Avery optimistic Pointe Estates will happen

Sault Ste. Marie developer Jeff Avery has told SooToday.com he is optimistic his vision of a unique, 91-lot rural estate subdivision for Sault Ste. Marie will someday become a reality.

The Pointe Estates development would be located south of Pointe Aux Pins Drive, west of Dalgleish Road, north of Alagash Drive and Pointe Louise Drive, near the idyllic area pictured here.

The area is 102 hectares (252 acres) in size, and was purchased by Avery and his wife, Dr. Patricia Avery, in variously-sized parcels in 1984, 1987, 1995 and 2004 respectively.  

The neighbourhood would have docks for boats, allow for winter activities such as skiing, and trails.

All of this only a few minutes drive from Sault Ste. Marie and its Airport.

Avery told us he purchased the land “with the dream that someday we would do a development similar to what you would see in Petoskey or Indian River, Florida.”

Avery shared with us the story of his dream, along with the mixture of his frustration and optimism, as he continues to face opposition from a group of Pointe Louise Drive residents known collectively as the Pointes Protection Association (PPA).

That group has long maintained that the Pointe Estates subdivision would adversely impact the quality and quantity of the area’s water supply.

The group has taken the Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority (SSMRCA) to court, claiming its Board failed to do its duty to protect wetlands when, in a 3-2 recorded vote, it approved Avery’s proposal at its December 13, 2012 meeting.    

A hearing at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice Divisional Court in Sudbury will address that issue in October.

While the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) classifies the area’s wetlands as “not provincially significant,” the PPA feels the wetlands are significant enough to take legal action.

Sault Ste. Marie City Council, in a 7-4 recorded vote, rejected Avery’s Pointe Estates subdivision application at its July 15 meeting, despite a lengthy City staff report describing the proposal as desirable.

That staff report recommended approval of the project.

Avery has filed an appeal of Council’s decision with the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

An OMB hearing will likely take place in Sault Ste. Marie six to eight months from now. 

While the PPA has armed itself with the advice of environmental experts recommending caution, Avery, for his part, has carried out no less than 21 studies that support proceeding with Pointe Estates.

The opposition stems from NIMBYism on the part of the PPA, Avery and his daughter (Project Coordinator) Amanda Avery told us.

Sudbury-based Great Lakes Environmental performed a wetland study in connection to Pointe Estates in 2004.

Once the study was completed, the scoring for the wetland was below the threshold for what is considered “provincially significant.”

“I was led to believe that was the green light to allow me to go forward with the development,” Avery said.

Regardless, the NIMBYism, Avery said, began with the first open house for Pointe Estates in 2006, and the PPA formed in 2008.

“I explained to them you will be getting a new road, a shorter distance from your house to Airport Road and a new, vibrant community.”

“We need a vibrant community.  It’s very stale out there, with few kids.”

Avery said: “That was the beginning of how the opposition started.  Some people have dropped off, but others continue their battle.”

Battle conditions notwithstanding, Avery says “we truly believe in the development.”

“We think it’s a great development for the community, a way of life, built near the water.”

“That’s what we’re trying to establish out there, a quality of life neighbourhood that will make it inviting to people to come back to the City or invite new people to our City, and I think this is a positive way to do it.”

“Doctors and other professionals settling at Pointe Estates would contribute to Sault Ste. Marie and enjoy a quality of life above and beyond the work they do.”

As for any environmental concerns, Avery said: “We’ve studied and studied and studied the property to ensure the development is environmentally friendly and that it’s going to work.”

Avery said that whatever work that must be done to ensure the integrity of Pointe Estates will be done.  

“It’s all part of the process of construction.”

“Pointe Estates will maintain a good chunk of the wetland,” Amanda Avery said.

“We’re tapping into the deep aquifer which is proven to have sufficient water for all of this.  We’re not touching the upper aquifer where the PPA wells are.”

“They’re also concerned about their septic beds,” Amanda continued.

“There’s no reason to have an issue with new state of the art septic systems we’ll have, designed to handle lots this size.”

The Averys maintain they have taken every safeguard and prepared every possible “Plan B” to ensure the quantity and quality of the water supply is not harmed.

The Averys feel many people, including the majority of Council members on July 15, have been influenced by the PPA’s exaggeration of what could conceivably go wrong.

Amanda said: “They (the PPA) are asking us for 100 percent certainty that the septic bed will not pollute the canal, but it’s like being asked for a 100 percent guarantee that you won’t get hit by a car if you try to cross the road.”

“They want us and our experts to say it (the Pointe Estates development) will absolutely not have any effect on the shallow well or the water quality.”

“Our studies and projections show that it shouldn’t, but nothing in life is a 100 percent guarantee, so do you just not grow as a city thinking ‘what if it doesn’t work?’”

Jeff Avery said: ”We’ve done everything humanly possible to make sure it’s done in an environmentally responsible way, in way that would not hurt Sault Ste. Marie.

The developer said he was frustrated by Council’s rejection.

“We thought ‘the science will speak for itself.’  We didn’t think it would become so political.”

“Unfortunately the NIMBY’s won Council over.”

Critics have suggested Avery has taken part in an effort, with some members of the Conservation Authority Board, to ram Pointe Estates through.

“It’s been before the Conservation Authority since 2006.  Is that ramming?” Avery chuckled.

“It’s been a snail’s pace for seven years.  It wasn’t just suddenly rammed through in December 2012.”

“I would hope this will go through in court in Sudbury in October and hope with the OMB we’ll be successful as well.”  

“From what I understand, the OMB deals with science.  If the OMB looks at the science of the project, and not the politics and emotion, I would think the project will go forward.”

If, after successful with the courts and the OMB, and if, after receiving approval from several Ministries, Avery said with 18 months of construction work, Pointe Estates lots would go up for sale beginning in summer 2015.