Kanata Lakes Golf Club Redevelopment | Proposed

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

That depends. Does the City want to save the golf course or does it want to convert it into a park. If it's the latter, plating hundreds of trees (one would hope) in the centre of Kanata North might have a better impact on the environment than redeveloping and causing more gridlock in an area where the road network cannot be expanded.

If we're saving the golf course, then we're just encouraging sprawl without adding a the park (or "filter") as a carbon offset.

It certainly looks like they are trying to save the golf course, green space is just a euphemism.

[CityTech]

Disgusting. Not one dollar should go to this. Just let them build.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by CityTech

Disgusting. Not one dollar should go to this. Just let them build.

If there's a legal agreement in place that precludes this redevelopment, then it must be respected.

[rocketphish]

ClubLink, developers mum on Kanata Lakes plans as city seeks legal clarity

By: David Sali, OBJ
Published: May 13, 2019 4:16pm EDT

Days after the City of Ottawa said it would go to court if necessary to prevent the Kanata Golf and Country Club from being redeveloped, the club’s owners say they have no update on what might replace the 50-year-old course.

ClubLink, which owns the course, announced last December it is joining forces with local developers Minto Communities and Richcraft Homes to find ways to “better utilize” the 70-hectare property. The consortium said it would work with the community and city officials to come up with a new long-term plan for the land.

The news prompted an immediate backlash from Kanata North Coun. Jenna Sudds and many neighbourhood residents. They argue a 1981 agreement between the former city of Kanata and the course’s owner at the time requires 40 per cent of the Kanata Lakes property to be maintained as green space, including the golf course, and gives the city the right to take over the land at no cost if the owners no longer want to operate the course.

ClubLink bought the golf course in 1996; the City of Ottawa took over all legal agreements signed by all former municipalities in the former region of Ottawa-Carleton, including Kanata, when they were amalgamated in 2001.

Last week, city solicitor Rick O’Connor sent a memo to city councillors stating that if ClubLink and its partners submit a redevelopment application, the city would apply to Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice to determine the rights of each party under the 1981 agreement.

O’Connor said he expects the application would require a hearing lasting one or two days, a process that would likely cost the city between $100,000 and $150,000. If the city is successful, he said, it would get one-third to one-half of those costs back, but if the city loses, it would probably be required to cover as much as 50 per cent of ClubLink’s legal costs.

“Both City legal and outside legal counsel have reviewed and are of the opinion that the agreements are enforceable,” Sudds said in a statement on Friday. “Today marks an incredibly important milestone in our fight to keep our greenspace.”

On Monday, a spokesman for the ClubLink-led consortium said the group had “no new information” on the project or when it plans to file a redevelopment application with the city.

Although the developers have not revealed any specific details about their plans, a ClubLink-operated website says the proposals could include “much-needed new housing for families and more functional, high-quality public green spaces, available year-round.”

In an interview with OBJ last month, ClubLink CEO K. Rai Sahi said golf courses are struggling across the country as participation in the sport declines, adding they are “not necessarily a good use” of prime development land.

Sahi said he remained optimistic that both sides will reach “a mutual agreement of some sort.” He said his company would continue to operate the course if it failed to get city approval to redevelop the land.

ClubLink is also embroiled in a legal fight with the Town of Oakville over a plan to replace the venerable Jack Nicklaus-designed Glen Abbey Golf Club with apartment buildings, offices and retail space.

Media reports say the town has spent almost $9 million on legal and consulting fees in an effort to preserve the course, which opened in 1976 and has hosted the PGA’s Canadian Open 30 times.

https://obj.ca/article/clublink-developers-mum-kanata-lakes-plans-city-seeks-legal-clarity

[TransitZilla]

https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/column...e-is-possible-over-development-in-ottawa

Denley: Stonebridge and Mattamy show compromise is possible over development in Ottawa

Residents were upset at a plan to build 158 new homes on golf course lands. The developer's view was understandable too. Now, a potential agreement looms.

