660 Hunt Club Rd (Otto's BMW) | 11 m | 2 fl | Completed

[rocketphish]

The existing Otto’s BMW dealership at 660 Hunt Club Road consists of a single-storey building with a floor area of approximately 2,200 square metres. The proposed expansion of the existing dealership includes two separate two-storey additions on either side of the existing dealership.

Otto’s BMW has also entered into a long-term lease with the Airport Authority for the 0.71 ha triangular parcel at 300 Hunt Club Road. This parcel will be used as a surface parking lot connecting to the dealership at 660 Hunt Club Road, providing additional employee and service customer parking.

Development application:
http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__0MZ6Y6

Aerial:


Siteplan:

[rocketphish]

Some imagery:






From: http://www.dianedeans.ca/pdf/Ottos%2...Dec%202015.pdf

[Harley613]

The ole' Beaver Ford grows again!

Otto's BMW is the worst dealership I have ever dealt with in my life, bar none.

[YOWflier]

I concur; Otto's is garbage. They can afford not to give a crap though because they have the diplomatic portfolio.

[rocketphish]

Otto's BMW is now proposing to develop 400 Hunt Club Road as a parking lot and storage yard. The Subject Property is part of a larger parcel of land that is owned by the Federal Government and includes the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. The property to be leased has an approximate area of 1.57 hectares (3.88 acres), and approximately 137 metres of frontage along Hunt Club Road.

The proposed parking lot is a permitted use and will provide employee parking spaces for the automobile dealership at 660 Hunt Club Road. The proposed storage yard will be used to store inventory. Employee parking spaces are proposed to be located along the north, south, and east perimeter of the site. Storage yard spaces are located within the interior of the site. The site will be accessed from 660 Hunt Club Road.

The development of the parking lot and storage yard is proposed in two phases. The initial area to be leased is approximately 1.25 hectares (3.1 acres) and includes 69 employee parking spaces, and 259 storage spaces. The ultimate area to be leased is approximately 1.57 hectares (3.88 acres) and includes 79 employee parking spaces, and 377 storage spaces.

Development application:
https://devapps.ottawa.ca/en/applica...1-0040/details

Location:

[TransitZilla]

Paving paradise to put up a parking lot...?

(I know it's a plantation, but still).

[J.OT13]

Wow. So many things wrong with this.

[rocketphish]

BMW dealership plans to pave a forest and put up a parking lot
Residents, area councillor say development was expected, but not for parking

Celeste Decaire, CBC
Posted: Jun 17, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: 4 hours ago



Residents who live near the Ottawa airport and the area councillor oppose plans by a local car dealership to build a parking lot over a portion of a forest along Hunt Club Road.

Otto's BMW has requested permission from the City of Ottawa to extend its parking lot over approximately 1.57 hectares of the forest due to current space issues.

After hearing about the dealership's plan, nearby resident Manuel Acosta started a Facebook group called "Save the Hunt Club Forest" to stir up conversation in the neighbourhood.

"We are in a climate emergency worldwide. It's an existential threat. And somebody has the guts to cut a forest to make a parking lot? I mean, it's so obnoxious to me," Acosta said.

Coun. Riley Brockington, who represents River Ward, says his constituents want to pump the brakes on the potential parking lot.

"This is going over like a lead balloon in my community. It's not something I can support. I have strong reservations with this from both a planning sense and a community sense," said Brockington.

Brockington acknowledges the forest, which is owned by the Ottawa International Airport Authority, always had plans for development, but there is no demand or need for more parking lots.

He says the community would like a project geared toward bettering the city.

Members of the Hunt Club Community Association also want the parking lot proposal put in reverse.

"At a time when the City of Ottawa is under a climate emergency, and there are challenging federal targets for reducing net emissions, this proposal which has no provision for mitigating the climate impact is going in the wrong direction," said association president Brian Wade.

Part of the forest under consideration for the new parking lot contains rows of mature red pine trees, which are about 55 years old, and only half-way through their expected lifetime. Coincidentally, the red pine effectively absorbs carbon from the atmosphere.

That's another reason why the community has petitioned to leave them be, residents say.

Sylvia Bakker, who has lived in the area since 2007, says she knew part of the forest would likely be developed when she moved to the neighbourhood, but hopes for a better plan.

Bakker says she has seen an increase in walkers through the forest during the pandemic and stressed the importance of the nature path.

