Modular home company wants to add 'attainable housing' in Cookstown

A modular home company is hoping to get Innisfil council’s support to add to the town’s “attainable housing” stock this year.

Paul Kruetzer of Turnkey Modular Homes and Cottages spoke to councillors at a recent meeting, looking to provide additional clarity on what his company does and, following comments made at the previous council meeting in June, to help secure the five units of sewer allocation his company needs to move forward with its development of Royal Oak Estates.

“Our organization provides obtainable housing in Ontario and we do that by partnering with modular home parks throughout the province,” he said. “We’re putting brand-new homes in empty lots in those modular home communities.”

That doesn’t mean the plan is to put double-wides in the centre of Cookstown.

“When we talk about modular homes, these are built to the exact same specifications as a traditional stick-build house: two-by-six construction, significant amounts of insulation and so forth,” Kruetzer said. “This is not grandma’s trailer down in Florida — this is a proper house.”

The request for the sewer allocation was on the agenda at the June 28 meeting, with a staff recommendation to reallocate five units of existing unused allocation dedication for community benefit to 31 Victoria St. W. Council instead voted to defer a decision until September when more sewage units could become available.

Development in Cookstown is hindered by the existing sanitary sewer capacity of Cookstown's wastewater treatment plant. Since 2012, the town has had an allocation policy that outlines criteria for development to connect to the sanitary system, from which Royal Oak was offered five units of allocation, provided it had a building permit by March 31, 2015. That deadline passed and the allocation was rescinded.

A strategy was introduced the following year to provide interim allocation until improvement could permit additional capacity. That work led to an additional 81 units being made available in 2016. Of those, none are currently available for residential development until the middle of September, which is the last deadline for the remaining 32 units of allocation to be connected or lose approval. Eleven units are currently slotted for Cookstown Public School and seven are labelled as community benefit.

If Turnkey’s request had been approved in June, it would have meant a shortfall in available allocation for commercial uses, meaning a proposed new restaurant in Cookstown would be out of luck, as it required six allocation units.

That was one of the reasons why Coun. Fred Drodge initially wanted to delay approval.

“I ultimately think that we should keep these five units as a community benefit,” Drodge said. “I do know that there is a current restaurant that is trying to get permits and doing the proper channels so I believe we should leave it as it is and let them stay as community.”

Drodge was echoing Rob Nicol, the former councillor for the Cookstown ward, who spoke in open form at the June 28 meeting in opposition to the allocation.

“There's very limited sewer allocation for Cookstown and your control of these five of seven total units should be for the benefit of the entire community and not one just one property,” Nicol said.

“I understand there's at least one current commercial applicant that is not circumventing the rules," he added, "and I don't think it's appropriate to tell any other legitimate applications to wait until September so you can leapfrog these five residential units especially when we do have other attainable and rental units with allocation in Cookstown or anticipated to secure their permits by September.”

But Drodge had a change of heart over the summer, after attending a barbecue hosted by Turnkey and watching representatives from the organization, including Kruetzer, interact with the dozens of residents who attended.

“I have to give it to Turnkey Modular, they answered every question they had," the councillor said. "They even went as far to say that as soon as they have some of their machinery there, they might be able to address some issues for drainage and whatnot on the back of these properties that residents of Royal Oak have been trying to deal with for several years.

“I am in support of this project, now that I’ve spoken to Paul, and I believe all the residents of Royal Oak have had good conversations," Drodge added. "I do believe that, come September, if there are any allocations, we should strongly look at supporting Turnkey Modulars.”

The barbecue was to “build rapport” with the residents in the community, Kruetzer said. If his company receives sewer allocation, it’s his hope to back up that rapport with action.

“Should the township [sic] provide us with that allocation, I’m committed to start the building permit process immediately, as soon as I’m allowed to,” he said. “My expectation is that those five homes would be placed on engineered concrete pads by the end of November and likely with new homeowners in them.”