The City of Ottawa is reviewing guidelines for small-scale infill housing after community organizations complained about their appearance not fitting in with the character of the neighbourhood.
Infill housing is described by the city as “the development of vacant lots, or portions of vacant lots, in established urban areas.”
A new report from city staff states that the guidelines for low- to medium-density infill housing need to be re-evaluated.
Community associations and residents have complained about infill housing altering the architectural identity of existing neighbourhoods, according to the report.
“They feel that the current infill housing that’s being built is not actually respecting the character of their respective neighbourhoods,” says Richard Kilstrom, the city’s policy development and urban design manager.
At a recent city planning and environment committee meeting, Capital Coun. Clive Doucet read aloud the comments of one Old Ottawa South resident who was concerned about some infill developments.
“(Disapproval])comes about when we come upon a new dwelling that is far out of scale with its surroundings, or that turns a blank and forbidding face of garage doors to a friendly, welcoming streetscape of trees, porches and tidy front gardens,” resident Neal Hill stated in his comments.
Hill said he chose to live in Old Ottawa South “because of its character.”
The areas that have seen the most small-scale infill housing are Centretown, Westboro, the Glebe and Old Ottawa South, according to Kilstrom.
He says the main issue is single-family houses being demolished to put up a building that occupies two or three families.
“Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s all a matter of how it fits in, or not.”
Infill housing has occurred most in Westboro, Kilstrom says, but he adds that it’s also an issue in Centretown.
“It tends to happen when you have a neighbourhood that’s attractive to people to move into,” he says.
Character, the height of buildings, and the impact on the transportation system are the concerns most often raised by Centretown residents when it comes to infill projects, says Robert Spicer, a city planner for community planning and urban design.
Kilstrom says Centretown has had to worry about infill housing less than other adjacent areas.
“A lot of Centretown, especially west of Kent Street, has a heritage district designation which makes demolition quite a bit more awkward. In other parts of Centretown, like the Golden Triangle, people have done some of this,” he says.
The next step is for city employees to review the infill housing guidelines and produce a new report, he says. They will show the proposal to affected communities beforehand.
“(We will) take a look and find out what works and what doesn’t work and what would a community association consider better for the neighbourhood and what they would consider worse.”