Prince Edward County council has voted to establish a partnership with New View Holdings to develop the former Queen Elizabeth School property.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, council received a report from staff, detailing their existing selection process for a private sector partner to redevelop the Queen Elizabeth School. Staff proposed partnering with New View Holdings, and sought permission to begin work on a formal agreement with them.
The next steps after approval would include drawing up a detailed agreement with New View Holdings, which itself would return to council for approval.
Since their first proposal during the expression of interest, New View holdings had amended their draft plans to try for 198 units total across four buildings, with 50% affordable homes split across various sizes of apartment units. The buildings themselves would range from three to four stories, but have their first floor sunk partially into the ground and use gabled roof space to reduce the profile and better blend with the surrounding community.
The new layout also expands the available community HUB space, to 22,500 square feet. Parking is expanded to 237 spaces, in order to accommodate both residents and users of the community space. Outdoor green spaces including a community garden are also marked on the draft site map.
The draft layout presented is not final, and amendments can be made before a final layout is approved.
Several members of the public also came out to voice their opposition to the development, based on current draft plans. Common concerns included the high density of the project, and the traffic that it would bring to the area.
The motion provoked vigorous debate among the councillors, with councillor Brad Nieman moving to defer the decision until after budget, to explore keeping the property as a new administration building for city staff.
“I think we need to explore all options. And this property is is a valuable piece of property that I think should stay in the ownership of the municipality,” said councillor Nieman. “It would have ticked a lot of the boxes that we’re looking for housing our staff all in one building.”
Councillor Bill Roberts was one of the councillors against deferral, warning that keeping the community economically stable for the future depends on building affordable housing now.
“The data is that we lose about 4.1% of our working age population every year since about 2019. We’re the only county that does that in eastern Ontario,” said councillor Roberts. “So people want to live and work here, but they can’t afford to live and work here, and people who are employers can’t afford to have their workers live here.”
Ultimately, council voted to approve the original motion.
