Planners from Trent Hills and Northumberland County think they’ve found a way that Jim Curle’s farm field can be turned into the site for a new hospital and campus of care.
Provincial red tape had threatened to delay changing the use and permitting rezoning.
The challenge that’s been in the background for the past couple of years is that provincial law makes it difficult to use prime agricultural land for anything else. An option that has seemed like the only way to move forward is to expand Campbellford’s urban settlement area to include the site and amend the municipal and county official plans to make that happen.
But the problem that has troubled the planners is that this option requires provincial approval for changes to the county’s plan and the Ford government has rejected some changes in the past and taken a long time to approve others.
On Tuesday evening the planners gathered with some members of Trent Hills’ council to consider how to move this option forward with an official plan amendment. But just a few days before the meeting, a county planner suggested another, quicker way to proceed.
A better idea would be “a site-specific development or exception area policy within the existing Prime Agricultural Area designation,” Ashley Yearwood, Manager of Planning, Land Use Planning, for Northumberland County, wrote in an email last Thursday.
Municipal Planner Cameron Law said that the municipality plans to update its official plan next year and the property could be included at that point, but using the exception now would allow work to move ahead.
On behalf of the hospital, Shawn Legere of RFA Planning Consultant Inc. made a presentation outlining the technical studies that have been done so far on the property and what lies ahead.
Councillor Daniel Giddings noted that an artist’s rendering of the campus of care looks great, but it doesn’t show enough parking spots. He guesstimated that the site will need 250 to 300 spots.
Legere said that detailed drawings are being prepared as they work to turn the artist’s dream into reality.
Legere said environmental testing done so far has not found any concerns about the project. A waterway along the eastern edge that flows south to Trout Creek will have to be protected, but it shouldn’t affect use of the site.
Lawsuit expected
Before the planning session on Tuesday, council had a special closed session to discuss a potential lawsuit and to receive advice from lawyer Kat Kinch about how to proceed.
Closed sessions are only permitted for special reasons, such as getting legal advice.
A report by the Ontario Ombudsman outlines the rules: “In considering the related law of litigation privilege, courts have found that, while it is not necessary that litigation have commenced for litigation privilege to apply, “there must be more than a mere suspicion that there will be litigation.
“Council must believe that litigation is a reasonable prospect and must use the closed meeting to explore that prospect in some way. However, the exception does not apply where the possibility that litigation may arise in the future is merely speculative.”
So, council must feel someone is likely to sue over something, soon.
It is great that the council is getting involved a long with the County Planner. With a new council hopefully the Mayor will lead and be more involved than what I have seen in the past. MPP Picinii needs to be included.
More farm land to disappear? Are there no other locations?