Rejected by city council in September, a proposal for a 10-storey, 520-bedroom student residence near the University of Guelph appears to be heading to mediation.
During a recent Ontario Land Tribunal case management conference for 785 Gordon St. E. – currently home to a two-storey Days Inn on the corner of Gordon Street and Harvard Road – a representative of the developer noted it and the city are seeking tribunal-assisted mediation in hopes of coming to an agreement prior to an appeal hearing.
No hearing dates have been set at this time.
Abode Varsity Living Inc. wants to tear down the hotel and replace it with a 10-storey, 389-unit student residence with 520 individually leased bedrooms, along with commercial space on the ground floor.
In a report to council ahead of last year’s rejection of the plan, city staff referred to the proposal as a “monolithic slab” and recommended council deny a series of requested official plan and zoning bylaw amendments to would allow it to be built.
Staff 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 current height limit on that site is six storeys.
A number of concerns were also raised by nearby residents during a public meeting last July about the impact it would have on the neighbourhood, including the obstructing size, parking, traffic and noise.
The development was rejected in an 11-1 vote, with Mayor Cam Guthrie in opposition.
