Rideau tower considered too soon: residents
City approves development despite CDP still underway
By Emma Jackson
Ottawa East News, Jul 10, 2015
Residents are calling foul after planning committee approved a 14-storey tower on Rideau Street before it has even considered a draft community design plan underway for the area.
“This whole process makes a mockery of what the city has said,” said Sally Southey, who lives in Sandy Hill.
She said the draft community design plan for Uptown Rideau, which will guide development in the neighbourhood, has benefitted from hours of volunteer work from involved citizens – and it will all be for naught if the Richcraft’s proposal is allowed to amend it before it’s even been made official city policy.
“The fact that the city has played along with the plan just reinforces what citizens across this city know, which is that developers seem to have a real hold on the planning department,” Southey said.
The official plan amendment involves several lots on Rideau, Cobourg and Besserer streets. If council agrees with planning committee, it would allow a mixed-use complex ranging in height from 3.5 to 14 storeys, although most of the site currently allows up to nine.
The site uses “density transfer” to concentrate most of the height in a tower at the corner of Rideau and Cobourg, while the rest of the building would be seven and 3.5 storeys to transition to the low-rise neighbourhoods to the south – that’s what the amendment is for.
The proposal includes a 200 square metre public park accessed from Cobourg, and the developer has agreed to widen nearby sidewalks and increase setbacks on the property to encourage a more pedestrian-friendly area. The whole site will have a holding zone placed on it until the site plan control process is finished, and the urban design review panel is satisfied with the project’s overall design.
But residents are incensed the city is even considering the proposal before it finalizes a community design plan for the area, which should be considered later this fall.
“Until the CDP is made public, even if it’s not approved, no one will have any way of knowing what is or isn’t consistent with the long term vision,” said Robert Tritt, who came to the meeting on behalf of the Lowertown Community Association.
BETWEEN POLICIES
The application is caught between the current Sandy Hill Secondary Plan and a newly drafted community design plan for Uptown Rideau. Under the current plan, the Rideau Street portion of the site is designated a mixed-use mainstreet allowing up to nine storeys, while the area closer to Besserer is considered low-profile, allowing up to four stories.
The draft CDP labels the area a traditional mainstreet, which would generally support mid-rise development with some exceptions for strategically-placed high-rises.
While the application is technically being considered under the current neighbourhood plan – it can’t really be affected by future policies that don’t have council’s approval – planners said they took into account the general direction of the draft discussions to make sure the project fits the model.
They’ve specifically capitalized on a new concept in the draft called density transfer, which allows an applicant to be flexible with the allocation of height and density inside a property to make the most of the site, staff said.
That’s how the project ended up with three different heights: 3.5 stories closer to Besserer Street, which is classified as a “low-profile neighbourhood”, seven storeys across most of the property and 14 storeys closer to the corner of Rideau and Cobourg.
“By transferring density on the subject site, we can get a better building with public benefits and minimal public impacts,” said planner Erin O’Connell.
DEFERRAL DEFEAT
Attempts to defer the committee’s vote until after the CDP is complete were squashed -- a motion from Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper was defeated 6 to 3, and appeals from several community associations and Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury couldn’t sway the committee which voted 7 to 2 in favour of the amendment.
Council will consider it Aug. 26.
http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/n...oon-residents/
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