Tecumseh residents had their say Tuesday evening on a proposed 332 unit residential development consisting of two L-shaped four to six storey apartment buildings, each containing 166 rental units, with suites ranging from studio to three bedrooms.
Petcon Realty Corp. is seeking to rezone a piece of land south of County Road 22 and east of Lesperance Road for the development, which is directly across from their current development of a five-storey hotel with 142-rooms, that started construction in March.
David Petretta, who is representing Petcon says this is a unique project because of the number of amenities it would offer.
"Talk about dog runs with indoor pet spas, indoor bike storage to promote mobility without using cars, bocce courts, theatre, golf simulator. All of these kind of amenities that help residents get themselves in smaller more affordable units, yet still have all that extra additional amenity space right within their community."
Two parking areas to the north and south of the apartment building would offer 405 parking spaces. The lots would eventually connect to Westlake Drive and Sylvestre Drive through a yet to built extension of the roads.
Until then, apartment residents would use Sylvestre Drive exclusively to enter and exit.
Lesperance Road resident Diana McGraw says traffic is horrendous and she believes someone will get hurt.
"I'm all for adding and building, but something needs to be done for the people that live here now that travel up and down this road. We pay our taxes. We need somebody to do something now, not in the future."
Doug Banfill lives at the corner of Lesperance Road and Westlake Drive.
He says presently there are considerable backups on Lesperance, and he believes the intersection cannot handle an increase in traffic.
"Drivers are yelling, they're honking their horns, they're making unsafe driving decisions. What they're doing a lot is they're leaving the primary lane and they're going out into the left hand turn lanes to get up to turn left on the expressway and I've seen too many close calls."
Mayor Gary McNamara says he too feels the frustration, but said change is not going to happen overnight.
"It's going to take three to four or five years for us to put those dollars at bay. I'd love to be able to do the work all in the next six months, but then when you get your tax bill in March you'll say 'Oh my gosh'."
McNamara asked for patience.
"When [County Road] 42 and 43 does open up and particularly 42, I'm hoping that that's going to relieve some of the pressure, that folks can find new ways of getting to work or home."
Administration will bring a report back to council that provides responses to the issues raised and recommendations on next steps.