Robin Blake’s 16-unit townhouse project moves forward; lots and houses remain on Seven Lee and McCormick; and the downtown apartment project by Casey Realty — up to 30 new apartments — is still at the planning stage.
Wednesday evening saw two Oxford Town Council meetings and a committee meeting, as the first June session packed a full agenda. The evening kicked off with a special meeting of council, as the development process for Robin Blake‘s new townhouses on upper Main Street moved forward.
This was the second opportunity for the public to weigh in on Blake’s plan to add three more four-unit residences to the existing building at 4812 Main Street. At the April 28th Public Participation Opportunity on this proposal, one resident voiced concerns regarding potential water runoff onto her neighbouring property. In the documentation provided by the town, “Staff reassured her that the developer has provided a stormwater management plan designed by a professional and that all reasonable measures are and have been taken to ensure buildings are elevated enough and stormwater runoff is directed away from neighbouring buildings.”
With no public input provided at the June 10th public hearing, Council then proceeded to the Second Reading of the proposal and moved to approve the development agreement. The public now has two weeks to appeal that decision to the Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board (NSRAB). At the end of that period, if no appeal is filed, then Blake can move forward with the construction of the three additional buildings.
The four townhouses will not be directly visible from the road, and will be accessed via a driveway at 4812 Main Street. In documents assessing the proposal, Planner and Development Officer Torben Laux noted “…this development would provide additional housing for a fast-growing place and add to the existing housing stock. This development would also provide alternative housing options and unit types.”
There is no question the town of Oxford is in need of additional rental units. Previous responses to the need for local housing had focused on providing houses for purchase, such as the Seven Lee Way subdivision off of Little River Road developed by Mervil Rushton, and the addition of housing by Oxford Frozen Foods both on Seven Lee Way and a new multi-home development on Horton Street and Peel Street in South Oxford. The uptake of those properties appears to have been slow, with empty lots remaining in both neighbourhoods — Rushton says he has ten lots still available, and has houses ready to place on them as well. Another Rushton development off McCormick Street is also underway.
A check of the Viewpoint.ca real estate map for Oxford shows six houses for sale, and two vacant lots available within the town limits. The need for rental properties, in the form of houses or apartments, appears to still have high demand if posts to social media are an indicator.
Blake’s experience with the development process, from proposal to staff review, planning office approval, stormwater run-off system design, etc., shows how large multi-unit projects take time to complete. This is also the case for Casey Realty‘s planned apartment buildings in the downtown core along Black River. Initially, the hope was that this project would break ground in August, but the timelines associated with creating a proposal and all the steps that lead to actually building the modular apartments make that project’s start date unclear.
The downtown apartment project is creating some optimism for a revived business district, where an influx of new residents who need services and shops to cater to them could spur further development. Casey Realty also purchased the Water Street lots that include the blue cinder-block building and empty lots leading up to the Days Gone By Antique store. It is understood that those properties won’t see any activity (either demolishing the lone building on those lots, nor new construction) until after the apartment building project is completed.
