‘Brookside is not an anonymous parcel of vacant land’: Cobourg resident
By reporter Natalie Hamilton
With intent to protect Cobourg’s heritage buildings and environmental attributes and preserve the town’s character and skyline, many residents are taking issue with a proposed development for the property long known as Brookside.
A proposed plan to build 950-plus residential units at 390 King St. E. would also put additional pressure on the town’s roads and other municipal infrastructure, emergency services, and schools. Those were some of the concerns Town of Cobourg staff, councillors and representatives from the planning firm working on behalf of the site’s owner heard from residents during a four-hour council planning meeting held earlier this month.
The Town of Cobourg held a statutory public meeting on Sept. 16, which is a forum that provides a formal opportunity for the public to learn about land-use proposals, allows staff to explain a development proposal, and permits applicants to present their projects.
For the parcel of land at 390 King St. E., which is the site of the former Brookside Youth Centre, the Town of Cobourg has received plans from the owner of the property to develop 970 housing units – one of the buildings with a proposed 16 storeys. The proposed plan also includes 5,000 square-metres of commercial space.
The developer is asking for an amendment to the town’s official plan to provide relief from current height restrictions (with the current maximum height six storeys), permit low, medium, and high-density residential development, and permit commercial uses. It is asking for a zoning bylaw amendment to reflect the low, medium, and high density residential housing, recognize natural heritage and natural hazards, allow for commercial uses in the southwest corner of property, outline additional setback requirements of structures and alteration of special policy area (delineation and policies), which requires approval from the Town of Cobourg, Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority (GRCA), Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
The landowner and applicant is Highland Hills (Cobourg) Inc. and the planning firm working on its behalf is the Planning Partnership.
“I’m excited to be with you early on in this planning process, to walk you through what the preliminary proposal is, and to hear (council) and public feedback and take that back and work with staff as we work on through the planning process,” said Brandon Simon, of the Planning Partnership.
“We view the location along the King Street corridor as an important attribute here,” he said. “It’s a very important connection and transportation artery to downtown Cobourg (and other areas).
“We think this, along with other opportunities on the site itself, present a very unique opportunity for well thought-out, comprehensively planned mixed-use redevelopment.”
Simon talked about the site encompassing a variety of housing types and including a public park along King Street. He highlighted opportunities to reuse the historic Strathmore Hall and incorporate the mature tree canopy that exists on the property.
The proposed development would have frontage on both King Street East and Cottesmore Avenue, and the proposal involves the creation of new access points on to both streets and a signalized intersection. It also includes the proposed realignment of Brook Creek.
Of the 970 housing units, the proposed plan encompasses 26 semi-detached homes, 106 street townhouses, 138 stacked townhouses and 700 apartments. The commercial space could include a grocery store, meeting attendees recently heard.
Development would be built out in three phases.
At least 29 pieces of written correspondence about the proposed project were submitted to the town’s clerk prior to the meeting, in addition to several delegations made in-person by residents.
“Our family has been part of the Cobourg community for generations,” shared David Holdsworth and Maria Drangova in their correspondence.
Drangova has also spoken up.
“They moved to a house just north of Brookside in the mid-1970s, and this neighbourhood has shaped our family’s life for nearly 50 years. My wife and I write to council not to oppose growth – Cobourg should grow and grow well – but to submit that proposal submitted by Highland Hills (Cobourg) Inc. is not responsible growth. It is a scale and form of development for which this town is neither planned nor ready.
“We ask council to refuse the official plan amendment and zoning bylaw amendment as submitted, and to direct the applicant to return with a proposal that respects the town’s official plan, its heritage, and the practical realities of life in a small lakeside town.”
Throughout the meeting, residents and some councillors raised concerns about the height of the proposed buildings and their projected impact on the existing townscape. Attendees heard that the property owner intended to distribute the density on the site, so the highest buildings would be built at the back of the property.
“Brookside is not an anonymous parcel of vacant land,” said Justin Norris, in correspondence.
“It sits directly on King Street and forms part of the historic eastern approach into one of Ontario’s most distinctive heritage towns. The property itself has recognized cultural heritage value.
“Redevelopment should respect that context rather than overwhelm it.”
He said Cobourg’s historic built environment “is one of the town’s greatest assets … preserving individual heritage buildings is important, but heritage conservation should also consider their setting, landscape and visual context. A historic building surrounded by towers may technically survive while much of what made its setting significant is lost.”
The structures identified in the heritage designation at Brookside are Strathmore House, Cottesmore Stables and Winch Cottage and cannot be removed without approval from the town.
There is an active appeal for the designations, and no development can occur until the appeal is resolved.
No decision is made during a statutory public meeting.
As for next steps, attendees heard from Chris Challenger, Cobourg’s director of development services.
“Our goal is to get a comprehensive list of comments back to the applicant by (Sept. 25 end of day),” said Challenger.
The list includes comments shared both during the meeting and those that were submitted online as part of the public planning process.
“Generally, we’ll group them and we’ll bucket them into themes. We’ve heard a lot today about height, massing, density, environmental concerns, traffic concerns – so those are very clearly laid out in the comment letter back to the applicant.”
Challenger said the comment letter will also include the reviews from the technical agencies, such as GRCA, and internal departments within the town, for example.
“Those comments will go back as the first round of official comments from the town.”
“Generally, there (are) a few iterations of these,” continued Challenger. “We have lots of questions that we’ve flagged that we’ll be going back to the applicant – specifically looking for more information from a lot of the studies that have been submitted to the town.”
Residents can continue to submit their comments to the Town of Cobourg by phone, through the municipal website or by mail.
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