LANGFORD – Andy Atwal and his family will have to wait before they can breathe a bit easier, because Brant County councillors have given a conditional green light to their plan to improve operations at the Brantford Mushroom Farm.
After several meetings and deferrals over the past two years, the planning advisory committee endorsed — after more than an hour's debate Wednesday — the application the family filed in 2010 to rezone their property to allow an expansion to enhance of some aspects of the business.
That includes two additions to the production operation and one addition to the home, which the extended family lives in next store.
But the committee also imposed a condition that a draft site plan agreement —which the staff had drawn up in an attempt to satisfy the objections some neighbours — must also be in final form for approval, along with an opinion from the county’s solicitor, at the Aug. 1 meeting.
In an interview after the vote, Atwal said he is withholding comment at this time, on the advice of his agents.
At issue are concerns expressed by neighbours about the handling of runoff water into a drainage ditch at the front of the property, as well as landscaping, buffering, grading and the location of structures.
Clauses in the site plan agreement address those concerns, and will require the Atwals to test and monitor the storm water runoff from the site and monitor the water quality. The agreement also stipulates the processes that the owner has to follow to deal with problems.
The Atwals will be responsible for paying for modifications to a culvert to ensure that the water does not go on the property of neighbour Paul Singh.
The agreement will be registered on title.
The family has paid about $160,000 rectifying some deficiencies to bring the water management system up to standards. The modifications to come will bring the total investment cost to about $600,000.
A major aspect of the expansion is a canopy along the back to improve truck delivery and hauling.
Neighbour Edward Ozog complained that the size of the operation is already “way beyond” the normally allowed lot coverage of 10%. He noted that an ontario Municipal Decision decision in 1999 allowed the lot coverage to increase to about 22%.
“The super huge canopy” that the Atwals want to build is actually an enclosure that will increase the lot coverage beyond what the OMB decision approved, Ozog argued.
