The Word Of The Week – Agrihood

Jeff Green | Oct 25, 2023

An agrihood is a planned community that integrates agriculture into a residential community. The concept is about 10 years old and there are about 100 agrihoods in the United States in various stages of development.

And there may be one coming in South Frontenac.

As part of its work to finalise its new Official Plan, South Frontenac Council listened to a presentation from representatives of the Oskar Group consulting firm and the Maybank Group, who are the owners of what was described to Council, as likely the largest privately owned piece of land in the township, a 352 hectare (close to 900 acre) parcel, whose northern edge is about 1.4 kilometres south of Inverary.

The property is bounded by Perth Road to the west, Holmes Road to the north, Lakefield Drive to the east and Spooner Road and Collins Lake to the south.

A plan of subdivision, initiated in 2012, to create 54 lots on about 180 acres of the property bordering Lakeland Drive, was not supported by township staff in 2021, mainly on the grounds that development of this type would be more appropriate within one of the township's settlement areas, rather than in one designated as rural.

Instead of seeking to extend the Inverary settlement area, in order to accommodate the development, the advocates decided to explore the concept of an agrihood. A portion of the land is already being farmed under contract by Jody Campbell. The proposal is to maintain that farming operation, create the 54 lot subdivision as originally proposed at the eastern edge of the property, and also create a much larger community on the western portion of the property, with a mix of semi-detached and row housing.

It would make use of communal servicing for water and sewage, and create additional agricultural opportunities on the site for small, diverse agricultural operations in addition to the existing farm.

To that end, the Oskar Group, which works with Maybank, has partnered with the Ontario Farmland Trust and Elephant Thoughts, an organisation focused on youth, as part of the concept behind what is now being called the “Kinlands” development.

The presentation to Council was designed to support some of the final work on the new Official Plan, and not as a formal proposal for council approval, but the potential scale of the project was certainly noted by council members.

The development would proceed in phases, over at least a ten year period, and would require studies and approvals at various stages along the way. The first phase is aproval for the 54 lot subdivision with traditional lots, but soon after, 300-400 units are planned as a minimum for the development to be viable. It includes farm related retail and other commercial elements added into the mix.

Councillor Ruttan asked how big the project could be.

Are we talking 500 homes, 1,000 homes, like how many people are going to be living there?” he asked.

Pancy Pong from the Oskar group said that “there are a number of factors that come into play before we can answer that question. The studies with each phase of the project will tell us what we can support, and market studies will tell us how many people are looking to live in this development as well. We are looking at three or four hundred as a minimum, but obviously we want to build as many as we can within the limits that we encounter,” she said.

Mayor Vandewal said “there has always been a rumour that there is a water permit from Collins Lake. Is that the case?”

The answer was that there is no water taking permit on record.

“Water is going to determine what can be built there,” Vandewal added, "it always does.”

A staff report outlined how the project can be supported within the context of the Official Plan and the Provincial Policy statement, which was the main reason for the presentation, and given the proposed 10 year roll out, a series of applications for Council's approval can be expected over the next few years.

But the scale of the Kinsland Agrihood development is well beyond anything that the township has dealt with in the past. The township currently sees about $40 million in construction a year, and even at 300 homes, the scale of the Kinsland development would dwarf all other current or contemplated projects in the township.