Roseland Drive residents push back against proposed development

Residents on Roseland Drive are petitioning against a proposed townhouse development. CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco has more.

Esam Saeed and a group of Roseland residents canvassed their neighbourhood asking for opinions on a proposed 16 townhouse development that may be built on the former site of St. James Church.

“95 per cent they said no to the project,” Saeed told CTV News.

“RD 1.4, single family houses. That’s what we are looking for. We’re not against building houses. We are against building townhouses, to be clear.”The property is like an island in the middle of the South Windsor neighbourhood in the Roseland area. Saeed would like to see the integrity of the neighbourhood kept intact with custom built homes rather than townhouses. “I think we’ve struck a good balance between density and concern for the neighbourhood,” said Dave Petretta, president of Petcon Realty, who told CTV News he has been sensitive to the residents of the neighbourhood because he grew up across the street.

“The reason I bought it was to make sure there was some control in what happened there in terms of traffic, design, in terms of how things fit within the character of the neighbourhood.”Petretta said the intent is not to turn the townhomes into rental units.

“There’s no intent for transient occupancy, at least not for me. Certainly, even the price points they’re going to sell for, it’s just not economically viable to make these rental units,”Saeed worries some units could be bought as an investment.

“Are you going to put a condition that you cannot rent it out? No. Nobody can do that so the new owners of these 16 units will do whatever they want.”Saeed also worries the project decrease property values and increase traffic in the neighbourhood. The city’s Development and Heritage Standing Committee approved the proposal earlier this month. Saeed has started a petition and plans to present it on Jan. 12 when city council votes on the proposal. “Hopefully the councillor will listen to us.” he said.

City Councillor Fred Francis sits on the Heritage Committee and voted in favour of the proposal.

“City Council approved the city’s development on Roseland Golf Course which is a four or five-storey building which is way more intrusive and impactful and doesn’t fit the character of the neighbourhood so if City Council has a problem with this, then they’re certainly going to have to have a problem with that,” Francis said.