Ontario Construction News staff writer
Large urban centres aren’t alone is the struggle to build affordable housing quickly in Ontario.
Chatham-Kent, a rural southwestern Ontario community, is also seeing skyrocketing demand and council is considering four proposals that require rezoning.
The first proposed project is a 20 unit, three-storey apartment building on King Street near Adelaide Street South in downtown Chatham – vacant land that needs a zoning change to allow development.
“Given the surrounding high-density residential developments in the area at 74 King Street East and 113 King Street West, the proposed 20 unit apartment dwelling on the subject lands will maintain the character and scale of the surrounding neighbourhood, while providing opportunity for residential infill and intensification,” according to a staff report presented to the planning committee.
The second is a six unit, two-storey apartment building is proposed on another vacant property awaiting rezoning. According to the planning report, the proposal will increase the total number of available residential units in a primary urban centre and supports the municipality’s intensification targets.
The third proposed rezoning would allow a developer to expand a residential subdivision and “the built form will be similar in size to the existing row house dwellings,” according to the staff report.
The fourth rezoning request is to build a six unit row house dwelling – a two-storey structure with each unit including an attached garage and one additional parking space. The land is vacant
“The subject parcel is part of an established neighbourhood within the Wallaceburg urban boundary. The proposal promotes residential infill and intensification and demonstrates efficient use of land and municipal resources. Moreover, the proposal will increase the amount of available residential units to support the growing population of Chatham-Kent,” said the report.