CRA Lands Limited and CRA Lands II Limited have submitted an Official Plan Amendment application for the lands located at 730 King Street North, an unaddressed parcel on Martin Grove Road and 985 Bridge Street West, Township of Woolwich which are more specifically described below.
Property Description
The subject lands comprise three separate properties with a combined area of approximately 43.7 hectares and identified as:
Part 1 – 730 King Street North, owned by CRA Lands Limited, contains an existing residence with an accessory building and being approximately 0.14 ha in area .The property is designated Prime Agricultural Area in the Township’s Official Plan and zoned Agricultural (A) in By-law 26-2024 (i.e., the “Township Zoning By-law”);
Part 2 – unaddressed parcel on Martin Grove Road, owned by CRA Lands II Limited, is currently in agricultural use and being approximately 7.71 ha in area. The property is designated Prime Agricultural Area in the Township’s Official Plan and zoned Agricultural (A) in the Township Zoning By-law; and
Part 3 - 985 Bridge Street West, owned by CRA Lands Limited, is an inactive aggregate pit rehabilitated to an agricultural after-use and being approximately 35.8 ha in area. The property is designated Prime Agricultural Area, of which, the northwest portion of the property is within the Greenland Network, designated as “Environmental Protection” and contains a “Natural Hazards” overlay recognizing the floodplain area associated with Martin’s Creek. The property is zoned Extractive (E) with Regulatory Buffer Area (RBA) and Flood (F) overlays in the Township Zoning By-law. The two overlays are related to the natural hazard feature affecting the subject lands.
The subject lands are located immediately east of King Street North as well as the Highway 85 interchange and north of Bridge Street West and the City of Waterloo limits.
Proposed Official Plan Amendment
The purpose of the proposed Official Plan Amendment is the following:
- To amend the applicable sections and associated mapping in Chapter 5 (“Planned Township Structure”) to create a new Urban Employment Area that will apply to the subject lands;
- To amend the applicable mapping to redesignate the subject lands from “Prime Agricultural Areas” to “Employment I”;
- To amend the applicable mapping to define the limits of the Greenland Network that affects the subject lands and apply the “Environmental Protection” designation;
- To amend the applicable mapping to define the limits of the floodplain area that affects the subject lands and apply the “Natural Hazards” overlay;
- To amend Chapter 7 (“Settlement Patterns”) accordingly to add specific policies and mapping (new Section 7.30), to be known as the Gateway Employment Lands, for the appropriate development of the subject lands primarily for employment purposes to address such issues as:
- Define the land uses that are permitted and prohibited to adequately implement the “Employment I” designation,
- To include appropriate policies affecting a portion of the subject lands within the “Environmental Protection” designation and “Natural Hazards” overlay,
- To include appropriate land use compatibility policies,
- To include appropriate infrastructure policies to service the development and to provide an appropriate transportation/active transportation network, which may include new road alternatives for Bridge Street West to provide direct access to the Highway 85 interchange,
- To include appropriate urban design policies that promotes high quality-built form, and
- To include appropriate interpretation and implementation policies.
The effect of the above-noted Official Plan amendment would facilitate a future zoning by-law amendment application to permit a large-scale employment park providing a mix of employment uses while protecting the natural area/hazard lands to the north resulting in the creation of a new employment cluster within the Township of Woolwich that builds on surrounding employment lands.
In addition to a zoning by-law amendment application, the proponent may submit a concurrent Plan of Subdivision Application, if the subject lands are proposed to be further subdivided into several employment blocks fronting on an internal public road network, or alternatively, a site plan application to provide for one or more users along the existing public road frontages.
The applicant has submitted the following documents / studies in support of this application:
- Planning Justification Report
- Two Concept Plans and Conceptual Master Plan
- Urban Design Guidelines
- Stage 2 Archaeological Assessment
- Environmental Impact Study
- Geological, Hydrogeological and Geotechnical Assessment Report
- Dry Utility Service Availability Report
- Traffic Impact Study and Feasibility Study Report
- Functional Servicing Report & Drawings
- Stormwater Management Report
- Hydrologic/Hydraulic Modeling Floodplain Analysis Report
- Land Use Compatibility Study
- Preliminary Financial Impact Analysis
