An appeal launched by the developer behind a plan to transform Hespeler's Silknit Textile mill into a 10-storey mixed use condo was dismissed by the Ontario Land Tribunal last month, giving hope to a decades old concept to build up to 1,800 residential units on land next door.
Lammer Development Group wants to redevelop an empty 10 acres next to the old mill into a mixed-use community with between 1,500 to 1,800 residential units, including 260 purpose-built rental units, senior assessed housing units and affordable housing.
Blacks Point Development Inc. has had approvals from the city and region to redevelop the old Silknit factory for more than two years.
Work to move ahead with the mill project was stalled early this year, however, when Blacks Point appealed to the OLT over a holding provision that requires the company to realign an existing easement and give "appropriate access to abutting properties."
The property the decision is referring to is the Lammer lands at 241 Queen St. W.
The only access for both properties is across the CN railway line at the intersection of Winston Boulevard and Queen Street West.
Without the easement, the Lammer property would remain landlocked since it has no frontage on Queen Street and can only be accessed through the Blacks Point property.
Blacks Point didn't want to grant rights over its land and thought the issue could be dealt with at the site plan approval stage.
The city asked that the holding provision remain and the easement be realigned to provide a public right of way through 215 Queen St. W.
The OLT agreed, keeping the door open for a formal application from the Lammer Group.
Although several technical studies remain outstanding with that proposal, city staff supported a Minister's Zoning Order for the property in 2021.
The MZO would have allowed the Lammer Group's proposal to move ahead without public consultation.
Mayor Jan Liggett has already voiced opposition to the redevelopment plan for the site.
Last December, she sent housing minister Paul Calandra a list of changes to the region's official plan she felt were unwarranted when the province enacted the Official Plan Amendment Act in 2023.
That legislation came from previous housing minister Steve Clark with a goal to align official plans with provincial policy direction around housing, growth and employment to accommodate forecasted population and employment growth to the year 2051.
Liggett told Calandra it's not good planning because the property is in the floodplain, is difficult to access and the landowner hadn't responded to the city's request to file a planning application.
Calandra agreed with the request and reversed the modifications made by his predecessor.
Had the province not backpedalled on its legislation, it would have allowed buildings up to 85 metres tall and there would be no maximum on the number of dwelling units per hectare.
But the province's decision and the mayor's opposition hasn't stopped work to advance the proposal.
In a letter to the minister in March, the consultant for Lammer Development Group, Corbett Land Strategies Inc., asked for the modifications to be reinstated as it works toward getting approvals from the city and the city works to update its official plan.
The letter said the modifications would facilitate development of the site "contributing towards the region’s intensification and reurbanization target."
A previous letter to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, touts the property as a location that has "long been envisioned to evolve into a residential use, capitalizing on the site’s riverfront setting and its potential to add significant economic benefit to Cambridge."
The developers say it would take between six to eight years to build and create about 400 jobs per year. It would bring in about $1 billion in new property assessment and approximately $10 million in additional annual tax revenue.
"The subject lands are also uniquely located adjacent to an existing rail corridor which has been assessed as an optimal connection for a future GO Train route into the GTA."
