A public meeting in Mono Tuesday night concerning a controversial new subdivision near Island Lake was told that the developer, Pine Glen Farms, wants to add 17 new lots to the 323 it already planned.

Called Island Lake Phase 3, the subdivision is to be built between First and Second Lines east of Hurontario Street north of Highway 9.

At a June 23 meeting, Mono council had given its approval to the 323- home plan with the provision that it meets the list of 59 conditions set out by town planning director Mark Early.

The bid for the additional lots drew the rancor from several in attendance who felt the number of approved homes was already excessive.

"Each meeting we have, we hear the number of houses seems to grow," said Mono resident Brian Rasmusson. "Just because you can do something, it doesn't make it the right thing to do. This looks like arrogance on the part of the developer.

"My question is 'where will it stop?' How will we know?"

Pine Glen Farms wants to incorporate the lots into 4.65 acres it recently purchased south of the 170 acres originally acquired for the development that had been given conditional approval.

The purchase allows for plans to extend French Drive to First Line and lessen traffic on a potentially hazardous S-turn farther north on First Line.

Glenn Schnarr, a consultant for Pine Glen Farms on the project, assured those present that the developer has no intention of adding more homes. He pointed out that Greenbelt regulations set forth by both the province and the municipality would make such an addition prohibitive

It was also pointed out at the meeting that the development would accommodate the population density targets for Mono outlined in the province's Places to Grow plan.

Councillor Jean Castel, who had previously spoken out against the number of homes planned for the development, said he would vote against any motion to approve the additional building lots.

"The issue here is not Places to Grow," said Mr. Castel.

"It's whether the people of Island Lake want these new houses ... and they obviously don't."

(The existing Island Lake subdivision has lower density, with much larger lots than those planned by Pine G;en.)

A champion of austerity since he was elected to council, Mr. Castel raised a few eyebrows when he presented what he termed "a revolutionary idea" to solve the problem.

Admitting it went against his grain as a fiscal conservative, he suggested the town purchase the 4.65 acres from the developer, turn it into parkland and recoup the money through "assessments."

"Oh sure, Jean," said Mayor Lorie Haddock incredulously, "if you can raise the million dollars it would take and raise taxes to pay for it, when you've been campaigning against raising taxes for the last three years."

Mr. Castel shrugged and answered: "Well, I did say it was a revolutionary idea."

The plan for the additional lots called for residential as well as commercial building lots, including locating a day care centre in an older home on the property purchased.

While supporting the concept of a day care, councillors thought other commercial space was unnecessary since there are retail outlets in a reasonable proximity that residents could access.