Apartment blocks that feature windowless walls would be replaced by buildings with windows on all sides if a proposal by Urban Strategies is adopted for Mid-Centretown.
Centretown residents had a chance to see a proposed vision of a greener and more pedestrian-friendly community at a recent public meeting.
Urban Strategies, Inc., the group behind the Mid-Centretown Community Design Plan, displayed its current concept to the community, focusing on how to improve new building projects, zoning and greening. New cycling routes and the conversion of major roads, such as Metcalfe Street, to two-way streets are also in the plan.
The plan is based on expected population growth and the changing demographics of Centretown over the next 20 years.
It defines the area of mid-Centretown as Elgin Street to the east, the Queensway to the south, Kent Street to the west and Gloucester Street to the north with the area broken into three separate zones: the north zone, central zone and the Catherine Street corridor.
But in the mid-Centretown area as a whole, George Dark, head of the design team at Urban Strategies, Inc., wants to address what he calls “windowless walls.”
Dark envisions a Vancouver-esque building style, where buildings are setback from the sidewalk and also offset from surrounding towers, allowing for windows on all sides of a building.
Currently, highrise buildings in Centretown tend to be built to the maximum height allowed and to the very edge of the owner’s property, Dark said.
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes said that this building method has no public benefit.
“I think it’s essential to come to grips with some of the problems we’re having,” Holmes said.
“At the moment, developers are going to the (Ontario Municipal Board), getting excessive height increases and there’s no public advantage.”
Holmes said a plan such as Dark’s could benefit the public by using the offset space for greenery.
Dark said the design plan would incorporate greenery on sidewalks to hide parking lots and industrial areas, making these sidewalks pedestrian friendly.
In addition to greening Centretown, the plan would reverse the priorities for the area, placing pedestrians first, cyclists second, transit third, and cars last, which according to Dark is a new way of thinking for the city.
Centretown Citizens Community Association president Charles Akben-Marchand said he was hesitant to fully embrace the current plan.
Akben-Marchand said the plan is giving everyone a lot to think about and this needs to be discussed very carefully by community associations.
While noting that development is inevitable, he said that residents need to evaluate what their priorities are for development projects.
“Whether we want the proposals put forward to happen is another question,” he said. “I think there’s a lot in there that we can work with and that this can be a strong tool for the community to work with rather than fight against,” he said.
The official plan is still subject to change as the design team receives more community feedback. They will bring forward the final plan to the community in the spring.
Holmes said it could go to council as early as next fall.