Eric and Dawn Fry are hoping to build 16 apartments in the old Stedmans building on Main Street in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad / File)
The Region of Queens announced its public engagement sessions this week for a possible change to the land use bylaw that could significantly alter the downtown landscape.
To do that, the region would have to amend its bylaw. In the downtown commercial district, residential units are permitted in buildings only if they have a primary commercial use.
Two sessions are planned for Queens Place Emera Centre on June 17 and June 19. Both are from 5 to 8 p.m. Both sessions are open to the public, though the first session is geared more toward business owners, while the second session is for everybody else.
Region staff and consultants UPLAND Planning will be there to answer questions.
The consultants will prepare a report for council by the end of June. The region’s planning advisory committee will review the report. Council will then discuss any recommendations from the committee.
If there are proposed amendments to the land use bylaw, councillors would vote on those. If it passed first reading, then there would be a two-week notice period for a public hearing to be held before the final vote.
Eric Fry of SDL Investments Limited is hoping to build 16 apartments in the old Stedmans building on Main Street in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
UPDATED Mon., June 2 at 4:45 p.m.
The public will be able to give their feedback on a proposed new apartment building on Main Street in Liverpool that may result in a significant change to the downtown landscape.
The Region of Queens is considering an application from Eric Fry, president of SDL Investments Limited, to turn the former Stedmans building at 194 Main St. into 16 apartments. It was most recently used by a real estate development company. And before that, it housed a discount store and office space on the ground floor.
The region’s land use bylaw permits residential units on Main Street only in buildings with a commercial storefront.
The proposal from Fry’s SDL Investments Ltd. does not have any commercial element.
That means the land use bylaw would have to be amended for the project to go ahead. And that requires a public hearing.
The region’s planning advisory committee discussed the proposal in May.
Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton, a member of the planning advisory committee, said the committee wasn’t comfortable giving a recommendation on the potential bylaw change without “some thorough public engagement”.
“PAC was uncomfortable moving a recommendation forward without public engagement, knowing that either allowing this use by right or by development agreement, could open it up to some significant change,” she told councillors at their regular meeting last week.
Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR on Monday that the committee wanted a “more robust public information opportunity” before a public hearing “to be able to provide more information to the public about what the shape of the amendment to the land use bylaw that’s being envisioned, what that looks like.”
“So as a way to get a full package of information to engaged members of the community and then providing them with an opportunity to have their say. It’s not required by the province. It’s best practices, I think,” Christian said.
“We know that this is an important conversation for us to be having and so we wanted to make sure that we have lots of opportunity for getting the information out there and giving folks an opportunity to provide their feedback.”
Public information sessions are planned in the community room at Queens Place Emera Centre, on June 17 and June 19, both from 5 to 8 p.m. One will be geared more toward the business community and the other toward residents, Christian said.
“A formal notice and some promotional materials will be coming out early next week,” Christian said. “It’s going to be a drop-in, drop-out type of engagement and information session as opposed to a town hall with a microphone. … And the organization will be set up with information and with some ways for folks to give their input.”
He said this type of consultation is more effective at getting information to people and gathering feedback.
Originally, residents and business owners were also going to be able to complete an online survey. But Christian said Monday that may not happen.
According to a report from Mike MacLeod, director of land use, members of the planning advisory committee “felt that opening up the (commercial downtown zone) to residential development as-of-right was not in the best interest of the community and that if council was to permit this use, controls would need to be established.”
MacLeod said the committee asked for draft amendments to be prepared for them to examine before they made a recommendation to council.
The consultants will prepare a report for council by the end of June. The region’s planning advisory committee would review the report, and then council would discuss the committee’s recommendations at its July meeting.
Christian said if there are proposed amendments to the land use bylaw, councillors would vote on those. If it passed first reading, then there would be a two-week notice period for a public hearing to be held before the final vote.
Fry gave councillors details of his proposed development at their April 22 meeting.
He wants to build 16 one- and two-bedroom units over two floors. Parking for the units would be indoors on the ground level, where there would also be storage units and four apartments. One-bedroom apartments would be about 800 square feet, while the two-bedroom units would be from 1,100 to 1,500 square feet.
