City council rejected plans for a 10-storey student housing building near the University of Guelph on Monday evening, but the site’s fate will likely be decided by an appeal board.
That’s what delegates representing the developer for 785 Gordon St. – currently home to a Days Inn – threatened ahead of council’s 11-1 vote.
“The owner is committed to working with staff to address all reasonable concerns through the site plan approval process,” stated Rachel Bossie, senior planner for GSP Group, adding council’s refusal would “force” an appeal because staff-urged changes could reduce occupancy by one-third. “We felt that without an approval in-hand, it was too much of an ask.”
Nearby resident Jennifer Harrison flipped that script, stating residents are open to working with the developer on a “reasonable proposal” for the site.
“This is not a reasonable proposal,” she said. “If we polled the neighbourhood, you could see that the vast majority understand that intensification is going to happen. ... We get it, we just want something that is reasonable.
"I think this developer missed an opportunity to have a positive and collaborative project because ... they've come out with such an outrageous request that we have lost trust in them."
Had it been approved, the proposal would have seen the two-storey Days Inn demolished and replaced with a 10-storey, 389-unit student residence with 520 individually leased bedrooms and commercial space on the ground floor.
“This is not complementary to the neighbourhood,” commented Coun. Phil Allt.
“Ten storeys isn’t something that gets worked out at site plan,” added Coun. Cathy Downer.
Several area residents spoke in favour of the staff recommendation to refuse official plan and zoning amendments, raising concerns about noise and parking in particular.
Bill Mungall noted several of the 21 proposed party patios are to be available for rent to residents, meaning someone could invite 50 non-residents and the noise would be heard by area residents.
In its report to council, city staff also flagged concerns with the proposed building’s height and length, at nearly 100 metres, and the potential to create “unnecessary shading, wind tunnelling effect, and dissipates pedestrian access to the site.”
The development was rejected in an 11-1 vote, with Mayor Cam Guthrie in opposition; Coun. Mike Salisbury was absent from the meeting.
“I have a difference of opinion,” Guthrie said. “For me, it fits.
“I do not think that people are going to feel that it’s so out of character (for the neighbourhood),” he added of the building’s massing, noting there’s a plaza across the street and student housing approved for across the road.
Guthrie said his support stems largely from the need for housing in the city, which he said is driven up by students seeking accommodations who in turn reduce the supply for others in the community.
Area residents raised a variety of concerns with the plan during a public meeting in July, prompting Guthrie to urge the developer to meet with neighbourhood residents to address their concerns.
However, as acknowledged by delegates for the developer, that didn’t happen. Rather it met with three residents last week after the residents initiated a meeting.
No alterations to the plan have been made since the public meeting.
“They did choose not to make any changes,” noted Katie Nasswetter, the city’s senior development planner, noting massing concerns “should be addressed at this stage (rather than through the site plan approval process).”
“I’m not seeing a willingness … to take those concerns seriously,” commented Coun. Rodrigo Goller.
Downer urged the developer to focus on its fully approved student housing site nearby, at the corner of Stone Road and Gordon Street at the demolished former Royal Brock Hotel & Conference Centre.
