Neighbours were set to have their say before 91原创 Township council considers a proposed 63-home subdivision near Tall Timber Estates.

On Monday, June 26, council decided to delay any decision on a proposed rezoning that would add a significant number of homes on a lot in the 5700-block of 240th Street, in the largely rural Salmon River Uplands area.

Council will now only debate and vote after a public information hearing, which was scheduled for Wednesday, July 12, was held.

The project envisions the 63 houses across a 44.5-acre (18-hectare) site north of 56th Avenue.

The original development in the area, Tall Timber Estates, was built on the sloping land running down from the 5800-block of 240th Street in the early 1980s.

Since then, there have been multiple proposals for developing more lots nearby, on the flatter land at the top of the hill near 240th Street and 56th Avenue. Some of the plans included other parcels of land nearby of varying sizes.

There were proposals in the late 1980s, in 2015, and again in 2021. Most of the plans have been either rejected or have stalled for various reasons.

READ ALSO: Tall Timbers 2.0?

The most recent application before this one, in 2021, was to develop the land into 39 lots.

After that proposal, the owner sold the land and the new owners have applied for this new project, increasing the number of houses, but dedicating 20 per cent of all the land to the Township for a greenspace buffer around the site, as well as paths that could connect to other trails through the existing Tall Timber Estates, and potentially north towards Williams Park and south towards D.W. Poppy Secondary.

The lots would range in size from about 0.43 acres to 0.64 acres, with an average of 1.4 homes per acre.

If approved, the developer would provide $8 million to the Township鈥檚 Community Amenity Contribution (CAC) fund, which goes towards features such as parks and rec centres.

There are about 4,212 trees on the property. If the project is approved, 2,205 of those would be within the preserved area given to the Township.

Mayor Eric Woodward noted that under the existing rural zoning, the owner could subdivide the area into acreages without any Township input.

The other option is to have a rezoning process, which allows greater density but also allows the Township to preserve some land and trees while gaining CAC funding.

鈥� Incorrect information about the number of lots that could be built without rezoning appeared in an earlier version of this story. That information has been corrected.