A property across from the Unifor Centre in Port Elgin could soon be protected by the Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy.
This week, council agreed with the Wark estate’s request for a zoning bylaw amendment for the roughly seven acres of natural heritage lands along Bruce Road 25.
Part of the mostly wooded land will be an environmental protection area through its transfer to the biosphere conservancy, and part of it will be developed for residential use.
Deputy Mayor Diane Huber said during the October 16th council meeting, “I just wanted to express my appreciation to the Wark family for seeing this as a good way to contribute to the future of a community that obviously means something very special to them.”
Vice Deputy Mayor Mike Myatt, called it wonderful, adding, “It’s just good planning.” He said, “it’s just incredible that those lands are going to be protected conservation lands in perpetuity.”
Councillor Bud Halpin added, “People in Saugeen Shores really do care about the environment. This is just another example of ways that people are making good decisions and really contributing to our natural legacy, so hats off to the Warks for doing this.”
Mayor Luke Charbonneau noted, “This is how we preserve the woodlands in the community. By striking a balance between development on the developable land and preserving woodlands at the same time.”
He added, “It’s a good model. We’ve already done it in many circumstances and it’s a model that we can achieve for the future. I hop both council and developers will all look at this going forward and use this as a bit of a template to say, ‘I own a piece of wooded land, here’s how I might propose to develop it so that I can find something that council might support and the community might support.”