Town council approves extension of draft plan of housing development

March 11, 2021 · 0 Comments

Written By Paula Brown

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Shelburne Town Council has approved a one year extension on a draft plan for a new housing development.

Council approved the extension, which was submitted by Innovation Planning Solutions on behalf of Centreville Inc, during their council meeting on Monday (March 8).

“We are fairly sure with the current market conditions and the progress that has been made, that the developer, the owner Centreville Homes, is going to proceed and get this final approval in place,” said Shelburne’s town planner, Steve Wever.

The original draft plan of the subdivision was approved in March of 2018 and features 58 townhouse units, with natural environment lands, a stormwater management facility, a parkette, open space and parkland. The currently vacant lot for the drafted subdivision is located on the North side of Main Street East (Hwy. 89).

“They are looking at two-story units predominantly because of the floor area size and who they want to market to,” said Wever. “We don’t’ have any zoning or conditions in place right now that would restrict or could restrict building two-story homes. What we anticipated and Centreville Homes has been forthcoming about that they do intend to build primarily the two-story type of dwelling.”

The draft plan for the development of the housing, was first approved in March of 2020 and had a three year timeline. The plans would lapse on April 2, if not extended.

Wever said in early 2018 there were a number of meetings with interested builders and that the original owners had obtained the draft plans with the intent of having builders design the housing development.

“That did not materialize into actual detailed design submission and a builder pursuing marketing,” said Wever. “We had about a year and one month of no activity on the file, from May 2018 to June 2019. Then in June and July of 2019 there was a sales trailer places on the site, it had to be removed, there was a bylaw compliance issue.”

Based on town records ownership of the land changed in November of 2019 and since then, Wever said there has been activity.

“This time last year zoning approval was brought forward for a sales center, ultimately the owner did not proceed to build the sales center because of the impact of COVID-19,” said Wever.

In September of last year, the town received the first detailed engineering design submission.

“They’re clearly proceeding to pursue final approval and clearance of conditions so they can register the subdivision and build the road services, and ultimately build the homes,” said Wever.

Deputy Mayor Steve Anderson, following Wever’s walk through of the report, questions whether the proposed house had already sold out.

“I don’t have an update on the number of units that have been sold so far, I know they have been for sale for a little while now,” said Wever. “The only thing they require in terms of municipal approvals in order to offer units for sale is the draft approvals they currently have.”

The sales of the homes are conditional sales, with the owner needing to get final approval in order to construct the units.