When Desmond and Maria Vandenberg bought their East City century home in 2020, the Mark Street property checked a lot of boxes for the couple.

Not only was “the home we’re going to retire to” within “walking distance of every kind of shop we’d want to go to,” but unimpeded backyard garden sunshine was abundant. As a bonus, beyond their rear property line, an urban rarity in the form of greenspace offered a pretty backdrop.

So it was when the couple got wind of a 10-storey residential-commercial development proposed for 90 Hunter Street East, a site adjacent to the nearby Mark Street United Church, they attended a June 2024 information session hosted by the developer, Toronto-based TVM Group, to learn more and gauge the impacts, if any, the development would have on their property.

“We went with open minds,” recalls Desmond, admitting to being “surprised” when he saw the development plans and renderings.

Asked at that time for comment by kawarthaNOW, Desmond held back, now recalling “We wanted to stop, reflect, and make sure that we were being reasonable in any sort of response we had to it.”

Close to a year later, with the 10-storey 156-unit building now proposed as a 17-storey 205-unit one, he has plenty to say — and is saying it to anyone that will listen.

He’s not alone. A growing number of residents, most of them living in East City, are crying foul and making their voices heard on social media.

A website at 90hunter.com, co-created and maintained by East City resident Courtney Claessens, provides a comprehensive overview of the new proposal while an online petition, signed at last count by close to 250 people, is demanding the following of Peterborough planning staff and, by extension, city councillors.

• Rejection of the 17-storey proposal as incongruous with Peterborough’s Official Plan and Urban Design Guidelines.
• Reduction of the overall height to a maximum of 10 storeys, or include community benefits such as affordable housing units and public green space for any height granted over 10 storeys.
• A return to the original 45-degree angular plane recommendation from adjacent residential properties, or include adequate setbacks, landscape buffering and transitions to neighbouring properties.
• Provision of an updated comprehensive traffic study now that Armour Road is no longer under construction.
• Holding of a transparent public consultation before approval of any revised proposal.

“We’re not against development,” stresses Desmond, speaking for himself and his wife. “East City should be available to other people as well, and high density is probably the way to go for Peterborough to meet its housing goals.”

“However, we maintain there’s an appropriate level of height. The tallest building in East City is about six stories, so a six-storey building fronting Hunter Street would be among the highest buildings. I think I could support that, where it tiers down (in storeys) as it goes into residential areas.”

As proposed now, the TVM development would be the tallest building in Peterborough, its 57-metre (187-foot) height eclipsing Charlotte Towers on the southwest corner of Charlotte and Aylmer streets in downtown Peterborough which, at 14 storeys, has long held that distinction.

There is, however, an application still before the city for a 30-storey apartment building, proposed by Clear Global Capital Limited in 2022, for a site behind the county courthouse.

While Desmond has concerns over the height of the proposed TVM building, as well as with related issues such as blocked sunlight and increased side street traffic, his main bone of contention is the development’s four-storey parking garage planned for the greenspace behind his property and just two metres from his property line.

“We would be surrounded on two sides by a four-storey parking wall; a concrete wall that is only feet from our property line, and actually less than a metre from one of our neighbour’s property line. That doesn’t leave any space to plant trees to kind of mitigate that look of concrete.”

After speaking with kawarthaNOW on Wednesday (May 28), Desmond met with TVM CEO Amit Sofer the following day to discuss the development. According to Desmond, Sofer provided some updates on revisions to the plan that have not yet been made public, including that the parking garage is now five metres, instead of two, from his property line.

“I appreciate that Amit took the time to meet with some of the residents bordering the development and the concessions being made,” Desmond says. “That said, as I communicated to Amit, I am still not comfortable with the overall scale of the building at 17 stories.”

For his part, Sofer says all residents’ concerns, whether expressed now or at last year’s open house for the 10-storey proposal, are “legitimate.”

“One of things being overlooked is the tower component of the building replaces a significant reduction in the podium component,” he says.

“The tower is more slender. It’s taller, yes, but there is a smaller shadow. I don’t know if the shadowing is really that much of an issue. I appreciate that people don’t want to see a change in East City, but I am in the business of apartments. We’re well aware of the desperate need for apartments throughout the city.”

“We built a beautiful condominium building (East City Condos at Armour Road and Hunter Street East). A number of units in that building have been rented, and rented fairly quickly, including four we intend to transfer (to Mark Street United Church as part of the agreement for the property acquired for the new development). The demand for rental accommodation is insatiable right now. We’re simply trying to follow the guidance, direction and comments put forward by the federal, provincial and municipal governments. Our proposal is in keeping with all of those.”

