcome, I am pleased with the decisions of the council. Minto did make some concessions by placing single homes behind all existing single homes. This even further reduced their number of units. The temporary road will definitely help ease some congestion. It will at least a good transition point to ease into the extra traffic,” he said.
“I did find many of my requests and concerns previously mentioned did not receive attention. I am still concerned that the developers in general are not required to follow the various guidelines that were prepared by the city at a great expense,” said Sultan.
“This plan has one multi-use pathway that will go along the south side of the creek. All pedestrian and cyclist traffic will have to travel the same distances as motorized vehicles. The two parks will not even be connected. The larger of the parks will service a minority of the population and will not be quick and easy to get to on foot. For some reason, city planners don’t have an issue with this, ” he said.
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“This has been a very challenging file with many discussions with all partners on this project. We have explored a number of options and have been able to come to a compromise that I feel is in the best interest of the community,” wrote Councillor Shad Qadri.
“I would like to thank the community for all of their engagement on this issue through large attendance at the public meetings and by providing written comments and those who spoke today,” he said.
Councillor Jan Harder, chair of the Planning Committee, said that they received “a tonne of correspondence” about the development, and also acknowledged Stittsville residents who attended today’s meeting at City Hall downtown.
“Stittsville is very much a growing community but it’s very far from here. Given the fact that most people are working… it really is something else for people to come here and wait for who knows how long. We have done due diligence and looked at all the communications, I think that’s important to say,” said Harder.
“What we have ultimately ended up with was two victories out of many requests. We’ll take it. And we’ll be happy about it. Councillor Qadri worked really hard, along with some of the other councillors, to negotiate the motion. It’s been a long battle. It was by far the best we were able to get Minto to agree to,” said Sultan.
Everyone was so fascinated by the story being the name Potter’s Key, but now the word has become a pariah in Stittsville.