Goderich council has deferred a decision on a potential housing development at the Maitland River Golf and Resort Park until later this month.
Owners Heidi and Jim Peever applied to have some of the lands rezoned to allow a resort park on their property. Their proposal included adding a maximum of 68 mobile home units to the course, by moving the second and third holes.
"We made a promise to the membership that we would do everything that we possibly can to make sure that this property continues to run as a recreational facility," Jim Peever told council. "And to do so, we have lost money every year, to the tune of almost 200,000 last year and 100,000 this year, which we're floating to try to keep this property operational and keep it in the community and keep it what we promised it to be. So for us, this is the opportunity to be able to make this property look after itself so it can be sustained."
The proposal prompted an over two-hour discussion at Monday's meeting, with six members of the public speaking in favour of it, and ten opposing it.
Concerns with the project varied from the impact on endangered species in that area, to the cost of servicing the resort park to the fact that the housing wasn't going to be available year-round.
Owner Jim Peever said at this point in the application, he couldn't confirm if the units would be open during the winter.
Many of the public who spoke also noted they were only made aware of the meeting at the last minute.
Town staff told council they only sent notice to residents within a 120 metres of the affected area as required by the Planning Act.
Mayor Trevor Bazinet said it was an area they should look to improve going forward.
Council deferred the decision until its November 27 meeting, with the town's senior planner noting its the biggest application received this term.
