254 Lake Avenue subdivision plan prompts questions about driveway access, condo parking, and municipal review
CARLETON PLACE — Residents living near a proposed subdivision at 254 Lake Avenue are raising concerns about parking and snow removal if the development moves forward as presented.
“I think the main issue with this property is parking,” said Frank Mills, who lives within 100 metres of the site. Mills spoke during a public meeting held October 23 in council chambers.
Current plans call for five parking spaces for each of the four four-unit condominiums proposed for the site.
“That is extremely low with regard to provincial standards and there is already a lot of traffic in that area,” Mills told councillors. “Events at the high school field nearby make that situation even worse. I just do not think this plan is going to be comfortable for people that live in that area because of this lack of parking.”
He also questioned how snow removal would be handled given the development’s single driveway entrance to Lake Avenue.
“I do not know what you are going to do with the snow,” he said.
Niki Dwyer, Carleton Place’s director of development services, explained that municipal zoning requires 1.5 parking spaces per dwelling unit. That would mean six spaces per four-unit building, or four additional spaces beyond what the developer has proposed.
The overall subdivision plan would divide the vacant parcel, formerly a bed and breakfast with a large yard, into seven lots. The proposal includes four four-unit condominiums in the centre of the property, single detached homes on the east and west sides, and a semi-detached dwelling one lot in from the intersection of Lake Avenue and Mississippi Road.
A private sanitary line would run through the front yards of the development to a private pumping station located at Mississippi Road and Lyndhurst Street.
“The common element condo would own the sanitary pipe,” said Eric Bays, a planner with Stantec representing the property owner. “There would be a condominium corporation and associated fees for maintenance and lifecycle costs of those pipes.”
Private sewer systems and pumping stations are unusual in smaller subdivisions, though not unprecedented.
“We have a handful of similar arrangements around town,” Dwyer said.
The project remains in the early planning stages. Town staff have not yet issued a recommendation. Once the municipal review is complete, the application will be forwarded to the county for final approval.
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