By Nadine St-Jacques
Centretown residents have rejected Claridge Homes’ latest design for a proposed nine-storey development facing Kent Street, Gladstone Avenue and Florence Street.
At a public meeting held earlier this month by Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes, about 25 residents decided it was in the best interest of the community to reject the new design proposed by architect Douglas Hardie.
The new plan would have four stories facing Florence Street, nine facing Kent Street and five opposite Gladstone Avenue.
Residents also presented a petition asking for an amendment to the city’s official plan. If granted, the corner would be designated a “low-density” zone in which buildings could not exceed five stories.
Holmes says the residents aren’t willing to negotiate building height with the developer, Bill Malhotra.
“I think it’s quite clear that the people in this area want to have their zoning respected and they don’t want to see it amended,” says Holmes.
The current zoning bylaw does not allow for a nine-storey building in this area, but the city’s proposed official plan would re-designate the corner of Florence and Kent streets a “medium-density” zone, allowing a five- to nine-storey building.
“I think that the height of the (proposed) building is such that it is really not going to fit in with the area and make it really unfriendly and not so neighbourly,” says Mindy Sichel, who moved to Centretown two and a half years ago because she liked the feel of the area.
But Malhotra disagrees. “We’ve already made concessions. We are not trying to put something in that neighbourhood that is out of size.”
A more recent concern is the possibility that the building site, which is currently a garage, might be environmentally contaminated.
“(Malhotra) is claiming to the city and to the community that there is a million dollars worth of contamination on that site,” says Fami Savasta,of Florence Street. “He’s gone to the city saying, ‘Give me this zoning and I’ll clean up the site.’ We’ve asked for the environmental study (and) they don’t want to give it to us.”
Malhotra says his company will conduct its own investigation of the property, but won’t divulge the results.
That worries Savasta. “We are asking for a copy of that study to make sure that our backyards and businesses aren’t contaminated before this land changes hands,” says Savasta.
She is quick to point out she is happy to have the corner cleaned up, as long as the end result fits in.