Eric and Dawn Fry are hoping to build 16 apartments in the old Stedmans building on Main Street in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
A developer is hoping to turn an old storefront on Liverpool’s Main Street into apartments.
Eric and Dawn Fry of Fall River bought 194 Main St. in January and hope to turn it into 16 one-bedroom and two-bedroom rental units.
Eric Fry told QCCR that they applied a few weeks ago to the Region of Queens to allow for apartments on the ground floor. The region’s land use bylaws permit residential units on Main Street only in buildings with a commercial storefront.
“We would rather see it as 100 per cent residential because there’s more of a need in that area for residential than for additional commercial space because there’s a fair amount of vacant commercial space on Main Street.”
The property is known locally as the old Stedmans building. Before it was bought by the Frys, it sat vacant for a few years and was heavily damaged by extreme weather. And before that, it housed a dollar store and office space on the ground floor.
Fry said Tuesday that they’re also planning indoor parking, which would be accessed on the Water Street side at the back of the building.
“We’re hoping that there won’t be any or too much opposition to what we’re trying to do because we know that there’s a need for housing there and I think this would lend itself nicely. … So it could be a pretty desirable development when it’s completed.”
Tenants recently moved into the couple’s other development, The Falls in Milton, located on the Mersey River. That building is full and targeted to people 55 and over.
This new development would be marketed to a more mixed demographic. Fry says he hopes to attract health care or other professionals. And two or three units could qualify as affordable housing.
According to Viewpoint, the 30,000-square-foot building sold for $235,000 after almost a year on the market. Fry said it’s too early to estimate the budget for the project or what the rents will be.
“The two criteria that I typically use are location and potential. And I think that’s got both in spades. It’s very central and a lot of potential. It took a little creativity with our design team and our construction manager to work through a feasible plan, in order to make it all accessible. We’ll be adding windows and skylights for the upper units. We think it’s really going to begin to transform Main Street, so we’re excited about it.”
They’re working with a partner on the project and have named their company SDL Developments, as an homage to the building’s former life as a Stedmans department store.
While they wait to see how their application goes with the municipality, Fry said workers have been cleaning up debris inside the building.
He said he and his wife wanted to invest in the community after they bought a cottage in Port Mouton in 2015 and fell in love with the area.
“We’re not trying to disrupt anything or upset the apple cart. My wife and I have lots of great relationships in Liverpool and we’ve gotten to know a lot of folks in the municipality and we love it. What we’ve done with The Falls in Milton would be frankly representative of the type of approach we would take, very open and communicative with the public and a quality product that people can be proud to call home.”
Fry said that if their application with the municipality succeeds, they hope to begin construction by the end of June.
The Falls in Milton under construction on the banks of the Mersey River. (Rick Conrad photo)
The Region of Queens is going to pay the builder of an apartment building on the Mersey River in Milton to connect to the municipal sewer system.
Councillors voted at their meeting last week to compensate Eric and Dawn Fry, the owners of The Falls in Milton at 314 Highway 8 for the costs of running a sewer line from their new 15-unit apartment complex.
That would be for a lateral connection, the section of pipe that connects a private property to the municipal collection system. Ownership and maintenance of the lateral on private property are the owner’s responsibility.
The municipality’s sewer system bylaw states that “all costs associated with the installation, connection, maintenance or repair” of a building connection to the sewer system are the responsibility of the owner.
But because the connection for this property is across the road, the municipality would be on the hook for the work of at least $50,000, according to a staff report.
Adam Grant, director of engineering and public works, says past practice has been for the municipality to pay for the portion of the lateral that would have to cross a road.
Mayor Darlene Norman said the bylaw isn’t as cut and dried as it seems.
“The bylaw is grey,” she said in a recent interview.
“And when we look at what we’ve been doing up until now, the homeowner or developer or anyone is simply told to put their pipe out to the road. And then the region connects to our lateral that’s running. And that’s what that developer was told. When he did his site plan and his permits, he was told and approved to run his pipe directly out to the No. 8 highway which is what he did.
“Now it’s been determined by staff that … the cost to connect him to our lateral because it’s on the other side of the road which was never discussed with them, it’s $50,000-plus because it’s provincial highway, it’s permits, it’s all those items.”
