A plan to change London’s Southwest Area Plan stalled at a committee meeting Tuesday night.
A city staff recommendation to remove the cap on the amount of land that can be developed in the area along Wonderland Road, south of Southdale Road, lost on tie vote during the planning and environment committee meeting.
READ MORE: Planning committee endorses 2 big developments, sends back halal slaughterhouse
The previous council, led by former mayor Joe Fontana, capped the land available for development at 100,000 square metres, but city staff say the limit has resulted in unintended consequences and has stunted projects.
“We made a mess of the plan and I think that the staff recommendation, although it’s not perfect, it helps us better align with the London Plan,” said Mayor Matt Brown during the meeting.
“I think that we can recognize, based on expert opinion, that the cap serves no useful purpose.”
Brown said removing the cap allows for the market to determine the appropriate location and timing of development.
Coun. Stephen Turner disagreed.
“This creation of the commercial enterprise corridor came out of nowhere, it came on the floor here, it was against the advice of staff,” said Turner.
“The cap was the control on that, it was the one piece to try and keep this thing from getting out of hand.”
Turner added that the land allowance has yet to be consumed and said the cap could be revisited in a number of years when it has been reached.
The previous council approved 100,000 square metres of development, even though city staff recommended 30,000 square metres at the time.
READ MORE: London council supports four-storey Fanshawe Park Road development
The motion lost 3-3, with councillors Tanya Park, Stephen Turner and Maureen Cassidy opposed. Mayor Matt Brown and councillors Jesse Helmer and Anna Hopkins voted to remove the cap.
The issue will now go to full council next week for a final decision.
Comments