City of Brantford Council unanimously turned down an application to permit a medical clinic on Dufferin Avenue during their regular Council meeting on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.
The application, submitted by The Angrish Group on behalf of Jodi Brown, asked that a zoning bylaw amendment be made to convert the main and basement levels of 133 Dufferine Avenue into a medical clinic for psychotherapy services while retaining the second-story residential unit. The proposal also included eight parking spaces, one of which would be barrier-free.
Located on the corner of Dufferin Avenue and St. Paul Avenue, the site currently consists of a two-storey, three-unit residential dwelling (triplex) and sits adjacent to Dufferin Park.
While the City’s planning department initially recommended the application for approval, the planning committee, after hearing from concerned residents, recommended that the application be refused during its meeting on Thursday, October 16.
The planning committee cited the loss of two dwelling units during a housing crisis, an increase in traffic and parking demands, and concerns that the proposed development would offend the character of the neighbourhood as reasons for refusal.
During the October 16 meeting, it was also noted that St. Paul Avenue serves as a truck route for both SJ Johnson and Hartmann North America, and together, with the presence of several nearby schools, already poses safety concerns in the area.
“There’s trucks going back and forth all the time and they’re always in conflict with the children,” said Ward 2 Councillor John Sless. “There’s three schools on that street and there are schools that feed into that street as well so there’s a lot of kids.”
Sless also mentioned then that the property abuts Dufferin Park and the conversion could create further conflict when it comes to the children trying to access it.
At the October 28 meeting, another four residents from the area showed up to urge Council to turn down the application.
Kaitlin Rafferty, who gathered over 300 signatures on a petition opposing the rezoning, said the City of Brantford’s Official Plan allows neighbourhood supporting uses only when they compliment the area and minimize the impacts.
“A commercial clinic operating from a house on a park’s edge does neither,” she said. “It changes the function of the property, introduces commercial traffic and undermines the very residential character the plan is meant to protect.”
Rafferty also said that she was opposed to any business going into that specific area, stating that Brant Avenue has already been established as the place for business.
Peter Moffat, who said he’s been living in the area for 27 years, later added that he was most concerned about the children trying to get to Dufferin Park.
“Kids come around the corner on bikes, and they’re anxious to get to the wonderful park that you’ve created,” he said. “When they come around the corner, they aren’t paying attention to people backing out. … So I’m really concerned that there’s a potential for tragic accidents with people who are unfamiliar with the area trying to back their cars up.”
Moffat also mentioned that during rush hour, traffic can be backed up on St. Paul from Brant Avenue all the way to Dufferin.
A short while later, Philip Midgley said that as a retired school administrator, he knows the importance of having access to mental health support for the population but he was opposed to the location of the clinic, saying that allowing it could later compromise the integrity of the neighbourhood.
“I’m concerned about the potential long-term effect of the danger precedent of rezoning a residence to commercial use in this area, as Dufferin is a unique street in the City with its many heritage homes,” he said. “…Do not set a precedent that could allow further incursion into the residential culture of the neighbourhood.”
He, along with Rafferty and John Docherty, also said that removing housing stock during a shortage would be unwise.
Following the delegations, councillors later expressed that they would be supporting the planning committee’s recommendation to turn down the application.
The vote to refuse the application was later carried unanimously.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
