The Loyalist Heights subdivision proposal, a 60-acre, 395-home project sandwiched between the Loyalist Parkway and Sandy Hook Road, has been sent back for the fifth time — with a laundry list of suggested changes.

County planners and Councillors have considered four separate versions of the proposal from Ray Essiambre Planning Associates since 2020. The staff report recommended the application be denied.

Instead, Council’s Planning and Development committee voted last week to ask that the developers consider low impact design; take more care of Waring’s Creek; integrate the Millennium Trail into the project; create smaller lot sizes in some places; clarify its definition of affordability; add more affordable housing options; increase green buffering along the Trail and existing homes; dedicate more parkland; and take public comments into greater account.

For his part, Mr. Essiambre noted that the County kept moving the goalposts.

“With requirements changing as rapidly as they are now, I confess, we don’t always understand what staff are trying to achieve.” He stressed the proposal could be adapted to suit the County’s requirements.

“The application has stalled for quite a few months and we want clarification so we can move forward.”

Included in the plans are a “senior’s village” of 30 bungalows. Affordable housing options include 25 rent-to-own apartments and 25 apartments to be set at a CMHC-approved “affordable” price. 

The chief objections of County planners concerned low density in some parts of the proposed subdivision; not enough specific parkland dedication; and a failure to fully integrate the Millenium Trail, which runs through the property, into the proposed neighbourhood.

“This development does not lend itself to the good design principles we think this opportunity presents, being so near the Trail,” said County planner Matt Coffey.

He suggested a road running alongside the Trail, to integrate it into an Active Transportation corridor, and prevent private homes from backing directly onto it.

He pointed to plans from Cork and Vine, Sterling Homes, and Hilden Homes in Fawcettville, all of which incorporate a road alongside the Trail.

Councillor Kate MacNaughton noted, “This is a curious situation; we have not had a discussion about the Trail as part of an urban landscape and what that means.” She worried that plans for Active Transportation would mean “losing the richness of the Trail as a densely vegetated wildlife corridor.” For their part, Ray Essiambre Associates proposed retaining the several hundred mature evergreens currently on the property for landscaping purposes.

The Waring’s Creek watershed runs through the parcel, of which 5.5 wooded hectares (22% of the total property) are designated EP, Environmental Protection. Councillors asked for more land dedication to buffer it. They also noted just 1.3 hectares (3 acres) were set aside for a park. That is the legal amount, 5% of the total lands, but it is not in one parcel. 

“This a very sensitive property, 
in a sensitive location, attached to a wetland.”

Kate MacNaughton

Informing all the objections are two key problems. The first is that the land in question is prime agricultural used to grow crops. Councillor Nieman recused himself from the discussion as his daughter farms the land. Yet Councillors cannot veto the project on those grounds: Picton’s Secondary Plan integrated the parcel into town residential zoning in 2015.

The second concerns the 5.5 hectares zoned Environmental Protection, the headwaters of the Warings Creek watershed.

Seven residents, including representatives of the Waring’s Creek Improvement Association and the PEC Field Naturalists, made public comments at the meeting.  All focused on the loss of farmland, tree canopy, and wildlife habitat, and threats development poses to the headwaters of Waring’s Creek, the only cold water stream in the County. 

In a written peer review, Les Stanfield, a former research biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources, noted, “for over 30 years the community has been working to reverse impacts from historical land clearing and reduce the overall amount of unforested lands in the Waring’s Creek watershed. Approval of this project would negate these efforts and push the system over its threshold, dooming any further attempts to restore native brook trout to its only potential Prince Edward County home.”

Management of groundwater is critical to ongoing efforts to revitalize the creek. Gerry Jenkison advocated for low impact, green design incorporating rain water, green roofs, and stormwater ponds more carefully into the plans.