Nov 05, 2009 - 10:40 AM

By Reka Szekely

AJAX -- A three-year battle between one of Ajax's biggest developers and the Town ended last month with the Town claiming at least a partial victory, proving, says the mayor, the Town is willing to go toe-to-toe with developers.

At issue was 100 net acres north of Rossland Road, along Salem Road. The lands are zoned for employment but Beechridge Farms, made up of developers Runnymede and Tribute, had applied to re-zone them residential. When the Town declined to do so, the case went to the Ontario Municipal Board.

Initially, the OMB ruled in favour of the property owners,

"We felt that decision was unfair, it was prejudiced, it was biased, we went to the municipal board and asked them to review it and give us a new hearing," said Ajax Mayor Steve Parish.

In September, the OMB ruled that 70 per cent of the land should remain for employment and 30 per cent will be converted to residential, allowing for 228 homes. Mayor Parish said this means about 1,050 high-paying jobs for the Town.

"We would have much preferred to save all of those employment lands, we are certainly pleased we saved most of it," said the mayor.

Meanwhile, representatives from Runnymede say they're going to accept the decision.

"We are pleased that the board saw fit to acknowledge the shortfall in residential (space) and provide a significant portion of the lands for residential use and we look forward to providing a quality residential community along with a quality employment community adjacent to it," said Glen Murphy, vice-president of land development and planning for Runnymede.

The three-year process has cost more than $1 million for each side.

"I'm sure we're both reluctant to have spent that much but it appears we've come to the end of the process and are both accepting of this decision," said Mr. Murphy.

Mayor Parish said the Town's willingness to fight also saved what's now called the Higgins lands, a 50-acre site just south of Harwood Avenue and Rossland Road. While the Beechridge fight was ongoing, an application to convert those lands from employment to residential was withdrawn. The land was sold to Higgins Development Partners, which is planning 650,000 square feet of employment space. Last month, the mayor was all smiles as the first portion opened, a 100,000-square-foot business park.

He has strong words for developers.

"It's well known in the development community that Ajax takes its official plan very seriously ... and if you want to go to war about it, go to war about it because we will not back down, and not just on our official plan, but all our policies," he said.

Another recent bold step by the Town was a move to expropriate a piece of land located at the southwest corner of Harwood Avenue and Bayly Street. The developers had proposed two drive-thrus and a restaurant, not the gateway to the downtown Ajax officials were hoping for.

"You have in the very centre of Ajax, in the very centre of its downtown, nine acres of undeveloped land, that's first of all unheard of in a municipality, in the middle of a downtown ... the developer was fixated on three conventional buildings which we saw as a total under-utilization of this land," said Paul Allore, Ajax's director of planning and development services.

The developer has said the battle over the land will cost the Town millions but, as the experience with Beechridge has shown, it looks like Ajax is willing to pay, though Mr. Allore said it's not likely to cost that much.

But despite high-profile disputes, Mr. Allore says Ajax generally has a good relationship with developers and as for the cases that land before the OMB, that's just business.

He points out Ajax has led Durham in growth in recent years with the population swelling from 36,550 in 1986 to about 95,000 now.

"With that growth comes a number of challenges working with developers, first we've had very good builders in town who have very good products and we've working together for our common goals," said Mr. Allore. "We have an excellent relationship with the development community and you could call any one of them and they could tell you."

Tribute and Runnymede together have built more than 5,000 homes in Ajax in the last decade, Mr. Murphy said, including award-winning communities such as Nottingham, Lakeside, Imagination and the Hamlet.

"Going forward, especially with the amount of employment land in our inventories, we look forward to improved relations with the Town as we have a mutual interest in bringing employment-generating companies into the town together," said Mr. Murphy.

Mr. Allore said developers have paid the up-front costs of several construction projects including the extension of Salem Road from Rossland Road to Taunton Road, paid for by Great Gulf Homes. The Town will repay the developers, but without the front-end payment, it would have taken five years longer to get the road built. Another example is a bridge over Carruthers Creek on Williamson Drive which was front-ended by Tribute.

The last major piece of undeveloped residential land sits in northwest Ajax in the Church Street area. It's owned by Coughlin Homes and the plan is for about 600 units with new residents unpacking moving boxes in late 2010 at the earliest.

Scott Collins, the company's president, said the process to get a development approved is becoming increasingly difficult, but Ajax isn't much different from other local municipalities.

"I would say it's essentially the same."

With Ajax a shorter commute to Toronto than Whitby or Oshawa, the location is desirable, said Mr. Collins, and the fact that it's one of the last undeveloped areas in Ajax also helps as well.

"If there isn't a whole lot of other products available, it makes your site that much more desirable to people," he said.