Rural cluster growth is not in the cards, according to West Lincoln planning director Brian Treble.
But that didn’t stop residents of Caistor Centre and Fulton from taking a stand at a public meeting July 14.

The meeting, held to give the public another chance to voice their concerns over rural cluster boundary mapping, filled the council chambers to overflowing.

Up for further debate were the clusters of Abingdon, Caistor Centre, Fulton and Westbrook Road.
Map lines for Attercliffe, Bismarck, Boyle, East Boyle, Grimsby Centre, Kimbo, Regional Road 12, Warner and Winslow have already been OK’d.

“This is to map the areas of existing settlement,” Treble explained. Following the mapping, any expansion will need to go through a five-year review process. He also reminded residents the province maintains all expansion should be done on full services.

Caistor Centre resident Ruth Griffin pushed for a slight extension to the cluster’s map lines to include up to Caistor Central Public School, which would then take in their farm property by default.

“I always thought we lived in downtown Caistor Centre,” Griffin told aldermen. She said because of the school, she and her husband, Ross, are unable to intensive farm, so it “made sense for them to be part of development, if it is not possible to return Caistor to a hamlet.”

Ald. Mary Dinga supported Griffin’s proposal, saying she didn’t see a problem with putting the school in the boundary. Ald. Mike Rehner also supported the move, instructing Treble to pursue the change under regional policy.

But Treble countered by saying the addition of the school into the cluster boundary would also add 10 in-fill sites, which would be a concern for the Region.

“It’s not as simple as drawing a line on a map,” said Treble. “There’s quite a justification process we have to deal with. We now have to conform to provincial and regional policy (and) the province has become much more ‘in your face’ to focus growth in fully-serviced areas.”

Risto Mijatovic, owner of Fulton’s convenience store, also came before aldermen with concerns with Fulton being labeled a rural cluster.

“It was always a hamlet,” he said. “I was completely oblivious to the ruling because whenever I inquired, that’s what was in the books.”

He owns three lots on the south side of Highway 20, directly across from the convenience store, which, according to a map in his possession, were within the Fulton boundary. According to the new cluster maps, however, they are no longer part of the cluster.

Ald. Rehner wondered why Caistorville was still considered a hamlet, when its prime venue is a library, as opposed to Fulton’s feed mill, convenience store and gas bar.

“Hamlets don’t have services like water or sewer either, so what gives?” he asked Treble. “I have difficulty defining Fulton as a cluster.”

Treble said a hamlet review will also be part of staff’s mission as part of its five-year review. Currently, West Lincoln contains four of them – Caistorville, Grassie, St. Anns and Wellandport.
Clusters are smaller and residential in nature, he explained, while hamlets are larger in scale, providing more services. Clusters are also defined as having 500 metres of frontage onto roads.
Treble added that cluster boundaries do not change the zoning distinctions on properties in or outside of the cluster lines.

Mayor Katie Trombetta again questioned the Westbrook Road cluster, which was created in 1998 in the township’s Official Plan.

“It baffles my mind when you have six lots and are considering that a cluster,” she said. “Yet, we have the school in Caistor Centre and that’s not included.”

“In the future, we may need to expand that cluster to make it consistent.”

Treble said Wednesday that staff will now draft a couple of alternative boundary maps to send to the region to see what regional staff would be willing to support.