Ontario Construction News staff writer
The classic conflict between municipal policy (and urban plannersโ) desire for intensification and the rejection of higher-density development in established neighbourhoods has reared its head again in Ottawa.
Neighbours are fighting a losing battle to stop a project in the Ottawa neighbourhood of Katimavik-Hazeldean, in what had previously been the high-tech western suburb of Kanata.
Developer MG4 Investments Inc. plans to turn a single family home site into two three-storey buildings, each with six two-bedroom units. This is hardly a gigantic high-rise development, but it has certainly stirred the neighbourhood into fury.
Theย planned project at 33 Maple Grove Rd. โseems to be more in the style of urban cramming than in the sense of intensification that the city is looking for,โ Matt Brearey, vice-president of the Katimavik-Hazeldean Community Association, was quoted by the Ottawa Citizen as saying.
The newspaper indicated that Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley says he has received upwards of 1,000 emails and phone calls opposing the application.
However, the cityโs planning department disagrees with the residents, and recommended that the municipal planning committee and city council approve the development application and zoning change.
โIโve never had anything like this, ever,โ Hubley said, describing some of the comments as displaying a โnastinessโ that he has not witnessed before.
The development application is a preview of the uphill battle the city has in meeting a new intensification target, Hubley was reported as saying.
The cityโs updated official plan mandates that more than half of new homes to be built in Ottawa over the next three decades will need to be in established areas โ and the intensification target will climb to 60 per cent between 2041 and 2046.
โWe have to figure out how to intensify these neighbourhoods without destroying why people move into these neighbourhoods,โ Hubley said.
Development filings indicate that the buildings would be slightly higher than the current 11 m. height limit (at 11.5 m.). The structures would be designed to complement the surrounding houses and add housing diversity to Kanata South, MG4 says.
City planners agree. โThe proposal represents appropriate residential intensification within the interior of a stable residential area and provides a built form that is consistent with the official plan,โ the planning department report says.
The communityโs views are completely the opposite โ reflected by an online petition that has collected more than 1,100 names.
The Citizen quoted resident Kathleen Layne as saying a โcommunity coalitionโ has crafted a detailed response to the application with 137 households signing on to the objections. The residents would rather see four units in each building, instead of six, or a proposal of townhouses.
โOur concerns have fallen on deaf ears. Nobody is paying attention to what weโre saying,โ Layne said.
Despite the communityโs objection, the cityโs planning committee approved the project on Jan. 14 and Ottawa City Council is likely to approve it on Jan. 27.