A former church building near the downtown core could be demolished and redeveloped as a dozen rental residential units.
That’s the plan for 8 Mitchell St. – a property that runs through to Arthur Street North, just north of Eramosa Road. It’s the former home of Community of Christ, which moved to Elmira Road earlier in the year.
“The proposed development will introduce a compatible and varied housing form (semi-detached dwellings and additional dwelling units) into the local market, and is being constructed as a purpose built rental project,” states a planning justification report submitted to the city.
“Once all necessary approvals are in place, shovels will be ‘in the ground’ within a short timeframe – hopefully this year.”
If approved as proposed, the church building will be demolished and replaced by two side-by-side semi-detached homes fronting onto Arthur. Each of the four units is to contain two internal accessory units, making for 12 units combined.
“Given its wider frontage, Arthur Street is the most logical and efficient location to site the new dwelling units. As … the proposed dwellings would not fit on the Mitchell frontage,” the report explains. “The reason only one ‘end’ of the site is currently proposed for development is due to a requirement of the (Grand River Conservation Authority) that the ‘through lot’ status of this lot be maintained.”
The property is currently zoned for neighbourhood institutional use, but city council is being asked to change it to residential with two specialized regulations – one allowing the homes to front onto Arthur Street and another allowing one of the accessory units to have four bedrooms.
As noted in the planning report, the owner intends to install heat pumps for heating and cooling, along with electric water heaters, increased roof support for future solar panels and more.
Feedback on the plan will be gathered during a public meeting set for Oct. 8, held during a city council planning session that begins at 4 p.m.
“In order to expedite ‘getting shovels in the ground’, the proponent would like to have the requested zone change in place as soon as possible,” the planning report notes. “This will allow the new units on Arthur Street to be constructed in the short term (this year dependent on timing for finalization of this application) but does not preclude future discussion with the City and the GRCA to explore options for best utilizing the Mitchell Street frontage for some form of residential use – at minimum being for the placement of separate (accessory dwelling units) along Mitchell.”