RANDALL DENLEY Updated: August 13, 2019

In Ottawa, development proposals too often end up in acrimony and trips to the provincial planning tribunal. That’s why it’s so refreshing to see Mattamy Homes and residents of the south Nepean suburb of Stonebridge work together to resolve a dispute in a way that’s likely to lead to a victory for both sides.

A little over a year ago, Mattamy created an uproar in the golf course community when it announced a plan to build 158 new homes on golf course lands and alter the Stonebridge course to make it shorter and less attractive to golfers. To residents, it looked like the first step in a plan to turn most, or all, of the course into housing.

It’s easy to see why residents were upset. When people pay a premium for a lot backing onto a golf course, there is certainly an implication that the lot will continue to back onto a golf course, but without a legally binding guarantee, it’s no sure thing.

Mattamy’s situation was understandable, too. This is a tough time to be in the golf course business in Ottawa. There are too many courses and not enough golfers so it’s no surprise that golf course owners would find the idea of turning a course into a housing development to be attractive, doubly so when the golf course is owned by a development company.

This is a tough time to be in the golf course business in Ottawa. There are too many courses and not enough golfers so it’s no surprise that golf course owners would find the idea of turning a course into a housing development to be attractive.
In the face of the local opposition, Mattamy withdrew its development application. When things cooled down, the company, the neighbours and the city started to work together on finding a solution that would satisfy everyone.

With the city-sponsored help of veteran planning consultant Jack Stirling, they came up with an unusual idea that will still let Mattamy develop its desired number of homes, in exchange for a promise to operate the course for at least 10 years and redesign it so that it remains attractive to golfers.

At the end of the 10 years, Mattamy can sell the course to the community for $6 million. To raise the money, the community working group is proposing a special levy to be paid by Stonebridge homeowners starting in 2021. The amount will range from $175 a year to $475 a year, depending on property values.

If the deal is approved by a majority of homeowners, Mattamy gets its development and a way out of the money-losing golf business. Homeowners get certainty about no future development. They can choose to keep the course going or retain the 198 acres as green space. It’s not a cheap solution, but it keeps their community as it is and preserves property values.

If a majority of homeowners backs the deal, both the levy and redevelopment will still need to be approved by the city, something scheduled for late this fall.

Stonebridge Community Association president Jay McLean was part of the working group that prepared the proposal and he’s pleased with the outcome. The community’s number one goal was preserving green space, and the deal will accomplish that, he says. Mattamy division president Kevin O’Shea says the deal “gives the community the certainty they are looking for.”

As useful as this deal could be for Stonebridge residents, it doesn’t provide a template to resolve a somewhat similar dispute in Kanata North, where the owner of the Kanata Lakes golf course wants to work with a group of local developers to replace the course with housing. In Kanata, a longstanding legal agreement saying the community has to have 40 per cent open space strengthens residents’ situation. In Stonebridge, there was no legal impediment to developing the whole course.

Golf course communities have become an anachronism in a city intent on intensifying within the urban boundary. Redeveloping those lands for housing is in sync with the city’s planning goals, but it’s not politically saleable to homeowners who thought they had a deal. If it goes ahead, the Stonebridge plan shows there is a reasonable middle ground.

Randall Denley is an Ottawa political commentator and author. Learn about his new book Spiked at randalldenley.com. Contact him at [email protected]

An interesting solution, but I'm not sure how that levy will be received. Will those who back onto the course pay the same levy as those who don't?

[TransitZilla]

Stonebridge owners are being asked to vote on a levy to purchase the golf course; the community association has posted documents.

https://www.stonebridgeca.com/swg-sep-30...intent-loi-now-available/?v=3e8d115eb4b3

One interesting nugget in the LOI is that the new phase to be built on a chunk of the current golf course will ban clotheslines. Is Stonebridge the new Kanata?

[rocketphish]

Vote on Stonebridge golf course takeover could start next week
Some residents wary of deal's fine print

Matthew Kupfer · CBC News
Posted: Oct 01, 2019 8:13 AM ET | Last Updated: 2 hours ago



Some residents of south Ottawa's Stonebridge community are expressing skepticism about the plan to stop the development of the golf course surrounding their homes by getting the city to buy it with a proposed community-wide levy.

