It doesn’t rain, but it pours. Things have been fairly quiet on the development front in Kitchissippi without big approval battles for several years even as tower approvals march ahead without fanfare along Scott, Carling and elsewhere. Three recent proposals are out-of-the-ordinary, though, and I wanted to describe my approach to those anticipating that they will be controversial.
First: the proposals. Residents have already seen the 27-storey proposal for the Tubman Funeral Home site at 403 Richmond. That’s not an application yet, and I’ve described my opposition if the builder persists. Residents have also seen a three-tower proposal for the area bounded by Athlone-Scott-Tweedsmuir. Given its location in an area where our Official Plan anticipates very significant height and density, I don’t anticipate mounting any major challenge to that zoning and will be focused on the details.
Now, Taggart is proposing to increase the permitted height in the block containing the Carleton Tavern to 38-storeys, which I know won’t sit right with many especially given that the original tavern would need to be demolished as part of the plan, which you can view here. I’ll have more to write in the coming weeks and we’ve scheduled an open house to discuss it further.
Today I want to telegraph that even if I wanted to, there is virtually no Official Plan argument that could be levelled against the Taggart proposal. This hub near a major transit station is another area intended to be developed tall and dense. Again, I’ll be focused on the details of this one rather than seeking to stop the tower.
All three of the proposals now public will be to one degree or another controversial. I have already heard from residents trying to reconcile my opposition to the Tubman site proposal with my general support for the Scott/Tweedsmuir/Athlone proposal. The same question will be raised in the context of the Carleton site proposal.
What I’d like to emphasize is that my general approach while I’ve served as councillor in this busy ward has been to support development that achieves the intent and vision of our Official Plan and associated policies and by-laws, and oppose that which doesn’t.
Ottawa has been told by the Province to expect to grow by a half-million people by mid-2051. Accommodating the population of a city the size of Halifax in the next couple of decades while limiting sprawl but also preserving some of what people love about the built form of their city and neighbourhood is a challenge.
Our Official Plan vision of the city is one in which very dense, tall growth is focused around current and future higher-order transit, our traditional mainstreets grow to mid-rise heights, and low-rise neighbourhoods stay low-rise but with significant intensification.
We have a new Official Plan for Ottawa, and we have a new zoning by-law. Very significant resources have been put into crafting those and I am not keen to throw those out the window and deal with each new proposal as a one-off. I know that many residents will be hoping that I bring the same strong opposition to the Scott and Parkdale proposals that I have for 403 Richmond.
In planning, we need to look through the lens of the Official Plan. If I ground my opposition to one proposal on grounds that it does not achieve our Official Plan vision, then it behooves me to support proposals that do.
I look forward to our conversations on all three of these proposals, and the ones yet to come.