A 50-lot housing development in the north end of the city that has been in the planning stages for over 30 years is moving forward.
A council committee has approved a rezoning request and plan of subdivision, which will now go to council.
49 of the lots in the Larocque Road area would accommodate single or semi-detached units while one would be an apartment block.
Peter Carello, city senior planner, says the Cedar Heights area is the city’s growth area.
“We have a lot of constraints in different parts of the community,” he says. “To the south there’s wetlands. To the east you have Trout Lake. This was always identified as the future growth area for urban development of the city.”
His report says several concerns were raised in correspondence to the city on the apartment block.
“They requested that the apartment block either be swapped location with the park block, relocated to the downtown or not be constructed at all,” states the report.
Steve McArthur, senior planner with Tulloch says the developer hasn’t finalized plans for that building yet but their thought is it could be a condominium or a low, walk-up multi-residential building.
“Two or three story, perhaps, that have those apartment or condo units,” he says. “These are integrated through almost every subdivision in the City of North Bay.”
McArthur also says the developer owns more land in the area and detailed some potential future plans.
“The next phase of the development which we anticipate will include things like much more multi-res, perhaps a commercial block that services the whole future area of the city,” he says. “The gas pipeline that is there and the easement that is there presents an opportunity for a linear parkway.”
Other concerns with the 50-lot proposal involved street lighting, type of development and occupants, sidewalks and traffic.
Staff say a traffic study will be done.