While the proposal was generally well-received at an initial presentation in July, there was more criticism and a call for greater transparency and details Monday evening.

Peter Nikic, whose home doesn't back onto the golf course, started a group called Stonebridge Facts to share his concerns with fellow residents.

"You guys are writing this stuff on the back of paper napkins and you're making it up as you go along," Nikic said at the meeting, to a mix of jeers and applause.

Going into the meeting, Nikic said he's concerned that he hadn't seen a contract with details about out clauses and the long-term management of the golf course.

"What are we going to be obligated to do on top of just paying a golf course tax?"

Developer Mattamy Homes said as a private business, it can't disclose all the information about the course.

Dawn Wilson said she could see a $400 increase in her property tax bill because of the levy, even though she doesn't back onto the golf course either.

She said she felt consultation had been rushed to push the plan through.

"We don't want to be golf course managers or owners," she said.

"There has to be another way to make this work that's better for everybody, not just the people who own property backing onto the golf course."

Jay McLean, president of the Stonebridge Community Association and a member of the working group, said the vote on the levy will be the best way to decide the issue, which has hung over the community for more than a year.

"This is a very divisive issue in the Stonebridge community," he said.

As the plan currently stands, voting could begin next week if approved by city council and the results could be known next month.

He said even those who don't live next to the golf course are implicated in protecting the area.

"The greenspace, whether it's a golf course or not, is the heart of our community. We've talked to many specialists who have reiterated the fact that this is an instrumental component of our property value."

The community association posted an online version of its letter of intent with Mattamy during Monday's meeting, outlining in more detail the terms of the agreement.

The plan has residents paying a dedicated levy tied to their property tax assessment until the community raises $7 million.

That money would cover the $6 million price of the golf course and money for any transition either to a community-run facility or for the city to turn it into a greenspace.

Golf course owner and developer Mattamy Homes would build 158 homes on part of the golf course as it proposed in June 2018, but the developer would commit to no further development on the property and redesign the golf course so it maintains its current standard.

It would also pledge to keep operating the course for at least another 10 years.

The catchment area for the levy was adjusted in early September to exclude about 300 properties that the working group determined were actually in the neighbouring community of Half Moon Bay.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/stonebridge-golf-course-levy-vote-1.5303209

[danishh]

i'm fine with this solution. If the community is willing to pay for it with their own tax levy, they can buy the land to prevent development (and protect their property value).

[waterloowarrior]

ClubLink/Minto/Richcraft proposal for Kanata Golf and Country Club. Development application submitted to City (not on DevApps yet)

http://kanatapossibilities.ca/

[Marshsparrow]

WOW - sharpen the pitchforks - that Kanata group won't like this one bit!

[rocketphish]

From: https://kanatapossibilities.ca/project-proposal

[rocketphish]

ClubLink submits controversial application to pave over much of Kanata golf course

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: October 8, 2019



ClubLink submitted to city hall Tuesday morning its controversial planning application to redevelop 71 hectares of land at the Kanata Golf and Country Club.

The golf company is working with Minto Communities and Richcraft Homes to turn the golf course into a suburban infill neighbourhood.

According to the development scheme, 53 per cent of the land would be redeveloped for homes, 20 per cent of the land would be for new roads and 27 per cent would be for green space, parks and ponds.

ClubLink first floated its redevelopment intentions last December, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that the company submitted its planning application to city hall, formalizing the project.

The Kanata Lakes and Beaverbrook communities have been preparing for a fight, fearing that the golf course vistas that residents have come to enjoy will be paved over in the coming years.

The city has said it would go to court to ask for a ruling on a legacy agreement that protects green space in the community.

The so-called “40 per cent agreement” dates back to 1981 and the old city of Kanata. The former municipality signed an agreement with Campeau Corp. to maintain 40 per cent of the development area in Kanata Lakes as green space.

