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for what it’s done The village’s freeze on development has left people out in the cold. The decision stinks. Belmont council’s incompre- hensible move to halt all devel- opmentactivities in the village has taken bureaucratic deser- tion of electors to the zenith. Council should be embar- rassed and ashamed of hanging residents out to dry. If a public meeting held Mon» day is any indication of what feelings are really like, the El- grn County village is being torn apart by accusations of con- flicts of interest and favoritism. One councillor has resigned, calling the freeze “too drastic an action." Here‘s the short version of the affair. On Jan. 9, village council voted to halt all development, includin every type of building - and renovation from pools to houses to vir- tually anything that’s constructed. The rea- son, residents are told, is that water, sewer and roads are nearly at capacity and can't sustain much more. The freeze could last from 18 to 24 months. That freeze has left several people out in the cold. The developâ€" ment it most affects is Craighome Estates, a 165-lot subdivision to be developed by Joe Snyders, a local de- veloper. The subdivision had al- ready received the draft pro» posal okay from the province after approval from Belmont in April, 1989. The rub is that Belmont, on advice from the engineering firm of Andy Spriet Associates Consultants and Engineers, is looking at increasing develop- ment charges from $1,000 to $5,000 a lot. That includes the PUC leVy. ‘ would sell his house in London. MORRIS DALLA COSTA The London Free Press anyaers feels such a large, immediate increase is “unjust and unfair. I’m willing to nego- tiate but they refused." _ The freeze also involves five undeveloped lots in another 28- lot subdivision. Three of them are owned by Snyders, the oth- er two are owned privately. Snyders bought seven of the lots from Helen Spriet. who subdivided the land initially. SOUGHT 0MB HELP: Snyders asked the Ontario Municipal ‘ Board to arbitrate. He was wait- ing for a response when the vrl- lage froze him out. So while Snyders and Bel- mont battle. Dennis Burt is caught in the middle. Burt bought one of those lots from Snyders for around $50,000 in October, 1989, taking out a mortgage on the speculation he Burt received an offerand was prepared to sign it Jan. 10. That morning he learned of the freeze. There would be no building permit for a new home. Burt waited before tum- ing down the offer Tuesday. He's left with a lot on which he can't build and a home he can‘t sell. “When I was going to buy, the village told me I had water and sewer services and would have no problem getting a building permit," said Burt, who tried to introduce an i amendment to the bylaw. 1 “They tell me studies (on the l services) are being done right away. But I‘m told it would be two months before I heard any- , thing. Even then ‘ there’s no guarantee I i could build." r, He will appeal but ‘he's fully aware if ihe's allowed to build, i others, like Snyders, would have a strong case for building as well. Burt is thankful for the sup- port he's had from the people of Belmont “They want me to build. They want Snyders to finish his subdivision." Even if building : permits were ap- proved for all the lots in ques- tion, Snyders says, Belmont’s water and sewer system would still be under full capacity. Council blames runaway de- velopment for the problems. The real blame is council’s lack offoresight. Are councillors not elected to foresee these prob- lems? Do they not hire consul- tants and engineers to prevent this type of thing from happen- ing long before it reaches the stage it has at Belmont? If sewer and water capacity is indeed what’s behind the freeze, the only fair solution 15 to implement the freeze after all the projects already in [he works have been completed. If that doesn‘t happen, it might not be out of the question for electors to put their own freeze on this council come next election. Morris Dalla Costa's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.