A group of Ottawa property developers is pushing back against proposed height restrictions for downtown building projects, setting the stage for a thorny debate over the Centretown Community Design Plan when it comes to city council.
A consultancy group representing some of Ottawa’s biggest builders recently issued a formal response to the plan that will determine, among other things, the scale of many Centretown property developments over the next generation.
Ted Fobert of FoTenn Consultants Inc. says his company and its clients find the design plan as proposed to be quite well done, but also found issues in the secondary version of the plan, which he says is key to implementing the vision and which remains to be examined by city council.
“We don’t feel that the community design plan was at all well represented in the secondary plan that was done by the city,” says Fobert.
FoTenn represents companies such as Ashcroft Homes and Minto Group Inc. In response to the secondary plan, it submitted a 75-page review of the document as well as a 25-page revision of one of its key sections on urban development in the downtown area. The response displays FoTenn’s ideas with strike-through in passages it didn’t agree with and highlighted text to show its additions.
FoTenn’s version softened the language in some cases, for example changing “prevent development which is incompatible” to “encourage development which is compatible.” It also included a section of a list of properties that should be considered for increased height beyond the “maximum height considerations” specified in the community design plan.
The response specifically mentions 167 O’Connor St., 330 Gilmour St., 315 McLeod St., 261 Somerset St. West, 359 Kent St., and 381 Kent St. as properties that would warrant reconsideration for height limits. FoTenn acknowledges that proposing increased height in certain areas might raise eyebrows, but defends the revision by explaining that it is well thought out.
“It’s not an automatic, you know, everything becomes high. It’s that you have to demonstrate the appropriateness, you have to provide a community benefit that’s an enduring community benefit, and it has to be judged to be appropriate,” he says. “So it’s not a wide-open ‘let’s put high buildings everywhere in Centretown.’”
Ottawa Urbanism is a group of citizens that promotes a city recognized for its design, architecture and liveability. Director Luke Schnurr says that when he read through FoTenn’s revision, the height allowances were one of the things that stood out for him.
He says that height tends to be the issue that creates sides in development, though Ottawa Urbanism feels it should be getting less attention.
“We would advocate that height’s not the most contentious issue, and that there are other issues which supersede its relevance and benefits to the citizens,” Schnurr says.
Leslie Maitland, president of Heritage Ottawa, says her organization is happy with the community design plan as it has been proposed to go to council in December without any further revisions. She says Heritage Ottawa likes the plan’s design-driven approach over the idea of “spot-zoning.”
Rob Dekker, vice-president of the Centretown Citizens Community Association, says the association had not begun its formal review of the FoTenn suggestions, but noted that from the little it has been discussed the group was “surprised” by the proposal’s attempt to reopen the building-height issue.