The amalgamated City of Ottawa assumed all of the legal arrangements signed by the former municipalities.

Last March, the city indicated it would ask the courts to make sure the green space agreement is still in force.

The deal gives the city the right to take over the golf course at no cost if the owner doesn’t want to continue running it. Only if the city doesn’t want to run the golf course can the owner apply to redevelop the land.

Kanata South Coun. Jenna Sudds said on social media Tuesday that “the day I have been dreading has arrived.” It wasn’t even a month after Sudds was sworn in as a rookie councillor that ClubLink announced its plans to bulldoze the golf course, kickstarting a major development controversy in her ward.

ClubLink says the golf business is struggling, prompting the company to pursue redevelopment opportunities at the course.

[email protected]
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...-to-pave-over-much-of-kanata-golf-course

[rocketphish]

The development application has been posted for the ClubLink/Minto/Richcraft proposal for Kanata Golf and Country Club:

http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__BONRZY

[J.OT13]

Little snipit from the Kanata Lakes community hall. Watson was their the entire 2 hours to support the residents in the fight against the redevelopment!!

“We will be there with you to fight this, whether it’s in the court of public opinion or the court itself to ensure your rights are upheld and this company, instead of trying to skirt the agreement, respects and lives up the agreement that was signed in good faith by the people of Kanata so many years ago,” Watson said.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...-intel-on-kanata-golf-course-development

Funny how he's prepared to fight along side citizens of Kanata North and even spend millions in City resources to stop this proposal, yet casts aside citizens of Vanier with no second thought when it comes to the Salvation Army mega shelter, which goes against main street guidelines and will only further sink a community already struggling. Same with Trinity at Bayview, which goes against a CDP designed only a few years ago when the Confederation Line plans were already established. More than twice the height and none of the 25% social housing (though this was partially settled with the $6+ million fund).

Absolutely insulting!!

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Little snipit from the Kanata Lakes community hall. Watson was their the entire 2 hours to support the residents in the fight against the redevelopment!!


https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...-intel-on-kanata-golf-course-development

Funny how he's prepared to fight along side citizens of Kanata North and even spend millions in City resources to stop this proposal, yet casts aside citizens of Vanier with no second thought when it comes to the Salvation Army mega shelter, which goes against main street guidelines and will only further sink a community already struggling. Same with Trinity at Bayview, which goes against a CDP designed only a few years ago when the Confederation Line plans were already established. More than twice the height and none of the 25% social housing (though this was partially settled with the $6+ million fund).

Absolutely insulting!!

First time I've ever heard of Jim Watson ever attending one of these meetings. He also never shows up to Planning Committee where the main deputations and discussions occur on major planning applications.

[rocketphish]

ClubLink reps downplay golf interest, winter use at Kanata course eyed for redevelopment

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: January 16, 2020

The Kanata golf course eyed for redevelopment is more than 200 people short of its membership ceiling and not many people are using the land for winter activities, according to affidavits filed in a court battle over the future of the property.

ClubLink, the owner of the Kanata Golf and Country Club, is pursuing an infill residential community on the golf course land in partnership with Minto Communities and Richcraft Homes. The city is fighting the golf company in court, asking the judge to uphold a legacy agreement protecting the land from redevelopment. A hearing is expected next month.

An affidavit from the golf course’s director of operations, Brent Deighan, questions observations in a city affidavit from Donald Kennedy, a retired planner and golf course member, that the golf course is heavily used by the public all year, including by cross-country skiers in the winter.

“From my observations, Kennedy exaggerates the public’s use of the golf club lands. It is not as extensive as he suggests,” Deighan says in his affidavit.

In fact, Deighan says if there are non-golfers on the property during the golf season, they’re trespassing. About five people each day in the winter use the land for cross-country skiing, he says.

A separate affidavit from Minto senior land development manager Beth Henderson says there are other popular spots for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, including the greenbelt. Henderson says the planned development on the golf course would have open spaces suitable for cross-country skiing.

