OUTCRY BURIES HUDSON BYLAW
A bylaw proposed in Hudson that would have drastically limited land development and construction near wetlands has been taken off the table following fierce public outcry, confirmed the councillor who had spearheaded the idea.
Austin Rikely-Krindle said while he and other members of council remain concerned about the environmental impact of housing developments in and around wetlands such as the Como Bog, the backlash from current homeowners was so intense that council has decided a cooling-off period is in order.
“Currently, the bylaw is dead,” he said. “Hopefully it’ll come back soon but it’s hard to tell, as the will of council is sometimes hard to predict.”
The proposed bylaw would have imposed a 30-metre buffer zone restricting development on land adjacent to territory designated as wetland.
Councillor Jim Duff, a vocal opponent of the bylaw, said as many as one-quarter of Hudson properties would have been affected.
Rikely-Krindle said that he and the other councillors who supported the bylaw had intended that there would be a “grandfather clause” for homeowners with properties backing onto creeks and wetlands that would have allowed them the acquired right to continue using their properties. An amended version of the bylaw would have included language to address homeowners’ concerns by clarifying these rights, he said.
“The original intention of the bylaw was to limit further encroachment on wetlands, but the right to repair and use their property, including rebuilding, was supposed to be allowed,” he added.
Rikely-Krindle said he feared that putting the bylaw on the back burner could now trigger a rash of permit requests to build in sensitive areas near wetlands, now that landowners know that council is looking at ways to limit development in these areas. Council may be powerless to refuse permit requests that meet current regulations, he said, especially if developers already have the certificate of authorization to build from the provincial Ministry of Environment.
Rikely-Krindle introduced the bylaw in response to public concerns about the impact of developments in areas like the Como Bog and Sandy Beach. While he said the bylaw was not aimed at stopping any particular development, it was intended to give town council the ability to refuse new developments in sensitive ecosystems. The pushback from the public caught him and other councillors by surprise, he said.
“I thought the voices in support would be louder than what they were,” he added.