Woodstock and SWOX Hold Public Consultation on Proposed Boundary Adjustment

Friday, 23 August 2019 13:15

Last night's meeting saw a great turnout from the community inside the Colombo Club. Members from both Woodstock and South-West Oxford council were on hand.

WOODSTOCK - A public consultation was held for residents in Beachville regarding the proposed boundary adjustment in Oxford County.

Last night's meeting heard questions from the community inside the Colombo Club.

Mayor Trevor Birtch says they saw a great turnout.

"This is for the greater good of the community. There is a large need for housing, we're doing a lot of intensification in the city with new apartment buildings and we're looking at what our growth has been and what it continues to be and we know we need to find new lands very quickly to get those ready."

Mayor Birtch adds some residents were in attendance from Karn Road and Beachville Road.

The City of Woodstock wants to expand its boundary to absorb lands in all or part of Lot Gore Concession, located north of Karn Road.

He says the sewage system was among the community's concerns.

"There's written comments that we'll also receive from the residents and that'll form part of the package that'll go to Woodstock City council and South-West Oxford council."

He says a lot of those concerns were regarding people who are currently on a septic system and a well and the time frame it would take to connect to a city system.

He says changes to services like sewer pipes and water pipes to some of the existing homes and businesses are topics that will addressed in the future. He adds it will take a long time to get the lands ready and to install new infrastructure, however he encourages the public to follow the process and stay up to date and informed.

The proposal is to have the land annexed from the Township to the City by January 1st, 2020.

Mayor Birtch says the proposal will be brought to Oxford County council for approval, before it is passed to the provincial government prior to the end of the year. He adds there will be subsequent meetings with the Boundary Adjustment Committee before anything is finalized.

If anyone is interested in learning more information and stay updated on the proposed boundary adjustment, you can head to the City of Woodstock's website and SWOX's website.