Council approves 12-unit build for Port Dover

Coun. Chris Van Paassen, Ward 4

Luke Edwards

Grant Haven Media

A Port Dover development proposal has been put in the hands of Norfolk County staff, with some advice from council.

County politicians maintained some reservations about the 12-unit stacked townhouse proposal for Main Street, though their concerns likely would be best addressed under site plan control, a process that doesn’t typically include council. While they supported the idea of the proposal providing more housing in the municipality, they were still worried about the impacts on neighbours.

“We do need more housing options in Norfolk County but I do implore staff do the best they can during the site plan review,” said Coun. Kim Huffman.

“That we maintain as much parking as possible, setbacks as possible and we do our best to assist the neighbours who attended the public meeting and have provided public comment.”

Coun. Chris Van Paassen also requested staff explore ways to mitigate the impacts to neighbours during the site plan process.

“Maybe we could call for some fencing or some mature plantings… to have good physical separation from that lot to the neighbour’s lot,” he said, adding permeable parking areas could also alleviate concerns about drainage.

The proposal calls for 12 units on a half-acre plot of land at 711 Main St. in Port Dover. Several provisions are included in the recommendation report, including a reduction of parking spaces from 24 to 19 spaces.

Van Paassen brought up the possibility of reducing the number of units to make the property fit better, however he acknowledged that had its own issue in that bringing the total down to 10 units would mean the county loses site plan control.

“I think it’s much more important to have site plan control on this,” he said.