Future site of proposed Co-op housing along Trestle Trail. Photo Ed Halverson

Region of Queens Council voted in favour of rezoning for 26 units of affordable housing in Liverpool.

In November, Council approved selling four adjoining lots between Lawrence and Amherst streets and Trestle Trail and the Queens Street Extension to Queens Neighbourhood Cooperative Housing Ltd, an offshoot of the Queens Care Society group for one dollar.

The area is currently zoned for Lower Density Residential and needs to be redesignated for Multiple Unit Residential to accommodate the two proposed buildings.

The municipality’s Planning Advisory Committee approved the proposed development at their June 19 meeting. Council approved the rezoning at Tuesday’s council meeting following a public hearing where no one spoke for or against the proposed development.

If the rezoning is upheld a public notice will be issued Aug 16 and the four parcels will be rezoned Multiple Unit Residential effective Aug 31.

Mayor Darlene Norman says council wants to do everything it can to get this project of the ground as everyone is aware of the desperate need for more housing.

“We’re a year and a half in already from the time we first started talking about council selling the land,” said Norman. “Because then you have to go through the public hearing of selling it for a dollar and all other such things, and then the deeds, and then the rezoning, so we’re going through this as quickly as we can.”

At an expected cost of $6 million, the development will require funding from several sources and the cooperation of different levels of governments and other agencies.

The municipality has already committed $203,000 in the 2023-24 budget for the group to complete predevelopment work on the site including project management and engineering fees, architectural drawings costs and a landscape architect as well as initial site clearing, road access excavation and digging test pits.

Norman says the Region will continue to assist the Queens Neighbourhood Cooperative Housing Ltd.

“It’s their project so we’re not sticking our nose in it, but everything they need, every help they want, they come see us,” said Norman.

The new development will focus on seniors but aims to be inclusive and diverse.

As a co-op, the units will be owned by members who will form a democratically elected board of directors to make decisions about maintenance or improvements of their units. In the co-op model, members will not build equity in their unit like a private homeowner. Instead that equity will be used to build more units and pay off the development over a longer mortgage period, between 40 and 50 years, keeping the units affordable.
As one occupant leaves, the next occupant won’t be faced with a massive increase in housing costs.

The board of the Queens Neighbourhood Cooperative Housing Ltd. is working to break ground on the new development in early spring of 2024.

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Region of Queens Administration Building. Photo Ed Halverson

Rezoning of an area to accommodate to construction of co-op housing topped the latest meeting of Region of Queens council.

No one spoke in favour or against the proposed multi-unit co-op development at a public hearing ahead of Tuesday’s council meeting.

Council approved the rezoning to allow the construction in the Lawrence Street/Amherst Street part of Liverpool.

Also receiving council approval was a request from the Medway Head Lighthouse Society to allow liquor to be served at the opening night of their annual art show.

Council then approved the $314,700 + HST purchase of a front-end loader for the Queens solid waste facility. The purchase came in over $70,000 less than the budgeted amount of $385,000 + HST.

Next up was the appointment of Miles Harlow as Fire Inspector for the municipality. Harlow is a building inspector for the Region and will continue in that role as he takes on the responsibilities of fire inspector alongside the municipality’s current sole fire inspector Tim Clattenburg.

In the discussion portion of the meeting, a question was asked during the Council Implementation Report as to what progress is being made to sell off some the Region’s surplus properties.

Planning staff had been tasked with developing a policy for the equitable sale of surplus lands but say there hasn’t been time. They are processing a high number of permits which need to take priority over the policy development.

Next council tasked staff with cleaning up graffiti on municipally owned property in Port Mouton.

The first quarter financial review continues to show high deed transfer tax payments. The deed-transfer tax puts 1.5 percent from the sale of any property in Queens into municipal coffers. Staff had predicted $720,000 in tax revenue for the entire year but has taken in $321,905 in just the first three months of the year, almost half of what they were expecting for all of 2023/24.

Finally, council is looking at installing security cameras in the recreation areas at Queens Place after vandals have been leaving broken glass and graffiti throughout the campus. Staff will explore options and bring a report back to council at the next meeting that will outline possible solutions and costs.

The next council meeting will be held in council chambers on September 12 beginning at 9:00am.

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Region of Queens Council. Photo Region of Queens

The creation of a new police oversight board and rezoning for affordable housing topped the items at the recent Region of Queens Council meeting.

Council was on the road this Tuesday, June 27 at the Greenfield Fire Hall with a relatively light agenda.

Three recommendations came forward.

The first was a $5260 grant to the Privateer Days Commission from the Community Investment Fund. The money will help the Commission offset the $42,080 operational costs for this year’s event.

Next council put forth three names to be considered for the Provincial Volunteer Awards. Each year the Region selects two people for recognition.

In recent years the Region would select names from the Ripple Effect program, a municipal program for the public to recognize the volunteer efforts of others. Despite many requests, no nominations were received this year, so council had to submit names.

Beach Meadows resident Amy MacGowan will receive the award for her work to independently raise money for several community organizations. Notably, in the past year she has raised $35,000. Of that, $27,000 went to assist two local families dealing with cancer diagnoses and another $6,000 was raised to assist those impacted by the recent wildfires in Shelburne County.

The second recipient is Sylvia Hurley from Liverpool. Hurley is active in numerous groups throughout Liverpool including the Victorian Order of Nurses, the K-ettes, Ladies Auxiliary Milton Baptist Church, Hank Snow Tribute, and the Queens County PC Association.

Both women will be recognized at a provincial ceremony planned for September 25.

The final recommendation was to rezone a parcel of land in Liverpool from Lower Density Residential to Multiple Unit Residential. The rezoning is needed to allow the construction of the two proposed buildings along Lawrence Street.

In November 2022, Council sold four parcels of land for a dollar to the Queens Neighbourhood Cooperative Housing Ltd to build 26 units of affordable housing.

The Planning Advisory Committee approved the rezoning at their June 19 meeting.

Now that council has given their blessing, residents will have their say at a public meeting ahead of the August 8 Region of Queens Council meeting. Provided there are no objections, the rezoning will go into effect Aug 31.

Three items were up for discussion.

The first was a Council Implementation report from staff to indicate how several council initiatives are proceeding.

The second was a request to waive tipping fees for a family who recently lost their home in a fire and don’t have the means to pay for disposal of the burnt materials.

Interim CAO Dan McDougall said other municipalities have a compassionate fund to assist people in this situation and suggested Queens could do the same. After discussing the matter, council requested staff come back with a report on how the compassionate fund could work in Queens.

The final item up for discussion was the creation of a Police Advisory Board.

By law, each municipality must have Police Advisory Board.

According to the staff presentation, “…Council has been the governance body acting as the Police Advisory Board with the understanding that this approach had received approval from the Minister of Justice at the time when this practice started. However, written approval from the Minister of Justice (pursuant to section 57(8) of the Police Act) for this governance model has not been located.”

One of the recommendations that came out of the Mass Casualty Commission Report in March was that “Municipalities and the Province of Nova Scotia should ensure that police boards and police advisory boards are fully staffed and performing their governance function.”

The Region of Queens was notified by the Department of Justice in May that they will need to establish a stand-alone Police Advisory Board. Staff are now working to get a board in place by September.

The next Region of Queens Council meeting will be held July 11, beginning at 9:00am in council chambers.

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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.

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