The Town of Gravenhurst has come through on a previous arrangement with a property owner who donated 11 acres of land for the Trans Canada Trail bridge in exchange for a tax receipt and relief from standard application fees for a concurrent consent and zoning application on Simpson Road.

Speaking to the town’s committee of adjustment on April 22, applicant Jan Juurlink explained his desire to create two lots from a 16-acre parcel on Simpson Road that he intends to sell.

He said he bought the 27-acre property in 1990 and hoped to create several lots, but learned a proposed subdivision would not be as simple as he originally thought because of excessive costs to complete a cul-de-sac to municipal standards.

He said several years ago when the town was planning the bridge project, he was approached for some of his land that would serve as an easement to connect to the Trans Canada Trail.

“I was told there was no money to buy the land and they suggested an 11-acre donation in exchange for creating a number of lots on the 16 acres without application fees and parkland dedication,” Juurlink said. “Is the value of 11 acres worth as much as a promise or an agreement?”

He added during construction of the Trans Canada Trail bridge that spans Highway 11, a temporary road on Juurlink’s property was used for access. The town agreed to repair any damage to the road as well as plant trees and shrubs to buffer the bridge access point from the Simpson Road property. He said to this day, neither has been completed.

He said a severance condition to convey a 7.3-metre right-of-way to the town for access to maintain the bridge was not part of the original agreement and was a “nasty surprise”.

The town’s manager of community services agreed to remove the requirement for the right-of-way and will use alternate access routes to maintain the bridge.

Concerns regarding the limited frontage of the proposed lots were also raised by a neighbour at a previous meeting when the matter was deferred by committee.

A concurrent zoning amendment would rezone a small portion of open space and permit minimum lot frontages of 16.7 metres instead of the required 60 metres. Shared access to the property is proposed via a right-of-way along an existing driveway.

Planning staff said in a report that due to the odd configuration of the property and the inadequate lot frontage, staff would not be able to support such an application if it weren’t for the 2001 agreement with the applicant.

Gravenhurst Mayor John Klinck apologized to Juurlink for confusion over the application.

“There is no question the sequence of events are the facts as we know them and the agreement was signed in August 2001,” he said. “We need to get this done for them. I don’t think we have a choice. The trees must be planted but we’ll leave the road surface alone because Mr. Juurlink can use it to his benefit.”

Committee member Bob Colhoun agreed it’s imperative for the municipality to live up to its end of the bargain, proposing a condition of consent that the municipality plant the trees between the Juurlink property and the town’s.

Committee member Lou Guerriero suggested the condition not be included because until the trees are planted, the consent would not be approved.

“I don’t think we need to burden Mr. Juurlink with this kind of thing,” Guerriero said. “There are enough of us around here to make sure the trees get planted.”