Thread: NCC Greenbelt
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Old Posted Jun 19, 2008, 12:28 PM
lrt's friend lrt's friend is offline
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Somehow - and call me crazy if you really disagree - but somehow I think there would be much greater acceptance of throwing up, say, 15 storey towers on parking lots devoid of anything else than of putting up 8 storey buildings where the locals have already agreed to 6. And land coverage? I can't really see any issue there - it's hard to increase beyond 100% after all. Redevelopment might even lead to a few trees and small gardens being planted. And good urban form? I didn't even know anyone was opposed to it. In fact, it would appear that with respect to intensification of parking lots, there isn't likely to be any community opposition to speak of. I would hope the City wouldn't be opposed, especially since the newest big box estate at Barrhaven has been laid out to "allow" it in the future (as an aside, doesn't this strike anyone as a teensy bit odd?). Anyhow, it would appear that the only group of the three that you list that would be opposed to parking lot intensification tomorrow morning at 9 am is ... industry.

This is what gets me about intensification as it actually plays out. What's so special about a few dozen acres along the oldest streets in the city that calls for them to be intensively built up while there exists much larger tracts of land - often not far away (I can name several around here - will someone please redevelop that *@#&^! parking lot north of Westboro Transitway Station with a nice 12-storey mixed use development? Please? bring it on! anyone?) - that escape to continue on as parking lot? You know, big picture? Canadian Tire just built a new store on Carling near Churchill. It replaced a parking lot with a 2-storey store. Yippee. It's a start, but where are the other 6+ storeys that site could have supported with ease?
Sometimes I am totally mystified by what gets built. A self-storage building is now going up near Bank and Hunt Club, surrounded by retail, condos and offices. It is within walking distance of the Transitway and future LRT. What a waste of that land! Is this the type of intensification that we are looking for? Surely, self-storage could have been built in some industrial park instead of such a prominent location so close to rapid transit.

The worst thing, they unnecessarily removed a row of mature spruce trees that existed right on the boundary of the property. Why couldn't a 6 or 8 foot buffer have been left to protect those trees when the building is being constructed elsewhere on that lot? I guess they were simply going to get in the way of construction equipment and it was going to be easier just to get rid of them. Those trees can never be replaced and had been a beautiful feature of that location for decades.
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