Westboro Connection | Completed

[Ottawan]

The former car lot (northwest corner of McCrae and Scott) has a large for lease sign on it, suggesting that it might be some time before there's any construction, at least on that portion of the development.

[waterloowarrior]

West Wellington CA April meeting minutes
http://blog.westwellington.ca/wp-con...10-Minutes.pdf

Pete reported on what he had heard from a neighbour of the proposed development on McRae Avenue near Loblaws. The neighbour had heard that the developer was becoming frustrated by the process and was thinking of selling. It was suggested that given the pro-active way the developer approached the community and the thoroughness of their plan the CA should write a letter to both the developer and to Christine Leadman’s office supporting the continuation of the process. Peter will draft a letter.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

West Wellington CA April meeting minutes
http://blog.westwellington.ca/wp-con...10-Minutes.pdf

Pete reported on what he had heard from a neighbour of the proposed development on McRae Avenue near Loblaws. The neighbour had heard that the developer was becoming frustrated by the process and was thinking of selling. It was suggested that given the pro-active way the developer approached the community and the thoroughness of their plan the CA should write a letter to both the developer and to Christine Leadman’s office supporting the continuation of the process. Peter will draft a letter.

Thanks Waterloo Warrior for putting those meeting minutes up for all to see. The one thing I notice is that there are a number of vague comments in there based on heresay, conjecture and rumours which make a person question the validity or status of some of these community associations.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

Thanks Waterloo Warrior for putting those meeting minutes up for all to see.

Umm, the minutes are on the CA's own website, which is pretty much "up for all to see" already...

The one thing I notice is that there are a number of vague comments in there based on heresay, conjecture and rumours which make a person question the validity or status of some of these community associations.

I'm not sure what you're referring to here. The McRae Ave proposal? If so you should probably realize that McRae does not fall in the area covered by the West Wellington CA - which is why it was classed under "other business". They're actually proposing to "meddle" in another CA's (Westboro) bailiwick because they would prefer to see processes like the one the developers of McRae have initiated done more often.

[kevinbottawa]

Whatever happened to this project?

[Dado]

It's on hold:

http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__7NX8LE



An aside to the moderators: the title of this thread is wrong. It's McRae, not McCrae.

[kevinbottawa]

Here's a comment by Bob-TheBuilder from the 175 Richmond Road thread:

Just FYI, the Westboro Collection on MeRae is not dead and is now in the hands of the Architect of many Richmond Rd. projects including Can-tire and the Claridge project on Richmond at Kirkwood. The two are being developed in concert so they traverse down Kirkwood, along through Clifton and Wilber through to McRae. It is being designed as one cohesive development. I think it is going to be great and the industrial properties will be replaced by pedestrian friendly residence's and shops. Too bad for the people on Wilber and Clifton but they bought in a hot area beside two dated industrial properties. They don't have to like it and probably won't, but what exactly did they think was going to happen?

[bob-thebuilder]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

Here's a comment by Bob-TheBuilder from the 175 Richmond Road thread:

AGREED, and the NCC has to let the public use it.

[McC]

Originally Posted by bob-thebuilder

AGREED, and the NCC has to let the public use it.

Pardon me?

[Dado]

Looks like something might be in planning again for this site. The status of the application at the City (link in my previous post) is still on hold.

Btw, can someone with the power to do so please change the title of this thread to correct the spelling of McRae?



http://lovewestboro.wordpress.com/20...ing-319-mcrae/

"This came to us from the Councillor’s office:"

[not that I can find it on Councillor Hobbs' website: http://www.ourkitchissippi.ca ]

On behalf of Councillor Hobbs, you are invited to attend a community meeting regarding a proposal for 319 McRae Avenue. This is part of a land assembly previously proposed under the banner “Westboro Collection.” The proposal today is a portion of the land on the east side of McRae Avenue (backing on to Clifton Road residences). The proposal includes an office component (proposed future home of Alterna headquarters) and a residential building, targeted to be market rate rental apartments. The proposal would also include retail space at the ground level and one level of underground parking. It would also include streetscape improvements based on the Westboro/Richmond Road CDP for the Hydro corridor parallel to McRae.

No application has been made for the new proposal, this is a meeting very early in the application process. We hope to see you there to review the proposal, ask questions, and submit your feedback. Present will be the architect, planner and developer, as well as the Councillor and myself.

Where: Hilson Avenue Public School
When: Wednesday, December 5th, 2012, 7:00-9:00 PM

[dommage]

Ted Fobert (of Fotenn) started the presentation, introducing the developer representatives (Bridgeport Realty) and then handed things over to architect Rod Lahey.

The project is a single base with an office tower (~7 stories) and condominium tower (~8 stories). The developer wants to move fast as they have a client (Alterna bank) lined up for the office space. The building setbacks are all on the east side to try to appease the Clifton residents. The Hydro right-of-way makes things interesting on the McCrae side. The developer is proposing to run a service road on their side of the right-of-way and has (optimistically?) shown greenspace under the power lines.

