Building has fewer units, but remains six storeys tall
Some changes have been made to a proposed apartment building in the south end of Guelph — but for at least one resident who lives in the area, the changes do not go far enough.
In March, a public meeting was held at city hall for a proposed six-storey, 102-unit apartment building at Gordon Street and Lowes Road West put forward by Reid’s Heritage Homes.
Now, according to revised documents submitted to the city earlier this month, the proposal has fewer units (down to 89), a reconfigured parking lot which provides more landscaped space (up to 3,440 square metres from 2,969) and a slightly smaller common amenity area (down to 1,611 square metres, down from 1,630), among other changes.
However, for Peter Kastner, who lives across the road from the proposed development, one issue has not changed — the actual size of the building itself.
“The main thing for me and all my neighbours was that a six-storey building — with all the HVAC on the roof, which would make it a seven-storey building — it just doesn’t fit in the neighbourhood,” Kastner, who organized local opposition to the project, tells the Mercury Tribune.
“It’s all one, two storeys a kilometre in either direction.”
The size of the project was brought up by councillors during the March public meeting, with Coun. Bob Bell calling the closeness of the building to Gordon “absolutely oppressive.”
Under the original proposal, the six-storey building would sit six metres — fewer than 20 feet — back from the road. The six-metre setback remains in the revised site plan.
However, with the decreased number of units, the residential density of 103 units per hectare is nearly in line with the city’s official plan when it comes residential apartment zoning, which carries with it a maximum of 100 units per hectare.
Reid’s revised building plan does away with three-bedroom. There were plans for 12, or two per storey, in the original plan. The developer has also lowered the number of one-bedroom units (from 28 to 24) and increased the number of two-bedroom units (from 62 to 65).
While the lot size of 2.15 acres remains the same, the size of the building is slightly smaller.
Under the original plan, the building was 98.5 metres long — split between the northern 52-metre-long half of the building sitting closer to Gordon, and with remaining 46.5-metre long section sitting farther back — and 19 metres wide.
In the new plan, the building is more squared off, with the entire 81.9-metre length of the building no longer disjointed. The building is also slightly narrower, now at 18.8 metres wide.
While it remains unclear when the proposal will come back to council for a decision, there will be a meeting between the developer and any interested parties next month.
Starting at 7 p.m. on Jan. 22 at city hall, city staff and representatives from the developer will be on hand to make presentations on the revised application and answer any questions people may have on the possible project.