When it comes to golf, Deighan’s affidavit points out several other options and he lists courses within a 35-kilometre drive from the Kanata Golf and Country Club.

Deighan also discloses more information about the number of members at the Kanata golf course.

Across four membership categories, the club had a maximum set of 775 members. Only 534 people were members as of November, and of those, 105 members live in 77 homes on the golf course.

The golf course set 450 as the maximum number of members eligible for full golf privileges, but there were only 319 on the books. Even the 100 slots available for “social memberships” — which allow people to dine and attend non-golf events at the club — were only filled by 44 people.

The membership entrance fees have fallen off from a high of $22,500 in 2005 to the current price of $9,000, Deighan says in his affidavit. Even at the current price, a new member hasn’t signed up since 2017, he adds.

ClubLink has blamed the dwindling golf business for exploring redevelopment options for the 71-hectare property. Under the development application filed at city hall, there would be 1,500 new residential units in a mix of single-family homes, townhomes and apartments. The development application is being reviewed by city planners for its adherence to official plan and zoning policies. The development review process is separate from the court proceedings.

The city hauled ClubLink to court in an effort to confirm a 1981 agreement struck between the old city of Kanata and Campeau Corp. The former municipality and company agreed to maintain 40 per cent of the development area in Kanata Lakes as green space, and if a landowner didn’t want to run the golf course anymore, the city could take over the land at no charge.

A judge has allowed the Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition to be a party during the court hearing. It means the community organization can question witnesses and file material as part of the proceedings.

[email protected]
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...-at-kanata-course-eyed-for-redevelopment

[rocketphish]

Coun. Sudds accuses ClubLink of end-run to redevelop Kanata golf course

Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: March 8, 2020

Kanata North Coun. Jenna Sudds is accusing Kanata Golf and Country Club owner ClubLink and its development partners, Richcraft Homes and Minto Communities, of acting in bad faith and staging an end-run in their efforts to shutter the golf course and turn the property into more houses.

On Friday afternoon, ClubLink et al filed an appeal with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT), arguing that the city failed to issue decisions regarding zoning by-law changes and its subdivision plan within the required statutory deadline.

ClubLink filed its development plan on Oct. 8, 2019, and the 90-day zoning by-law deadline came and went on Jan. 6, while the 120-day subdivision plan deadline passed on Feb. 5.

But Sudds notes that on Dec. 19, the city sent ClubLink a letter after reviewing its plan, commenting or asking for clarification on 250 separate issues, including sewers and drainage, landscaping and lot layouts, densities, right-of-way widths, schematics and catchments.

“The vision stated in the Master Plan,” the city’s letter noted, “is to ‘Create a community that integrates with the surrounding residential neighbourhoods and develops a cohesive network of year-round public open spaces and parks’. More analysis and work needs to be done on the Master Plan to achieve this vision.”

ClubLink, Sudds says, never responded to the city’s concerns, and instead simply let the clock run out.

“It was obviously very frustrating,” said Sudds on Sunday. “As a community, it is very unsettling. People are very upset about this. It’s been dragging on for over a year, and the city has, in my opinion, been doing a very thorough job of reviewing the application, and now ClubLink-Minto-Richcraft has decided to essentially bypass that process and go to LPAT, to the tribunal.”

Sudds added that city staff has spent a great deal of time and expertise reviewing the development application, and that the community has been very engaged, and the decision to go straight to appeal is “unfortunate.”

“Minto and Richcraft, I would suggest, pride themselves in being good community builders and partners in our city, and I personally don’t believe their actions on Friday, of moving to LPAT so quickly without giving the city the time and without responding frankly to the technical comments, that’s not a good community builder. That’s not what that looks like at all to me.”

Complicating matters is a legal challenge by ClubLink about whether it is bound by a 1981 agreement between the Municipality of Kanata and Campeau Corporation, the original developer in the area. That agreement stipulated that 40 per cent of the development remain green space. The golf course currently makes up about 30 per cent of that green space, or approximately 12 per cent on the community. According to the original agreement, the golf course must remain in perpetuity, and if ClubLink, Canada’s largest golf course operator, decides to cease its golf operations there, the city can take it over at no cost.

