City staff are recommending that two development proposals get the green light – one for the second time.

According to reports to go before councillors for their Jan. 28 meeting, staff are recommending that proposals to construct townhouses and an apartment building on Huron Street, and another to construct townhouses on Beechwood Avenue, be approved.

120-122 Huron St.

In late 2017, the owners of the property at Huron and Alice streets was given a permit by the city to take down approximately 700 trees. It was later revealed the work was being done to make way for a residential development.

It was not until February 2018 that a public meeting was held on the future of the former Uniroyal plant. The initial plan was to keep the four-storey factory building, transforming it into an 86-unit apartment building.

While the old factory would be left standing, other buildings on the property, including a single-storey shed and a two-storey building that used to serve as office space for the plant, would be torn down.

The rest of the property would be taken up by 96 stacked and cluster townhouses.

At that meeting, local residents voiced their excitement that the property would finally see some new development, but expressed concern on the amount of new people that would be moving into the area, given its narrow roads.

“We have lots of pressures in our area with regards to traffic and parking already,” Melissa Flemming, who has lived in the area with her husband since 1992, said at the meeting. Flemming added that when you include other nearby developments like Biltmore and Metalworks, there could be more than 1,500 people moving to the area in the coming years.

“It’s exciting, but at the same time, it’s a little scary when you know how narrow some of our streets are and how we’re already dealing with some traffic and parking issues as it is.”

Coun. Bob Bell, one of the city hall representatives for the area, also expressed his concerns around traffic that this development would bring, saying the adjacent streets would be forced to pick up the extra volume.

The proposal being slated for approval, however, is slightly different than what was seen a year ago at the public meeting. The apartment building has added an extra unit, bringing it to 87.

The number of townhouses has dropped, going to 59 cluster townhouses, with three-storey buildings fronting along Huron, and two-storey buildings on the eastern interior of the property.

In total, there will be 146 units and 193 parking spots.

“Other key changes include moving the main apartment amenity area close to the building along Huron Street and creating a central amenity area between the two residential uses,” the report adds.

“Also, improvements were made to on-site vehicular circulation and pedestrian linkages between amenity areas.”

According to the staff report, the developer had proposed that a neighbouring site it also owns, 104 Oliver St., be used as parkland for the neighbourhood. However, staff note that the 800-square-metre property did not meet the city’s criteria for parkland.

“The site does not meet the city’s standard criteria for parkland acquisition but staff are willing to further discuss the potential for a passive recreation park or urban square on the site through the site plan approval process,” the report adds.

The developer will be paying cash in lieu for parkland.

89 Beechwood Ave.

A proposal to bring townhouses to 89 Beechwood Ave. has gone through several iterations since it was first proposed in the summer of 2017.

The first proposal for the site of the former Optimist Club from Granite Homes was for 34 townhomes. By May, that number was down to 23.

In September, city staff recommended approving the development application – however, following a tied 6-6 vote, the project was in limbo. While a tied vote typically signals a defeat on council motions, it was a different story for 89 Beechwood, as a motion to deny the project was never brought up.

Instead, council voted in favour of having the developer take another crack at the project, and bring it back to city hall for another vote.

All through the revisions, a number of the project’s neighbours have expressed concerns, saying it is too big for the neighbourhood. Another issue, residents said, was that the project would mean the neighbourhood would effectively lose Howitt Park, which sits next to the site.

“It feels to me like we’re going to lose that playground and that green space with the mass of the building,” Coun. June Hofland said at the September meeting.

In November, the developer submitted a revised plan for the site, dropping the number of townhouses to 22, opening up more sightlines to Howitt Park.

“Staff have included specialized zoning regulations to ensure the setbacks as shown on the revised conceptual site plan are maintained to provide a level of comfort for the neighoburhood,” the staff report adds.

“Additional tree preservation will be confirmed in an updated tree inventory and preservation plan submitted at the time of site plan approval.”

The report adds that the city will be taking a mix of land and cash in lieu for the parkland dedication for this project, should it be approved.