So, municipal staff have been working with the owners to run a pipe on the property parallel to Highway 8 into a manhole at the edge of the property. That would connect the building to the municipal system.
That option would cost up to $27,500, according to the staff report. The developer would do the work and be compensated by the municipality.
“To suddenly say to a person that you have all their approvals in place, they’ve done what they’re told and then to say, ‘Oh, by the way, there’s another $50,000 price tag that you have to pick up,’ that’s a little unfair,” Norman said.
“You can’t tell someone to do something and then a year or two later, say, ‘Oh, maybe we shouldn’t have told you that.’ So the region will pick up the cost of running it to the manhole cover.”
Councillors voted in August 2022 to sell the former Garika Park to the Frys. And in October of that year, councillors also rezoned the land to allow the Frys to go ahead with their development.
Geared toward seniors, the three-storey building is slated for an October opening.
Proposed site for multi-unit housing on former Garika lands. From Region of Queens public meeting package
Region of Queens council approved zoning changes that clear the way for the construction of a proposed 15-unit housing development in Milton.
At Tuesday’s meeting, council voted 6-2 to rezone three parcels of land on the Mersey River to Multiple Unit Residential to accommodate the development.
Council previously agreed to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with developers Eric and Dawn Fry at their August 9 meeting.
The rezoning allows the Frys to build an apartment building on the former Garika land at the corner of Highway 8 and Bridget Street.
Several councillors raised concerns about maintaining public access to the boat launch and the fire service maintaining the ability to fill trucks from a hydrant on site.
Mayor Darlene Norman says those public resources will have to remain accessible for the sale to be considered.
“There was reference given to a meeting the developer had. Those were all preliminary drafts designs,” said Norman. “Unless the developer is able to satisfy the requirements of the agreement, which will be access to the boat launch, access to the dry well, then that agreement will not go through.”
Four members of the public showed up to voice their objection to the rezoning.
They raised concerns about maintaining the public access of the on-site services, asked how traffic safety issues will be addressed and the fact a public piece of land will be lost to a private developer.
Norman says in their discussion council heard the traffic issues are a result of drivers not following the laws.
“It was Councillor Gidney. He said the traffic issues are created by excessive speed and people not obeying the rules. We have traffic issues throughout Queens County,” said Norman. “I am certain that the developer is going to take those issues in.”
Norman says she grew up in Milton and remembers when the only buildings on the Garika site were run down and derelict.
She says the proposed building will bring much-needed housing to the area.
“The activity that was once there on that corner is no longer there. Sadly, I believe people like the quietness of the neighbourhood, but we need places for people to live. And yes, it’s not going to be $700 affordable because we need the province to subsidize housing. You cannot build for that amount of money,” said Norman.
The mayor says the changes to the Municipal Planning Strategy have been sent to the province for approval and realistically it will be months before ground is broken and construction begins.
A new 15 unit housing development is being planned for Milton.
At their last meeting, Region of Queens council agreed to sell the former Garika Park lands to developer Eric Fry.
Fry says the new development will be geared towards seniors.
“It’s right at the little waterfall, that dam, so it’s just a gorgeous location. We think it will be a big seller,” said Fry. “My whole background is sales and business development, so we’ll put a package together that I think will be really appealing to a lot of locals and maybe even draw some people in from out of town to help drive the economy a little bit.”
Eric Fry, contributed by Eric Fry
Fry says this is not an affordable housing project with rent expected to land in the range of $1,700 to $1,800 per month.
He anticipates seniors looking downsize from a family home into something smaller and more manageable will be very interested in the development.
“Those folks that are in the local area whether it be Milton or Liverpool that own their homes and they just don’t really have anywhere to go, they don’t want to go all the way to Bridgewater,” said Fry. “They want a place to settle into but a nice, two-bedroom, well-appointed place.”
Fry hasn’t ruled out the possibility of building affordable housing in the future.
He has some experience buying and selling development property in Queens and has enlisted the services of local designer Brydon Huntley to plan the proposed seniors development.
Fry is looking to build 15 1,100 – 1,200 square foot units on the 36,000 square foot location.
Before any work can begin, the property needs to be rezoned and accommodations must be made for a boat launch and fire hydrant on the site.
If all goes well, Fry is hopeful to begin construction in Spring of 2023.