"The forest definitely keeps me sane. My husband and teenagers will tell you that if I don't go out there regularly I am crabbier than normal," she said.

The owner of Otto's BMW Dealership could not be reached for comment.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...-lot-1.6066906

[J.OT13]

I have my doubts that climate change is their biggest concern. Chances are most area residents drive oversized SUVs.

That said, paving over a forest to store cars should not be allowed. It's frustrating that there was so much opposition at Dow's Lake for the BMW car storage in an existing underused parking lot. If they need more space, build a parking garage over the existing parking lot.

[Truenorth00]

Won't lie. This has me snickering. Car dependent suburbanites suddenly discover that car dependency has an environmental cost. Did they have such a deep abiding concern when trees were cut down to make room for their double driveways, or is their concern only limited to a car dealership doing it?

The land was never really public. So it is up to the airport what is done with. If it is to be preserved as public greenspace, it's time for the city to pony up and pay for it.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

That said, paving over a forest to store cars should not be allowed.

Agreed. I don't object to development here, but forget "highest and best use"- this is literally the lowest and worst use.

[OTownandDown]

Classic media making a shitstorm out of nothing.

Where were they when the crappy motels, A&W, GIGANTIC parking lot for the 'infinity center' and literally that ENTIRE block was razed of it's forest for paved surfaces?

As if the BMW dealership is somehow responsible for the City rezoning this stretch for medium crap density development.

But by all means, click the link to the news story and get up in arms about it.

For the record, no, I don't believe cutting down forests is the correct use of any land in City limits, especially a city so low density. But I also don't blame BMW. They've been looking for a storage yard for like 4 years, and the perfectly good empty parking lot over at Carling was poo-poo'd, seemingly to force condo developers to develop more condos. So now the 'open for development' new-growth scotch pine forest is on the chopping block.

As if the Access Storage and the ass-end of the Park'n'Fly is an acceptable use of space, simply because Karen can't see it on her drive home to her rural townhouse development at Settling Pond View Crescent.

I'd like to petition the City to re-nature the Park'n'Fly, and the NRC should give up some of their airport adjacent land, so that people can walk after they park, and we can save on CO2 emissions from the shuttle bus to meet our #VisionZerio2030 goals.

Edit: Sorry I take it back. I blame Ottos for not buying the land directly behind in the 15 years since their building was built. Took a look thru Geo Ottawa. I guess the forest was planted in 1976, when the farm land was given up. Pretty sweet mini-put and drive-in theatre on that block. The forest wasn't actually cut down to build-out that retail and suburban paradise nightmare, it was a farmer's field to begin with.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

Edit: Sorry I take it back. I blame Ottos for not buying the land directly behind in the 15 years since their building was built. Took a look thru Geo Ottawa. I guess the forest was planted in 1976, when the farm land was given up. Pretty sweet mini-put and drive-in theatre on that block. The forest wasn't actually cut down to build-out that retail and suburban paradise nightmare, it was a farmer's field to begin with.

So it wouldn't have been developed like so many other farmers' fields.

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

For the record, no, I don't believe cutting down forests is the correct use of any land in City limits, especially a city so low density. But I also don't blame BMW. They've been looking for a storage yard for like 4 years, and the perfectly good empty parking lot over at Carling was poo-poo'd, seemingly to force condo developers to develop more condos. So now the 'open for development' new-growth scotch pine forest is on the chopping block.

As if the Access Storage and the ass-end of the Park'n'Fly is an acceptable use of space, simply because Karen can't see it on her drive home to her rural townhouse development at Settling Pond View Crescent.

I'd like to petition the City to re-nature the Park'n'Fly, and the NRC should give up some of their airport adjacent land, so that people can walk after they park, and we can save on CO2 emissions from the shuttle bus to meet our #VisionZerio2030 goals.

This. I have a real tough time feeling sorry for people over this. If they really cared about that plot, they would have been petitioning the city to turn it into a park or some kind of greenspace. Heck, if they actually cared about sprawl, they wouldn't be living where they are. And if the city cared about any of their rhetoric they actually would have plans in place and would appropriately require industrial density too, like compelling and letting the construction of a parking structure at Dow's Lake. This is a direct consequences of their inaction, apathy and incompetence.

As to the use, who cares? Is it any better if it was a Walmart instead of a parking lot?

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Is it any better if it was a Walmart instead of a parking lot?

