Residents on St. Patrick Avenue in Windsor will be switching from a septic system to a sanitary sewer system due to a property rezoning being approved.
During Tuesday's meeting, council voted in favour of approving a rezoning by-law for the lands located on the east side of St. Patrick's Avenue for semi-detached dwellings on two properties.
Delegates who attended the meeting weren't concerned with the build itself, but their worry is that in order for residential units to be built on any street in Windsor, a sanitary sewer needs to be installed, and most residents on the avenue only have a septic system.
Jacky Ng, architectural designer for the applicant, stated during the meeting that if the zoning amendment for the semi-detached dwellings were denied, the developer would switch to single detached dwelling, which would be approved by council and the sanitary sewer system would be installed regardless.
Now that the rezoning was approved, residents on St. Patrick between Tecumseh Road West and Algonquin Street will be required to switch to the sanitary sewer system, which would cost between $16,000 and $51,000 according to the City of Windsor.
Cynthia Williams, a resident in the area, says going from sewer to storm drain connection is a lot of money.
"The cost of that is anywhere from $16,000 to upwards of $30,000. The second scenario is for sanitary sewer, those people on septic tanks currently, they cost $16,000 to $50,000. You know, I want to be really clear here, that type of money is a huge financial impact for the residents in this area."
Jacky Ng, architectural designer for the applicant, says if the zoning amendment failed, they would proceed with construction of single units, which would bypass the need for amendments if the new application was approved.
"And the construction of sanitary connection would commence immediately in full compliance with the by-law. And in this case, the neighbour would have no opportunity to impede this process, or these objections, instead they would be obligated to comply with the by-law and connect with the new sanitary system."
Kieran McKenzie, ward 9 councillor, says it is policy for new developments to be on the sanitary sewer system.
"When we have any development coming forward, in order for development to proceed, new housing, the developer has to build in the sanitary sewer capacity, and that's the same for any new development that's coming forward across the community."
He says the initial investment to switch to the sanitary sewer is at the homeowners expense, but they can finance the cost through their property taxes over a 20-year span.
"Most times we give them up to a year, there would be certain instances depending on the age of their septic system that we would allow them a longer grace period in order to hook into that sanitary sewer. But, for the most part once the sewer becomes available to be hooked into, the resident must hook into it at their expense."
McKenzie says he understands the cost is a lot, but there are benefits to switching to the sewer system.
"It actually increases the value of their home, yes, they're going to absorb costs associated with the connection, and they're not insignificant I'm cognitive of that, and also they'll be the cost to decommissioning the existing septic system, which was the cost they were going to incur at one point or another regardless whether or not this initiative was going to go forward."
The report was originally brought forward to the Development and Heritage Standing Committee and was denied by members, however the report still needed city council approval or denial.
In terms of when those residents would need to switch over to the sanitary sewer system, McKenzie says everything will now be on the developers schedule in terms of proceeding.
He says the construction will be done through the developer, and the timeline will depend on when they get started.