Peterborough city council has endorsed zoning by-law and official plan amendments to allow Ashburnham Realty to develop a 17-storey mixed-use high-rise on Crescent Street behind the Art Gallery of Peterborough and near the shore of Little Lake.
During council’s general committee meeting on Monday night (January 26), which also served as a public meeting under the Planning Act, councillors considered a staff report from Blair Nelson, the city’s commissioner of infrastructure, planning, and growth management, about the application for the 17-storey building with up to 225 dwelling units and ground floor commercial space.
The staff report recommended changes to the latest submitted concept plan that includes an increased building setback of three metres to the parking structure to accommodate landscaping, a reduced tower floor plate area of 1,000 square metres, and flexibility for a maximum building height of 20 storeys to facilitate the reduced tower floor plate area.
Nine existing properties located along Crescent Street, Lake Street, and George Street would be included in Ashburnham Realty’s proposed development: 195, 199, 203, 215, and 223 Crescent Street, 131 and 137 Lake Street, and 362 George Street South.
Most of the properties are single detached dwellings, with two properties at the intersection of Lake and Crescent Streets containing apartments. They include 111 metres of frontage on Crescent Street, 55 metres of frontage on Lake Street, and 8.5 metres of frontage on George Street South, with a total lot area of around 6,600 square metres (1.6 acres).
A public house on the proposed development was hosted by EcoVue Consulting Services Inc. last September 23 at the Art Gallery of Peterborough. That version of the development included a portion of the second and third floor that could potentially be used as a new location for gallery, although city council subsequently decided not to pursue that option. Around 100 people attended the open house.
At Monday night’s public meeting, city planner Ian Walker provided council with a presentation on the proposed development, including details of the application, the results of the open house, and staff recommendations for the development, including the potential for the building to be as high as 20 storeys to accommodate changes recommended by staff.
Mayor Jeff Leal asked Walker if he was aware that Ashburnham Realty owner Paul Bennett had sent correspondence to members of council “that he’d like to stick with the 17 floors for this project,” and Walker responded that he was.
Walker’s presentation was followed by three public delegations, including two residents from the neighbourhood who spoke against the development, as well as Kent Randall of EcoVue Consulting Services on behalf of Ashburnham Realty.
Randall told council that Ashburnham Realty does not want to increase the height of the building beyond 17 storeys. Instead, the number of units will be reduced from 225 to 210 to accommodate increased step-backs at the fourth and sixth storeys, along with a reduction in the tower floor plate for floors nine to 17, and a modified ground floor commercial area.
He noted that the proposed development would be market rental units, not condominiums as in an earlier iteration of the proposed development, but would not include any affordable housing.
Although it is not part of the application, Randall said that Ashburnham Realty’s design could incorporate a “possible linear park” in front of the development, which would require the permanent closure of Crescent Street to traffic north of Romaine Street. He added that city staff are working on “potential redesigns for that strip” and a linear park with the closure of Crescent Street “would be perfect as far as we’re concerned.”
He said that while Ashburnham Realty can work with some of the staff-recommended changes, including increased step-backs at the fourth-floor podium and increased minimum commercial space on the ground floor along Crescent Street, the applicant is requesting to keep the maximum building height at 17 storeys, to increase the maximum tower floor plate area from the staff recommendation of 1,000 square metres to 1,115 square metres, and to reduce the west side lot setback to 1.5 metres from the staff-recommended three metres.
“Since we provided that to the public, the 17 storeys, (and) we’ve gone through all these different design iterations to come to that point, we’d like to press forward with that,” Randall said.
A number of councillors asked questions of Randall, including councillor Matt Crowley, who asked what the “shovels in the ground” date would be if the application is approved. Randall said the applicant “is hoping fall of this year.”
After Randall’s delegation, council had a brief debate on the application.
Mayor Jeff Leal said he wanted “to commend Mr. Bennett” for staying to the commitment of 17 storeys, referring to the proposed East City development beside Mark Street United Church when the building increased from 10 to 17 storeys.
The mayor added that the application meets a number of city policies and objectives, that the rental apartments would draw younger people to the community, and that the development would increase the assessed value of the property and therefore increase the city’s tax revenue.
In response to comments from one of the neighbourhood residents who presented to council, that a waterfront high-rise would have a negative impact on tourism, councillor Gary Baldwin asked city staff to provide an opinion. Both Blair Nelson, the city’s commissioner of infrastructure, planning and growth management, and Darryl Julott, the city’s economic development director, said they did not foresee a direct impact on tourism.
After some additional discussion, council voted on an amended motion that included Ashburnham Realty’s requests for changes to the staff recommendations.
The motion carried 9-0, which was a unanimous vote as councillors Alex Bierk and Kevin Duguay did not participate in the discussion or vote. Earlier in the meeting, Bierk said he had a financial relationship with Ashburnham Realty and Duguay said he was the original planning consultant for the project prior to his election to council.
Items endorsed by general committee will proceed to the regular city council meeting on Monday (February 2) to be considered for approval.
