GLEN WALTER – A second “reluctant” extension has been granted by South Glengarry on the sale of a highly valued development lot in Glen Walter.
Council agreed to sell the lot on Glen Walter Park Road with views of the St. Lawrence River to a developer in July 2019 with a closing date of March 2020.
Part of a condition of sale is that the township would change the zoning to allow a four-plex to be built. In order for the zoning change, the developer has to first submit a site plan which has be delayed and was just completed on Monday.
Staff previously allowed a minor extension from March until July 31 but now it needed council’s approval to extend it again to November 1, 2020.
“The buyer has spent a great deal of time working on a site plan and a design that he was comfortable with so there was additional time taken by the buyer in getting it right. I think council will be very pleased with the design he’s looking at bringing forward,” Infrastructure General Manager Ewen MacDonald told council Monday.
MacDonald added that the county had given the site plan its okay that day.
While the site plan is done, the extension was needed to allow for the public review process and appeal periods required with a zoning amendment.
While they agreed to the extension, some councillors were frustrated with the situation, suggesting that maybe another buyer could have pulled the trigger on building something a lot sooner.
“I was quite reluctant about this idea of extending. In normal real estate matters we don’t typically extend and extend like this. There might be other offers on the table that could move quickly. However, if we’re confident…virtually guaranteed that this will close on November 1st then I’m okay with it,” Coun. Stephanie Jaworski said.
“I was very reluctant when I saw this. It’s been conditionally sold for quite a while now. I would have thought this was done and over with. I was a little frustrated to see this. If we’re confident this is going to go through, great, if not, there might be somebody who wants to build a big home there,” Coun. Sam McDonell added.
The quarter acre of land (0.27 acres/0.11 hectares), closest to County Road 2 with waterfront views, was appraised last year at $200,000. In January 2019, the lot was proposed to be listed between $219,000 and $229,000.
Proceeds of the sale will go to the fire department’s reserve account. This lot and three others, which were sold last year and netted the township $204,614, were created through the development of the Glen Walter fire station.