Local residents have banded together and formed the Stewarttown Community Association (SCA) to represent the eponymous neighbourhood’s interests.
Sam Mercurio and Simone Gourlay - two residents of the district - started the group earlier this year. Dozens of neighbours from the hamlet had been meeting unofficially to brainstorm ideas about what to do with a proposed development they found problematic. But after feeling like their voices were falling on deaf ears, and with a looming Ontario Land Tribunal battle, they decided to officially incorporate into the SCA.
“We all decided that we needed to get together in some way to have one voice,” Mercurio recalled.
The Stewarttown Secondary Plan is the bone of contention between the SCA, the Town of Halton Hills and developer Di Blasio Homes. The document lays out future plans for the village straddling Trafalgar Road and gives special attention to a 14-hectare parcel of land at the south end of Stewarttown. Referred to as the 'Expansion Lands,' the former farmland has been selected for future development that will greatly increase the size of Stewarttown.
The SCA is worried development on the land will increase residential density in Stewarttown. Coupled with some local intersection closures, traffic congestion on local hamlet roads is expected to grow.
“We won't be able to walk down these nice, quiet streets here anymore,” Mercurio said.
The group is asking the Town for a density cap of five units per hectare on the Expansion Lands, while the Town is proposing up to eight units per hectare.
Di Blasio Homes, on the other hand, is not ready to say what its proposed density is yet. Project Manager Selo C. Di Blasio told HaltonHillsToday that his firm agrees “with the Town that we view this neighbourhood as a low-density residential development.”
However the company does not believe “eight units per hectare is sufficient” in meeting “provincial guidelines for intensification or greenfield development,” Di Blasio added.
But a letter to council ahead of its March 25 meeting gives some idea about the developer's plans. Di Blasio's planning consultants Glen Schnarr and Associates emphasized, among other things, the need for “not less than 50 residents and jobs per hectare” in accordance with A Place to Grow guidelines. It further states that Halton Region’s Official Plan requires “53 people and jobs per hectare on Halton Hills lands.”
Adding to the anxieties of the SCA are Halton Region’s expansion and realignment of Trafalgar Road. The southern access to Stewarttown Road from Trafalgar is expected to close permanently, turning it into a cul-de-sac. The north access of the same road will remain open, but will be signalized.
The Maple Avenue/17 Sideroad and Trafalgar Road intersection will be moved east, meaning Trafalgar will cut onto The Club at North Halton land. Those using Thompson Drive to access the new Trafalgar and Maple alignment will do so from the old one.
Regional Commissioner of Public Works Andrew Farr said “there will be temporary road and intersection closures to accommodate the work.” However, he noted that “final intersection arrangements are subject to change as part of the detailed design process.”
“Even after the mess of construction, which is a two or three-year process, we're still going to have the problem of if they put in 300 homes there, the volume of traffic would be phenomenal,” Mercurio said.
For more information on the SCA, visit stewarttowncommunityassociation.org.
