Reject a proposed east end redevelopment, council was repeatedly urged during a Tuesday evening public meeting.
Nearby residents raised a number of concerns about plans to tear down a small plaza at 140 Hadati Rd. – between Leacock Avenue and Upton Crescent – and replace it with a 3.5-storey building with 24 stacked townhouses. Key among them is the potential safety impact of increased on-street parking.
“(The area) is already burdened with quite a bit of on-street parking as it is,” Leslie Boutlbee, of neighbourhood group Happy Hadati, told council. “Obviously that has a huge safety impact on the community.”
About a dozen people spoke out about the proposal. Many acknowledged a need for redevelopment and even praised the idea, but called for the plan to be scaled back.
“It’s not safe now and adding density will make it worse,” commented Upton Crescent resident O.J. MacDonald. “I do support the development, just not at this scale.”
A total of 26 parking spaces are proposed, with one for each unit and two visitor spots. Under pending comprehensive zoning rules, there would need to be 29 parking spaces.
Council heard this reduction would prompt people to park secondary vehicles or additional visitors on the street, limiting sightlines for children travelling to and from school – many pass by the site as they head for a catwalk connection to St. John Catholic School and St. James Catholic High School on Victoria Road.
Street parking could also prove problematic for emergency vehicles seeking access to nearby homes, one speaker said.
“Our community is not just houses and streets and cars, it’s individuals,” Colin Lam, an Upton Crescent resident, told council, noting he was “truly baffled” by the scale of the proposal when he first learned of it. “They want to slam in the largest number of units.”
In order for the proposal to go ahead as-is, official plan amendments are needed to allow a height of four storeys (currently limited to three) and a maximum density of 95 units per hectare (currently set at 35).
The site would also need to be rezoned from convenience commercial to specialized cluster townhouse.
The plaza is currently home to One Stop convenience store and an empty unit which used to house an eatery.
Several residents, along with Ward 1 councillor Dan Gibson, called for some form of commercial space in the redevelopment – something many speakers noted is lacking in the east end.
“That’s what the community is screaming at me. I hear it over and over again,” Boutlbee said of maintaining commercial space on the site.
An online petition calling for “more appropriate developments such as two-storey townhouses” has 60 signatures.
Council didn’t take a stance on the proposal during its Tuesday evening session. The meeting was held in order to gather public input on the development applications, which city staff will take into consideration during its review of the plan and in forming a recommendation to council at a later date.
In the meantime, Mayor Cam Guthrie urged residents and the site owner to meet so they can discuss the proposal and seek solutions to concerns.
