Residents opposing duplex in Myrtleville area

BrantNews.com
Sept. 13, 2014
By Victoria Gray

Myrtleville area residents don't want duplexes in their neighbourhood.

Chuck Balazs and Lorraine Cromwell gave a deposition at City of Brantford's committee-of-the-whole meeting on Tuesday evening to voice the concerns of having multiple family dwellings in the area.

“The bottom line is out there in the Myrtleville area we have a very nice, cozy, safe neighbourhood. Property values are sky rocketing. It's a very desirable area to be in. We know all our neighbours and what to expect,” Balazs said.

In response council directed staff to review and look into making an amendment to the second dwelling bylaw and related bylaws to safeguard single dwelling property owners.

An Oakville resident recently purchased the home at 199 Balmoral Drive and has renovated it to include two units. One of which is rented to a man with two young children and almost 30 residents have signed a petition to see to it that homes in the area are forced to remain single family dwellings.

“With two units rented out, no way, I mean it's not the crowd. We are zoned single family occupancy. A lot of people work their butts off to get that area we want to keep it that way. When you open the area to renters you're going to have obviously good people but I'm sure you're going to have people of questionable character too,” Balazs said.

Cromwell said she's terrified a fire will break out because the house's electrical system can't handle the load being used by two units.

“With two fridges, two laundry facilities and two electric stoves, I just can't imagine it' built to handle that,” she said.

She was also concerned about the family getting out during a fire because there is only one exit and she wouldn't want to see the children trying to jump out the windows.

“I just can't see a two-year-old climbing out a window,” she said.

Balazs said property maintenance has gone down hill since the landlord took ownership and Cromwell left a note asking the owner and tenant to take pride in their property as the rest of the neighbours did and mow the grass.

“It's been mowed twice since July, but they left the clippings in the backyard,” she said.
Ward 2 councillors John Utley and John Sless commended neighbours for being diligent and digging into building permits and electrical permits and told them to keep an eye on the property and let bylaw officers know when work was being done.

“It's nice to see so many residents here tonight, it's good to know this is a community initiative,” Sless said.

Ward one councillor Rick Weaver cautioned council not to marginalize new Canadians or people with multiple families in one home.

“In Ward 1 we have very large dwellings, newer homes, that new Canadians as part of their culture have multi-generational families living in one dwelling I don't want to cause issues for them moving forward,” he said.