Asked what the rental cost of the units will be, Sofer cites a range of $1,650 to $2,700 monthly.

Sofer adds he’s well aware of the concerns being expressed. To his credit, he has made himself accessible to answer questions, including visiting the Vandenbergs at their home to hear them out and obtain a firsthand look at their concerns. The couple has earlier hosted visits by a number of city councillors.

“Everybody wants it (housing), but no one wants it near,” says Sofer, noting “That’s the paradox of my job.”

“Anytime we’ve done a rezoning application, we get that pushback. No one likes any change. We had a load of resistance when we rezoned a school (property) on Reid Street into 48 fully accessible affordable apartments. It’s a resounding success. There are beautiful stories that have come out of that building. None of the concerns (expressed) have been realized.”

“When we re-did the hospital (formerly St. Joseph’s), there was immense pushback against putting residential in that area. It has contributed greatly to East City. I believe this building will also contribute in a very significant way. It will be the nicest building in the City of Peterborough.”

Sofer’s assurance, however, promises to do little to win over detractors.

East City resident Susan Dunkley, in a letter sent to the media, has as much of a problem with the process as she does with its footprint.

“Last year’s town hall felt like a check-boxing exercise,” she writes.

“Residents showed up in good faith with serious, well-reasoned concerns — about traffic, school overcrowding, infrastructure strain, and the real risk of losing the character of our tight-knit neighbourhood. Yet none of those concerns have been meaningfully addressed. No follow-up. No solutions. Just a new, even taller tower. It’s hard not to feel like our voices don’t matter.”

Noting East City “has already taken on its fair share of growth” resulting in, among other things, “streets already congested,” she adds, “We all understand the need for housing. But it has to be done right — with intention, with respect for the existing community, and in places that can actually support it. This proposal fails on every front.”

As for Courtney Claessens, whose Cricket Place property will also face the development’s rear four-storey parking garage to the east, she echoes those concerns.

She says while she was aware of the original 10-story building proposal before buying her home last November, the desire to live in a “walkable neighbourhood” overrode any heightened concerns with that proposal.

That said, the revised 17-storey building plan now has her paying very close attention.

She too has concerns over the lack of community consultation on the new plan, local traffic impacts, and higher carbon emissions resulting from a taller building, adding “the 17-storey proposal is dominating, not enhancing.”

However, there’s also her opinion — shared by others — that TVM is rushing to gain city approval for its revised project before planned new guidelines around developers’ provision of services and amenities are adopted, potentially as early as spring 2026.

“If the community permit planning by-law is adopted, council can request the provision of services — stuff like affordable units, greenspace, daycare — for any building over 10 storeys,” she says.

“This is one of the largest developments being proposed right now in Peterborough, so it’s kind of precedent-setting. It’s a good thing to pay attention to how new developments are respecting policies in the official plan, and the urban design guidelines … really wanting to grow Peterborough in a way that serves its current and future residents.”

Sofer, however, wholly refutes the rush-to-approval accusation to avoid any possible new rules around what’s required of developers. He says that supposition is one example of many false assumptions being aired via social media.

“Anything we say, we get a comment back on,” he says, adding “We’ll never make certain individuals happy — we will never made everyone happy. I know and regret that, but it’s the reality of life. It happens at my dinner table too.”

“We’ve been in Peterborough for 25 years. We’re not a merchant builder. We don’t build and sell. We build and own. Other than our condominiums, we own everything we’ve built.”

“I’m very confident that we’ve put together a proposal that meets the needs of the community at large, not five or 10 people. I believe we have something that’s going to benefit the city as a whole immensely.”

Noting that the City of Peterborough is putting great effort into having more housing built, from that of the affordable variety through to single families, Sofer says TVM is responding to an expressed need.

As an example of that direction, he points to the city’s recent removal of exclusionary zoning. Now, he says, any R1-zoned property is entitled to have four residential units.

With the change, Sofer says TVM will be bringing the first four-unit application for the redevelopment of a single-family home, which has been taken down. The plan, he says, is to build four modular homes

“There’s an effort everywhere to intensify, and it’s not just in East City,” he says. “To the west (of TVM’s proposed Hunter Street East building), there’s even larger (development) proposals coming. Intensification has been directed by the city, and we’re simply responding to that.”

The city is currently reviewing the application from TVM Mark Street Inc. for a zoning by-law amendment for the proposed 17-storey building development.

A public meeting under the Planning Act on the proposed zoning by-law amendment will be held at an upcoming meeting of city council’s general committee, when members of the public will be able to make delegations.

Watch kawarthaNOW for more details of that meeting as they become known.