By Megan Ion
One of Ottawa’s top developers was forced back to the drawing board late last month after city councillors narrowly voted to reject their plan.
At a meeting on Jan. 28, city council voted 11-10 on a motion to send Claridge Homes’ proposed building plan for 186 Lyon Street back to committee in an effort to keep the issue from going to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Initially city council was deadlocked at a 5-5 tie in the vote.
It was Mayor Bob Chiarelli’s ballot that stopped the proposal from being approved.
Many councillors believe that if the proposal had not been sent back to committee, Claridge would have taken their plan to the Ontario Municipal Board to win approval.
Vice president of Claridge Homes, Neil Malhotra, says the next step is to go back and meet with the committee to figure out what kind of building is acceptable for all stakeholders.
“We’d like to sit down with the city planning staff and the councillors and see what will make the plan work,” says Malhotra.
“We’re somewhat flexible but at the end of the day, there are dollars and cents involved.”
According to Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes, the current zoning bylaw would allow for a 12-storey building with approximately 60 single-storey units, which is more than ten times the existing number of units on the property.
Claridge wants to build a 23-storey building with 99 single-storey units, a structure that Holmes says would have a negative impact on the corner of Laurier Avenue and Lyon Street.
“This is an over-development of the site,” said Holmes during the city council meeting.
“Let’s develop to density and to city zoning.”
She says the proposed 23-storey building would only increase the dark, wind tunnel like conditions that already plague Laurier Avenue and continue to discourage pedestrians from walking in the area.
Malhotra says Claridge has yet to encounter any resistance from within the community itself.
He adds that the difficulty of the situation lies in the zoning bylaw, not the height of the proposed building.
“In downtown Ottawa, the buildings should be at a certain height,” he says.
“From our perspective, the site calls for a building at that height.”
The problem, according to Holmes, is that city council has no ability to control the design of the building, such as the colour of the bricks, and adds that design may not be worth the extra floors.
“If we can’t agree on design and if the design isn’t so wonderful that we give the developer 12 extra stories, then it will come back to this council and I hope the council will refuse the application,” she says.
Another member of the city’s planning and development committee agrees.
Bay Ward Coun. Alex Cullen says he’s not sure what action Claridge will take next, but he thinks they may be willing to compromise.
“The developer’s going to have a choice of whether to go to the OMB…but we’ll see what they come forward with,” says Cullen.
“(Claridge) of course is under pressure to make money on this proposal and is seeking where it can maximize its profits and go ahead with this project and that’s where the negotiations will come in.”
Malhotra says Claridge is looking to proceed with the project but if it did go to the OMB, Claridge would win.
“You need to make the project affordable,” he says.
“There are certain economies of scale.”