Yes. At least that would result in jobs and provide services for nearby residents. This parking lot does none of the above.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

Yes. At least that would result in jobs and provide services for nearby residents. This parking lot does none of the above.

That parking lot is what helps sustain the jobs at the BMW dealership.

I would love it if we had less sprawl. Maybe, when car dealerships are built, we should insist that they build parking structures. Ditto for a lot of other businesses too. It ridiculous to start fretting over it, just because this is a strand of trees the locals happen to use.

Sprawl has consequences. This is one of them.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

That parking lot is what helps sustain the jobs at the BMW dealership.

Lol. It's a car dealership, with exclusive sales rights for BMWs in Ottawa. It's not going anywhere. If anything, this is going to allow them to cut jobs, because they won't need they guy whose job it is to shuttle cars to whatever remote parking lot they are using now.

I don't really care about arguments about the forest being a neighbourhood amenity. The airport owns it, and parts of it have been developed before (most recently the Lowe Martin building in the early 2000s). I fully expect this land to be developed some day.

But if we're going to tear down a bunch of trees, it should be for something better than a parking lot that could be anywhere.

And for those bringing up the A&W, Infinity Centre, etc.- that land had been scrub for at least 40 years; according to GeoOttawa, it was farmland before that- in the 1960s.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

But if we're going to tear down a bunch of trees, it should be for something better than a parking lot that could be anywhere.

Could it be anywhere? Apparently couldn't be near Dow's Lake.

In any event, who are you or I to decide how a given plot of land that somebody else owns can be used?

I see this as just another form of NIMBYism with the added twist that NIMBYism elsewhere is probably leading to this.

The NIMBYs don't get to argue that their useless ornamental front lawns are fine, but a parking lot is poor land use. That's some rank hypocrisy.

The reason you don't pay more for a car and wait a month for a new car, like you might in some parts of the world, is because our dealerships here have large lots full of millions of dollars worth of inventory. That lot comes with the business. If you were fine with the business and every other piece of low density crap around it, then this is just what comes with it. Deal with it.

[Harley613]

This whole thing is ridiculous. The greenbelt is right down the street. Otto's has committed to planting three trees for every one that is cut. This isn't even a natural forest.

[J.OT13]

This sounds like a solid case for a local tax-levy for the City to buy the forest. If the area residents are so adamant that this is "their park", then put your money where your mouth is and buy it. This would also help the airport's situation. No doubt they are not happy with the opposition either.

I don't feel bad for the neighbours. I get that the zoning allows for, something. But cutting down a forest for a parking lot is just wrong when there are so many other alternatives, as much for parking location as for this lot itself. The City needs to restrict surface parking lots, especially in the Greenbelt, and it needs to raise taxes on surface parking.

But anyway, Brockington will be speaking to the owners of Otto's to try and find a solution. Sounds like he may suggest surplus City land near Hunt Club and Riverside that's currently just a patch of grass.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

This sounds like a solid case for a local tax-levy for the City to buy the forest. If the area residents are so adamant that this is "their park", then put your money where your mouth is and buy it. This would also help the airport's situation. No doubt they are not happy with the opposition either.

Very much this. There's way too many sanctimonious folks in any of these issues, whose concerns usually end at their wallets. Put up or shut up.

They are hypocrites and NIMBYs. And their views should be called out as such. They are fine with parking lots anywhere else. As long as it is not in their backyard. There should be a price for those views.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I don't feel bad for the neighbours. I get that the zoning allows for, something. But cutting down a forest for a parking lot is just wrong when there are so many other alternatives, as much for parking location as for this lot itself. The City needs to restrict surface parking lots, especially in the Greenbelt, and it needs to raise taxes on surface parking.

But anyway, Brockington will be speaking to the owners of Otto's to try and find a solution. Sounds like he may suggest surplus City land near Hunt Club and Riverside that's currently just a patch of grass.

I get why people are getting up in arms over this becoming a parking lot. It's pretty cliche. But the land is zoned for something other than a park. And that is the root of the issue. These people will be just as upset if Dymon shows up and builds a storage condo over there. Heck, they'll be all the more emboldened after winning this argument. And then they've effectively denied use of that property to the airport.

So I'd go a step further. Tax the neighbourhood and use it to both buy the land in question for a park, and to fund a 500 spot parking structure on the existing parking lot for Otto. Putting the lot elsewhere imposes a rather unfair burden on the business just so those locals can enjoy continue enjoying property that was never theirs or even public.