Louis Pin – The Sarnia Observer, June 20, 2019
WATFORD – A London homebuilder is looking along Highway 402 for its latest project: a ready-to-go, 11-home subdivision in this tiny Lambton County town that’s been developed in a back-to-front process that may become a blueprint for other rural communities.
That was half the reason Frank Callipari, owner of Castell Homes, agreed to the long-distance home build. The other was the municipality of Warwick Township, where new-home-desperate Watford is located, buying and developing the cul-de-sac in March 2018, effectively laying a red carpet between builders and the shovel-ready lots.
“The fact they actually went to this level and did this . . . is pretty amazing,” Callipari said. “For a small area like that – to have the municipality spend that kind of money – it shows positive growth for them and shows to the community that they’re trying to help.”
London’s real estate bubble has pushed some new homes into the $650,000 range, Callipari added, a “50 per cent increase” from a decade ago. Those same houses are being sold for $450,000 to $500,000 in communities near London like Strathroy.
In Watford, the two models – a 157-square-metre single-storey bungalow and a two-storey family house – are expected to fall between $380,000 and $430,000.
“The home prices in some of the bigger towns and cities have really increased over the last couple years,” Callipari said. “Strategically, we’ve been looking at the smaller towns . . . where the land costs have stayed kind of normal, which means more affordable home prices.
Jackie Rombouts was a Warwick Township councillor in 2018, when the municipality approved buying the land. Now mayor, Rombouts said the township is “already looking for other developments” after the tentative success of the 11-home project.
The development is not common for a municipality. Usually, land is purchased by a developer, local politicians approve a building plan, and then the municipality lays the service groundwork for the project, including water and electricity.
That development cost is covered retroactively by those who buy the homes.
The Scenic Court project went in reverse. The municipality bought the property and installed the groundwork itself and then went shopping for a homebuilder, agreeing to waive all development costs along the way.
“In London, you’re looking at (a development cost of) $33,000 per house,” Callipari said. “There it was nothing.”
The upfront cost for the subdivision, a Warwick Township staff member confirmed, will be recouped as Castell Homes finishes the properties.
“We had so many people saying Watford’s a great community, but there’s no place to build,” Rombouts said. “We got in, we developed it, we got the servicing put in … (and) we’re very excited to see (the build) start.”
Whether that formula becomes a blueprint for other struggling rural municipalities is yet to be seen. At least for Warwick, a municipality whose population dipped under 3,700 last census, the approach made sense.
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