Developer has proposed to build 84 townhouse units on Gordon, south of Clairfields Drive

Council has approved a proposal to build 84 townhouse units in the south end of the city — a proposal that’s larger than what originally came to city hall last year.

In a 12-1 vote Dec. 9, council OK’d the project slated to be built at 1657 and 1665 Gordon St. Coun. James Gordon was the sole councillor to vote against the project.

Monday’s vote comes nearly a year to the day after the development first made its way to council chambers. At that time, the project was for 78 units, but an alternative layout was included in staff reports that showed the current 84-unit configuration.

The developer — based on several documents included with the original application, the developer appears to be Marann Homes — was able to make room for the additional six units after entering into a memorandum of understanding to buy a 1,035-square-metre parcel of land from the city, adjacent to the property.

That land, facing Gordon, provides another access point for the development, meaning not all of the vehicles would be entering and exiting the property via Gosling Gardens.

However, one change from a year ago is the number of parking spots. While the alternative plans from last year had 110 parking spots, the configuration approved by council on Monday has 108.

Following a question from Coun. Dominique O’Rourke, city staff said the reason for the two fewer spots was to make room for more trees on the property.

The Ward 6 councillor said her “concern is that the concession is always going to the future owner,” and that this could result in overflow parking making its way to Gosling Gardens, especially considering the townhouse units do not have garages.

“We know that the units are expensive and people generally have more than one vehicle,” she added.

With this project now moving ahead, the developer has previously indicated the two existing homes on the properties would be torn down.

The demolition of those two houses, according to a planning report submitted with the original application last year, “will create development charge and cash-in-lieu of parkland dedication credits for this proposed development.”