Ottawa’s planning and housing committee will vote Wednesday on whether to allow the development of two residential highrises in Stittsville, a proposal opposed by a number of local residents.
City planning staff recommended last month that council approve a bylaw amendment to allow the twin highrises on Hazeldean Road, totalling 431 residential units.
One building would be 21 storeys — making it the tallest building in Stittsville, according to the area’s city councillor — while the other would be 12, though both would step down to a lower number of storeys, according to the city staffers’ report.
In the hundreds of written responses submitted to the city, the majority of people opposed the proposal, citing concerns including height, privacy, mobility, traffic, parking and construction impacts, according to the report.
The site is designated a “mainstreet corridor” and so meets a requirement for allowing highrises under Ottawa’s official plan.
Concerns about infrastructure
But local residents say Hazeldean Road lacks the proper pedestrian infrastructure to accommodate a project of that scope.
“We are pro-development in general, but there are specific areas of concern with this,” Tanya Hein, a spokesperson for the Stittsville Village Association, said in a statement.
Over 700 people signed a petition arguing the project is not in keeping with Stittsville’s character.
A proposed sidewalk would not lead residents to local schools and parks, said Tony Dilliot, a retired engineer who has lived in a house adjacent to the proposed site since 1998.
“In the winter time, you are going to ask children and young adults with small children to walk and bike on a rural road” with gravel shoulders and drainage ditches, he said.
Dilliot believes the city would need to spend millions upgrading the road to make it safe for residents.
“It’s forcing the city to do more infrastructure development on a rural road…when there is ample property one kilometre to the east,” he said of the proposal.
Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower, who serves as the vice chair of the planning and housing committee, could not be reached for comment.
But he noted to the committee that concerns about the adequacy of current municipal infrastructure are “legitimate.”
He has not indicated how he will vote on Wednesday.
Stittsville and Kanata are the fastest growing areas of the city with about 20 residential projects in the approval and pre-construction process, according to Gower’s website.
More suburban highrises are inevitable, said Jason Burggraaf, director of the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association.
“This is only the beginning of a concentration of trying to have people live more in a more urban fashion — even though it’s in a suburb of Ottawa,” he told CBC.
Urban planner Jennifer Barrett said intensification in the suburbs would benefit local businesses and communities “because there are just more residents there to collectively use those services and amenities.”