There was significant opposition to a proposed pedestrian walkway running from the Clifton end of Wilbur through to McCrae from the Clifton residents. One referred to the dead-end as their 'park'.

I was tempted to comment that obviously they hadn't put much effort into the building design due to it being a 'pre-consultation'. I suspect however that they got what wanted from Mr 'Box' Lahey. The building itself will apparently be LEED Silver(-plus).

Councillor Hobbs was present. One (unrelated) note is that apparently a field house (perhaps like the one in Champlain or Brantwood parks) will be going in on Churchill (north).

I don't think Bridgeport is going to manage to appease the Clifton residents, though I have zero doubt that they'll prevail in the end.

[Dado]

Note that it is "McRae" (like the councillor), not "McCrae". I am going to keep pointing this out until the thread is retitled.


While I don't have much sympathy to the argument that Wilber should be left dead-ended/untouched permanently, I do think it is possible to at least partly appease the neighbours. If the pathway connection is offset to the south side of the RoW/dead end so it can tie into the sidewalks that will be built as part of the project on Kirkwood then the rest of the RoW can be formalized as a parkette. The property on the south side has its road access off Wilber, so the connection would have to be more like a woonerf but the dead end otherwise serves no other purpose and it is certainly true that there are no park spaces of any kind for residents in that area.

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by Dado

Note that it is "McRae" (like the councillor), not "McCrae". I am going to keep pointing this out until the thread is retitled.


While I don't have much sympathy to the argument that Clifton should be left dead-ended/untouched permanently, I do think it is possible to at least partly appease the neighbours. If the pathway connection is offset to the south side of the RoW/dead end so it can tie into the sidewalks that will be built as part of the project on Kirkwood then the rest of the RoW can be formalized as a parkette. The property on the south side has its road access off Clifton, so the connection would have to be more like a woonerf but the dead end otherwise serves no other purpose and it is certainly true that there are no park spaces of any kind for residents in that area.

I actually went by today out of curiosity, and in fact the property on the south side has their garage access off Wilber, not Clifton. So that throws a wrench in the works of these good intentions.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by gjhall

I actually went by today out of curiosity, and in fact the property on the south side has their garage access off Wilber, not Clifton. So that throws a wrench in the works of these good intentions.

Ya, sorry, Wilber is what I meant.

That's why I came up with the woonerf idea rather than a basic pathway connection.

[waterloowarrior]

OPA http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__9JH9NR
zoning http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__9JH9ZJ
site plan http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__9JH9JH

[McC]

it's a little disappointing that they're no longer looking at the planning for the whole 'Collection' of properties, and just doing a site-specific one-off now.

Also very surprised to see no balconies on the northern (residential) building; in my interactions with Rod Lahey, he's usually been pretty big on the value of usable balconies on condos. Is this just about consistent look between the office and residential building? I suppose that it's an academic point, I'm not buying, and your mileage may vary.

[kevinbottawa]

I'm not really impressed with the design of these buildings, but looking at the floor plans, the retail space is huge. I'd like to see more developments include 2 floors of retail. I look forward to seeing who the tenants will be aside from the bank. Westboro seems like the ideal place for a Whole Foods, but this space would be too small unless they take up almost the whole thing.

[brentgaulois]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

I'm not really impressed with the design of these buildings, but looking at the floor plans, the retail space is huge. I'd like to see more developments include 2 floors of retail. I look forward to seeing who the tenants will be aside from the bank. Westboro seems like the ideal place for a Whole Foods, but this space would be too small unless they take up almost the whole thing.

It depends on where in Westboro the Whole Foods could go, but definitely not here there's already the Superstore and Metro within blocks of each other and this site. Instead I'd much rather see a grocery in Hintonburg, as it is desperately needed there. I heard that many people who live in the area/ Mechanicsville are so desperate for groceries that they have to go to the Giant Tiger, as Metro is not close enough to walk.

Although, it would be nice for a grocery store to open up near Amica on Richmond (where Rogers is located) as there's a growing population in that area, and it would be good to reduce car dependency.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

OPA http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__9JH9NR

Unmistakably Rod Lahey:

[monkeybongo]

Originally Posted by brentgaulois

I heard that many people who live in the area/ Mechanicsville are so desperate for groceries that they have to go to the Giant Tiger, as Metro is not close enough to walk.

I suppose that's the reason why there's so many restaurants in the area, too lazy to go to the grocery store, might as well eat out.

I used to live around there and there's nothing wrong with Giant Tiger as it's the cheapest place to get the staples. Also, there's the ethnic grocery store and they have really excellent meat and a fish store just a couple stores down. Also, need I say Parkdale market.