A 764-unit residential subdivision planned for the former Arrowdale Golf Course will need a zoning amendment before it can proceed.
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Weston Consulting has applied to the city for official plan and a zoning bylaw amendments to move the plans forward. The applications were submitted on behalf of Elite MD Arrowdale Holdings Inc., owners of the property.
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The city’s planning committee will review the proposal at its Feb. 15 meetings. The meeting starts at 9:30 am and will be held in the city council chamber.
The official plan and zoning bylaw amendments have been recommended for approval by city planning staff.
The proposal calls for 37 single, detached units and 79 three-storey townhouses. It also calls for a three-storey condominium block with 253 units and a multi-residential block of 259 units that includes an eight-storey apartment building and townhouses.
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As well, the plan includes the extension of Campbell Street and Maitland Street to provide a road connection to Elgin Street. Access to the new subdivision will include two access points from Stanley Street.
According to a report prepared by city planning staff, the subdivision will be built in phases with the first phase focusing on underground infrastructure, the road network and storm pond. Phases 2 and 3 will see the construction of the single-detached homes and the townhouse blocks. The two apartment blocks, facing Elgin Street, will be developed in Phase 4.
A walkway and a parkette are included in the plans.
The city’s decision in 2020 to sell the municipally-owned golf course land to the developer was controversial and began a campaign by a group of residents who wanted it maintained as a golf course
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A public meeting on the housing proposal held in June 2023 attracted many people who said the plan shouldn’t be approved. They suggested the city donate the $14 million it received for the property to the Friends of Arrowdale, the group that fought the sale, the Brant Land Trust or the Onkwehonwe community of Six Nations of the Grand River, which some critics claim is the “rightful stewards” of the property.
The city is directing the proceeds of the Arrowdale land sale to affordable housing elsewhere in Brantford and tax revenues generated by the development of the property will be transferred annually into a reserve fund dedicated to affordable housing initiatives.
Meanwhile, construction of Arrowdale Community Park is expected to begin in April and be finished by the end of 2024. It is being built on 17-acres of the land retained by the city.
The first phase of the community park, the creation of a dog park on the south side of the property along Elgin Street, was finished in late 2022.
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