Written By Staff

The come-and-go style of last week's public meeting on Flato's plans for housing in Dundalk, left some wondering to whom they should ask their questions.

But with numerous Flato staff there – including its planner, people from its PR firm and the company president – there were plenty of people available to help.

The room was set up with displays of the maps of the sections that have been zoned through a recent provincial order known as an MZO.

Also in attendance were some Southgate staff and members of council. A representative of the organizers said that about 50 people were there.

Flato president Shakir Rehmatullah said he was pleased to meet three owners of Flato houses who told him how they enjoy life in Dundalk.

He said the company was there because of its promise during the MZO process “that we would continue working with the community and working with our stakeholders.”

The developer did not have a timetable for when the building would be in place.

The planning consultant, Kory Chisholm of MHBC commented that the first applications for Edgewood Greens, the original subdivision were started in 2015-16, and it still hasn't been completely built out yet.

There is the second phase of Carriage House on Glenelg being built.

Because the MZO lands now have the zoning in place, he said that they will have a shorter de-velopment timeline than the lands east of Hwy. 10, which will have to go through multiple ap-provals even after the annexation process is complete.

Visitor to the meeting, Teri Cobean said that she has been in Southgate about five years. 

“It's just booming and I'm curious how the infrastructure and services will go,” she said.

Several people had questions about how much affordable housing there would be, including Clark Acheson. The high school student came with a list of questions.

Mr. Rehmatullah said that the company has seen good interest in the plaza that will be part of Edgewood Greens.  

The developer is also pleased with the interest in the adult lifestyle apartment building. That was a first for his company and was developed in response to requests from Southgate Town-ship.

The company president stressed his support of the local community – pointing out the re-freshments purchased from Common Grounds Café.

Mr. Rehmatullah has a few staff members now from the area, and said he is opening to hire more, or to provide an internship opportunity.

He said the company is exploring different types of units to address needs for those who are being priced out of the housing market.

Mayor John Woodbury said that at the recent Good Roads convention, Southgate was able to make a delegation to the MTO about one of his own priorities – another entrance into Dundalk from Hwy. 10. The mayor asked that Flato include the entrance in its MZO application to im-prove emergency vehicle access or aid evacuation in case of fire or disaster. 

However, it's the MTO that needs to make those decisions, and Mayor Woodbury said that he was pleased with the way that the conversation went. 

“This isn't something we want today,” he said. “But we'd like to know what the approach is and... whether other studies are needed.”