249/255 Richmond Road and 372 Tweedsmuir Avenue - Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Control Applications + Open House

The City of Ottawa has received a Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Control application to permit the development of a nine-storey, 87-dwelling unit, mixed-use building containing at-grade commercial and underground parking.

The subject site is located at the northwest corner of the Richmond Road / Tweedsmuir Avenue intersection, in the Westboro neighbourhood. The proposed land assembly of the three properties municipally known as 249 and 255 Richmond Road and 372 Tweedsmuir Avenue is generally L-shaped and has a total area of approximately 2,181.15 square metres with approximately 50 metres of frontage along Richmond Road and 46 metres of frontage along Tweedsmuir Avenue. 255 Richmond Road is currently occupied by a one-storey commercial space and surface parking. 249 Richmond Road is currently occupied by a two-storey restaurant and surface parking. 372 Tweedsmuir is currently occupied by a two-storey detached dwelling and surface parking.

The north of the subject site is generally characterized by a mix of low-density and low-rise residential uses. Westboro LRT station and Lion’s Park are located further north. The east is generally characterized by retail, commercial and institutional uses, as well as a nine-storey mixed use building. To the south is a gas station, and further south is generally characterized by low-density and low-rise residential uses as well as Byron Linear Park. The west consists of the traditional mainstreet low- to midrise, mixed-use built form.

The purpose of this application is to accommodate the redevelopment of the site by demolishing the existing uses and construct a mid-rise, mixed-use building that is nine-storeys tall, dropping to three storeys along Tweedsmuir Avenue. The applicant is proposing 87 residential units with access from Tweedsmuir Avenue and approximately 98 underground parking spaces and 196 bicycle parking spaces. Two retail units and one restaurant unit located at-grade and fronting onto Richmond Road are proposed, with a total area of 644 square metres.

The properties municipally known as 249 and 255 Richmond Road are currently zoned Traditional Mainstreet with a maximum height of 14 metres (TM H(15)). The property municipally known as 372 Tweedsmuir is currently zoned Residential Fourth Density Zone Subzone UB (R4UB). To facilitate the proposed development, the applicant seeks to rezone the entire subject site to Traditional Mainstreet, with an Urban Exception and Schedule (Traditional Mainstreet, Urban Exception XXXX, Schedule YYY) to permit the following requested relief:

• To permit a building height of 31 metres, whereas a maximum height of 15 metres is required.

• To be exempt from the provision requiring the development to meet the 45 degree angular plane as required abutting the R4 zone, whereas no part of the building abutting an R4 zone may project above a 45 degree angular plane.

 • To permit a corner side yard setback of 0 metres and 2.6 metres above 23.7 metres, whereas 3 metres is required except for any part of the building above15 metres for which an additional 2 metre setback is required.

• To permit a rear setback of 1.2 metres abutting Tweedsmuir and 0.07 metres abutting Athlone, whereas 7.5 metres is required abutting a residential zone.

• To permit a minimum width of landscaped area of 0.07 along Athlone, whereas 3 metres is required when abutting a residential area or 1 metre where a 1.4 metre high opaque fence is provided.

• To permit a permitted projection for canopies and awnings of 1 metre beyond the property line, whereas a distance equal to half the depth of a front, rear or corner side yard but not closer than 0.6 metres to a lot line is required.

• To permit a minimum aisle width of 6 metres with a pinchpoint of 5.9 metres, whereas a minimum of 6 metres is required.

You can review the Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Control applications further on Devapps. This application has not yet been approved. 

Our office held a community open house on December 13th to give residents the opportunity to review the details further, and ask questions from the developer and City staff. You can find the recording of this video here, ​

You can register for future notifications about this application by submitting a form in the “Send Feedback” button in the DevApps package or by e-mailing the planner (Steve Gauthier, steve.gauthier@ottawa.ca) and requesting to receive future notifications on these files : (#D02-02-21-0138, D07-12-21-0179)

Please send feedback to the lead planner on the file, Steve Gauthier (steve.gauthier@ottawa.ca). Please also consider sending us feedback on the proposed development and including us on any correspondence with the planner via Jeff.Leiper@ottawa.ca  and/or Stephany.Chevalier-Crockett@ottawa.ca.