Caivan’s proposal to create a 2,500-person, 940-home subdivision has been met with intense pushback from the Perth community. Creating the development as it is proposed would mean a 30% increase in the town’s population in an area not well suited for such large growth. Among the serious concerns:

• Not enough access to public services

• The entrance to the subdivision is currently planned to be exclusively located to one area and over a bridge. This is projected to cause: 

  • Severe traffic in the downtown core

  • A crisis of access or egress should the bridge be blocked for any reason.

• Poor living quality for people living at the access point

• Reduced traffic to the shops in a town where tourism is part of its main economy

• No plans for public transportation (which would greatly improve the quality of life of many residents and reduce greenhouse gases)

• No affordable housing suggested 

• The proposal contravenes Perth’s Climate Action Plan as the development does not fully take advantage of street and house orientation for solar gain 

• Setbacks are limited and the only place for trees is on Town land, putting the cost and onus on taxpayers to green the subdivision 

• Fossil fuels will be used to heat the new development (as opposed to building net-zero homes using electricity) and no peer review of the energy proposal has been brought forward by the Town – despite the need to end the building of fossil fuel infrastructure by 2025 and Lanark County’s commitment to eliminate fossil fuels in its Climate Action Plan 

• Wetlands are to be drained

CNL encourages our supporters to not only attend the next Special Committee of the Whole taking place in September, but to write to the Director of Development Services, Joanna Bowes, with any of the concerns listed above (or others). She can be reached at jbowes@perth.ca

The minutes of the meeting can be found on the Town of Perth website, or following this link. The Caivan proposal can be found at this link, under Current Applications. https://www.perth.ca/en/do-business/Planning-Services.aspx