County of Brant Council received information in regards to a zoning by-law amendment and a proposed plan of subdivision for the north side of Paris during its regular Council meeting on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.
The subject lands in question are located on the north side of Woodslee Avenue and south of Hartley Avenue, and the 11.16 acre lot is currently vacant.
The concept plan for the development consists of 288 residential dwellings including: 90 traditional townhouses, 48 back-to-back townhouses, and 150 units within two seven-storey mix-use buildings, of which 35 have been designated for affordable housing. The plan also includes ground-floor commercial space within the two buildings and a nearby park area.
Both the regular townhouses and the back-to-back townhouses will feature two parking spaces each (one in the garage and one in the driveway), as well as additional visitor parking.
For the two seven-storey buildings, each of the market units will have access to one parking space, and there are 18 spaces slotted for the 35 affordable units. There will also be 60 parking spaces for both visitors and commercial use.
Odete Gomes, a senior project manager with Arcadis Professional Services, spoke on behalf of the developer, Pinevest Homes Inc., telling Council that the owner was looking to have the property rezoned from light industrial to residential multiple medium density in order for the development to start moving forward.
Bob Stewart of Pinevest Homes said that the company has been hard at work to come up with a plan that works well for the area.
“We’ve been working at this one for quite some time,” he said. “We’ve been trying to develop a plan that checks all the boxes within that Official Plan, including the affordable housing units, … and we think we’ve found a plan that works well for the area.”
According to the County’s Official Plan, the subject lands fall within a special policy area that requires affordable housing units and for the developer to enter into an agreement with the County to ensure they are provided.
During the meeting, Mayor David Bailey opened the floor for a public meeting, allowing residents to share their thoughts on the proposal.
Andrew Guiducci of Molten Metallurgy Inc., spoke on behalf of himself and his father Ted. The two own and operate manufacturing facilities on the lands nearby the proposed development, and Guiducci said they were in opposition of the zone change.
“There’s a significant need for small industry opportunities and you’re taking this away by zoning something that currently is zoned M2 [light industrial] and changing it into residential,” he said. “There’s not a lot of businesses left in the area of the north end and we need the right type of businesses, but you can’t do that if you don’t have the lands. …It’s kind of tough to have a community if there’s no employers. People have to work and you need to have places for them to work.”
He went on to say that proposed rezoning would ultimately eliminate potential businesses that qualify under the existing zoning, and that it would be detrimental to the existing employers in the area. The encroachment of residential units, with no buffer zones between industrial lands, would lead to complaints about noise, truck traffic, odor, and visual appeal.
“Even when the complaints are found to be false or baseless, the disruption, stress and aggravation to the industries are detrimental,” continued Guiducci.
He said that if Council did proceed with the zone change, he would ask that a few things be done.
“Please carry out a full environmental impact study in cooperation with the MOE [Ministry of Environment] and the existing industries or their delegates. We’ve spoken to the industries in the area, our neighbours, and they are all opposed to this,” said Guiducci. “They are all fearful of the same thing so we would ask to identify the potential factors that could impact the welfare of the existing industries, and after this study is completed, [we ask that] a detailed plan to address the concerns and factors of that study, be taken into consideration and implemented; for example, that a tree hedge, berm, a sound wall, fencing or other requirements with proper signage and due diligence be required.”
Later, Councillor Steve Howes said he was thankful that the Guiduccis were able to share their perspective from the business side of things. He also asked if there was an opportunity to create a buffer and Stewart said that Pinevest Homes would be happy to work with the County to figure something out that works for everyone.
Councillor Lukas Oakley said that he ultimately was happy to hear that affordable housing was being worked into the project.
“This is largely, I think, encapsulating everything that we’ve asked for in our Official Plan in what we want in a proposed subdivision,” he said. “The affordable housing, mixed-use, it’s everything we’ve been asking for.”
After various comments and questions from other councillors, Council voted to receive the information about the re-zoning application and the proposed plan of subdivision, and staff will continue to review the application.
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.
