Controversial development gets underway on Lake Wanapitei

Construction has finally begun on a lakefront development four years after Sudbury city council refused to make a decision.

Facing an angry backlash from neighbours in 2012, council avoided giving a thumbs up or down to the 17 lots along Scarlet Drive, to be built on a rocky point jutting out into Lake Wanapitei, not far from the village of Skead.

The developer, 1814777 Ontario Ltd., appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board and won the following year.

• Ontario Municipal Board dismisses Dalron's Minnow Lake building plans
• Ramsey Lake development heads to Ontario Municipal Board

But the board has had to settle several more disputes between the builder and the city, including the number of streetlights required.

Marc Kemerer, the developer's lawyer, said his client has spent the last few years fighting the city on the specifics of his plans, which all had to be settled by the municipal board.

The most recent was a city requirement to put in 18 streetlights.

"[The city] refused to demonstrate any flexibility on that, requiring us to go to the Ontario Municipal Board," Kemerer said, "that is very frustrating."

He said too often councils leave decisions up to the provincial body, which drags the process on.

"In this case it was frustrating that it was deferred and that delayed required that we appeal to the board.," Kemerer said.

Despite the delays, Kemerer said the 17 houses should be built by this fall.

The Wanapitei development is one of several controversial waterfront housing projects to come before city council in recent years, with proposals for McCharles Lake and Long Lake getting rejected.

A plan for 150 houses and condos on Lake Ramsey off Keast Drive will be settled by the municipal board as well.

City council approved the University Park, but the developer has appealed, wanting permission to build more homes and feeling that the city treated him unfairly.