Much to the surprise of the Centretown Citizens Community Association, a city planning report revealed that downtown Ottawa might become home to yet another 27-storey condominium development.
“It seems that when we complained (about) one giant, ugly building on a tiny lot, they responded by proposing a second giant, ugly building on another tiny lot,” says CCCA president Charles Akben-Marchand.
The application was submitted by Claridge Homes to the city’s planning committee, proposing the new condo at 70 Gloucester St., adjacent to the controversial development plan at 89-91 Nepean St.
The CCCA has been active in expressing concerns about recent condo developments throughout Centretown, including 89-91 Nepean St., as well as the 187 Metcalfe St. site, which is also being built by Claridge.
Their concerns continue to be the squeezing out of visitor parking spaces and the size of these buildings. The proposals for Gloucester and Nepean streets are “out of scale with the type of development” that should be occurring in Centretown, says Akben-Marchand.
Neil Malhotra, vice-president of Claridge Homes, acknowledges the height concerns, but argues the area around Nepean and Gloucester streets “should have a higher concentration of residential buildings because of their proximity to high-rise office buildings.”
Regarding the association’s concerns about visitor parking, Malhotra says he doesn’t believe existing surface parking lots add to the fabric of the city. He also points out that the city is trying to push downtown parking spaces to as low as zero on proposed projects to encourage other forms of transportation.
City planner Melanie Knight says visitor parking has been reduced “to a level which the department is of the opinion can meet the needs of the residents in an area.”
As a result of the Gloucester Street proposal, the City of Ottawa's planning committee imposed a “holding provision” which gives the committee more time to assess the company’s building applications.
Knight says the provision was put in place to ensure that both projects “are developed in conjunction with each other, as is shown on the plans for both sites.”
Despite the decision delay provided by the provision, Akben-Marchand says concerns about height are still falling on deaf ears.
“The city’s planning staff say they only support applications that represent good planning, but developments keep pushing the boundary of how big a building can be before it is considered bad planning,” says Akben-Marchand.
Knight says the developments will provide extra housing, make use of existing sewer, road, and water infrastructures rather than constructing new ones and that Claridge has agreed to “provide monies to the (Somerset) Ward for off-site community benefits.”
Exactly how much and where this money will go is still being discussed, she says. The planning committee tentatively scheduled May 24 to decide the fate of the 70 Gloucester St. site.