ClubLink is arguing that the original agreement restricting development was never legal in the first place, and thus isn’t binding. According to Sudds, the city, after consultation with outside counsel, believes the original agreement is binding.

Sudds says she’ll meet this week with Mayor Jim Watson, city manager Steve Kanellakos, the city’s legal and planning teams and other staff to prepare its documents for submission to LPAT. An LPAT hearing, she added, could be as much as a year away.

[email protected]

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...-end-run-to-redevelop-kanata-golf-course

[rocketphish]

• Video Link

[rocketphish]

City begins court fight against ClubLink's attempt to redevelop Kanata golf course

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Jul 13, 2020 • Last Updated 2 minutes ago • 2 minute read

A judge has started listening to arguments over the controversial homebuilding plans at the Kanata Golf and Country Club as the court holds a three-day hearing by video conferencing and broadcasts the proceedings on YouTube.

ClubLink has Minto Communities and Richcraft Homes teed-up as its development partners to bulldoze the golf course and build an infill subdivision of 1,502 homes.

The City of Ottawa hauled ClubLink to court so a judge can rule on a nearly 40-year-old deal that aimed to protect a huge area of natural space in the Kanata Lakes area.

At the end of the virtual hearing, Justice Marc Labrosse will be asked to decide if the deal is still in legal force.

In dispute by ClubLink is the legacy agreement between the former city of Kanata and developer Campeau Corp. about preserving 40 per cent of land in the area as natural space, which includes the golf course.

The agreement, known as the “40 per cent agreement,” was signed in 1981 and called for the golf course owner to give the land to the municipality if it no longer wanted to run the golf course. The land has changed hands twice since Campeau owned it.

ClubLink acquired the golf course in 1996 but now wants to close the golf course and build homes. The company didn’t offer the land to the city.

Kirsten Crain, one of the lawyers representing the city during the hearing, told the judge that ClubLink is “reneging” on the agreement that the company inherited.

“This was the bargain they agreed to,” Crain said.

ClubLink’s lawyers were scheduled to begin their arguments on Tuesday. The company has questioned the validity of the original 40 per cent agreement and whether such a contract is still binding. ClubLink has cited a decreasing golf business in pivoting to a development project.

There are two separate, but related, legal proceedings when it comes to ClubLink’s proposed development.

The first is the ongoing Superior Court hearing into legality of the 40 per cent agreement.

The second is the municipal planning approval process for the subdivision.

The city has had ClubLink’s development application since October but the proposal hasn’t been subjected to planning committee and council votes.

ClubLink has filed an appeal to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal since the city hasn’t made a decision within the required timelines. It means that if the council doesn’t make a decision on the planning application, a provincial adjudicator will.

However, ClubLink’s development plans hinge on the judge’s decision on the 40 per cent agreement.

The upstart community group Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition, which has been raising money to protect the golf course lands, also has party status during the hearing.

Kanata North Coun. Jenna Sudds said the city on Monday “stood up for our community and defended the 40 per cent agreement.”

“This is certainly not the end of the road and I share in our community’s determination to ensure this green space is protected,” Sudds said.

The court hearing is being held by video link between the judge and lawyers because of COVID-19 public health precautions.


[email protected]
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...cm/de53c8cd-d3e6-4e49-bf72-16dccabf8170/

[TransitZilla]

The above video is interesting in that it provides the breakdown. The 1981 agreement covered the entire 1,400 acres Campeau owned at the time. It sounds like the Beaver Pond/marsh area makes up 20% of that land, and the Trillium woods are about 8%. That already gives 28% without counting existing and future parks and SWM lands that would count as "recreation and open space" in the agreement.

Even if the 40% agreement is upheld, I don't see the golf course development proposal dying; it might just need to be rejigged to preserve a bit more greenspace so that the overall 40% is achieved.