Residents of Orchard Point - a once quiet lakeside neighbourhood tucked beneath the Atherley Bridge - are concerned with multiple ongoing development projects they fear will intensify the peninsula to the point that it impacts not only resident safety but the environment.
With one exit onto Atherley Road, a lack of active transportation infrastructure, and no stoplight at the neighbourhood’s lone entry point, they previously expressed concern that a proposed eight-storey condo development in the area, Club 888, goes against the city’s official plan.
Since raising their concerns with the city last fall, residents have raised money to hire a professional planner to look into their concerns, after city officials informed them that a planner’s opinion would help bolster their case.
“(Our planner) is very confident that he can help us with our position,” said resident Kathy Hunt. “He feels that our positions are valid, and he's confident that he can help us present that position.”
Hunt said she is not opposed to development, as she understands the need for intensification within a city contemplating a boundary expansion to meet its needs.
However, she views the intensification taking place at Orchard Point as irresponsible, as it “doesn’t have the infrastructure to support cars, trucks, people, and the movement of traffic,” she said.
“We know that this property is privately owned, and we know that it's going to be developed,” she said. “What we are against is an eight-storey condo that will completely interfere with the character of the neighbourhood, not to mention the hugely dangerous traffic situation that will get worse.”
“I agree with intensification in a city, but only if it's done in a smart way,” she said. “What's happened here … wasn't done in a smart, strategic way, in line with what you really need to make intensification work, and there's guidelines in the province that say you need access to public transit, you need access to essential services, like stores, schools. Here, you just don't have it.”
Hunt, along with other residents, also have environmental concerns about the impact increased development might have on the neighbourhood’s shores.
“There's nesting of blue herons, swans, (and) it's quite active with other wildlife,” she said. “All of these trees will come down.”
Aside from the proposed Club 888 development, residents also expressed concern about clearcutting that recently took place in the neighbourhood to make way for a proposed 42-unit townhome development named Mariner’s Pier, which abuts The Narrows.
“These guys didn't even leave one tree,” Hunt said.
“There is a ton of history on The Narrows, and I'm curious about what the protocol is if there are artifacts on that property,” pondered resident Melissa McKee.
Mayor Steve Clarke expressed sympathy for some of the concerns Orchard Point residents have, and said that any report issued by their planner will be taken into account.
“I would encourage their their planner to do his or her report, and send it to our planning department for comment,” he told OrilliaMatters. “If they wish, they can see members of council as well, but certainly send it to our planning department, and I would suggest (they send it to) my office as well.”
He said the city is facing a lot of pressure to intensify its neighbourhoods to accommodate rampant growth.
“What's going on right now is a tug of war. We're growing at a rate that we've never grown at before," said the mayor.
“We’re deemed an area of growth by the province, and they're saying that we're gonna grow to 49,000 residents by 2051, and we have to provide 26,000 jobs by 2051 to accommodate those residents,” he said.
“We're getting all kinds of pressure to intensify, which we agree with, but we can't go and drastically affect all the neighbourhood, so we are leading the charge through redoing our official plan.”
Clarke said that while Orchard Point is an intensification area at the moment, one of the goals of the city’s upcoming official plan is to redesignate the area a stable neighbourhood, which would lift the pressures of intensification in the area.
“Every neighbourhood in the City of Orillia is going to have to do its part for intensification,” he said. “Orchard Point, it’s my firm belief, and I believe others on council, has done their part now for intensification.”
“I believe it was unanimously supported by council that in our new official plan, which is being worked on right now and hopefully will be done next year, that the new official plan recognizes Orchard Point as a stable neighbourhood again, as opposed to a continued area for intensification,” he said.
Residents fear by then, it will be too late.
In terms of the neighbourhood’s infrastructure, Clarke said the city has made efforts to get a stoplight installed at its entrance on Atherley Road. However, since the road is a provincial highway, final approval rests with the province.
“Council actually approved paying for the installation of stoplights there, even though it's a provincial highway and the province is supposed to be responsible,” he said. “They said they weren't going to put lights in until much later in the decade towards the end of the decade, … and we said we believe that that need is there now. I will say we're having a bit of an issue getting a response from the MTO.”
Clarke also mentioned that developers will be responsible for installing some of the active transportation infrastructure that the neighbourhood currently lacks.
“Each one of these projects that is going forward, they will be responsible for paying for some of the amenities for that neighbourhood,” he said.
