Developer gets green light for project

02/03/2004

Plans 90-acre development in southwest Paris

BY JOHN PAUL ZRONIK
EXPOSITOR STAFF / BRANTFORD

Brant County has given developer King & Benton the go-ahead to begin work on a 90-acre parcel of land in southwest Paris.

The area, located off Rest Acres Road near Bethel Road, will eventually be home to light industrial businesses such as warehousing operations. King & Benton had been working toward draft plan approval for the project for the past year, but waited while the county studied how infrastructure services such as water and sewer would be delivered to the area, which is currently unserviced.

“King & Benton is happy to finally achieve draft plan approval on this site and is encouraged by the atmosphere of co-operation between our company and the county,” Colleen Armstrong, the company’s business development officer, said Wednesday. “The foundation is there for future negotiations.”

To move ahead with the development, King & Benton has agreed to negotiate with the county to pay development charges up front, even though the land currently has no municipal services and the county is in the process of forming a new development charges bylaw. The new bylaw should come before council next month and will affect how much King & Benton pays the county.

The developer will install temporary septic and well service for individual sites until municipal services can be extended to the area. When that happens, business located on the parcel of land will be transferred to municipal water and sewer service.

King & Benton is currently awaiting county approval on another 90-acre site adjacent to the new one approved for development by the county on Tuesday. Once the second site is approved and new development charges are set, King & Benton will negotiate details of its deal with Brant.

An agreement could see King & Benton hand over about $5.4 million to the county in development charges before the area is serviced, but that amount depends on the rate at which the county sets its new charges.

“King & Benton are hopeful the number will be around $30,000 an acre,” said Coun. Roy Haggart, chairman of Brant’s planning advisory committee. “There is no firm determination of that number. It will be what it’s going to be. Development charges are non-negotiable.”

Haggart said the county’s deal with King & Benton will provide about one third of the $15 million to $16 million needed to immediately begin work on servicing the southwest Paris area. During the next 20 years, servicing the area could cost the county a total $50 million. Southwest Paris had been targeted by Brant as a major growth area.

“Bringing on King & Benton as a partner is a first step in many,” Haggard said.

Approving the development will lead to a boost in tax revenue for the county. In addition to up-front payment of development charges, the area approved for development is expected to earn the county $5.5 million in new tax assessment growth over the next five years, Armstrong said.

“The first five or six lots will attract some immediate industry,” Haggart said. “It’s the perfect site.”

“We need to attract industrial growth to stabilize the tax base.”

At Tuesday’s meeting of county council, Haggart stressed the importance of finalizing a deal with King & Benton.

“We really need to get this underway if we are going to get on with this project,” he said. “We must find a way.”