Statutory Public Meeting Report regarding proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications submitted by GSP Group on behalf of the owner, 1000243563 Ontario Inc… be received

1:12:48uh thank you marco three uh good evening members of city council staff and members of the public

1:12:54again i'm ryan mallory i'm a development planner and i will be reviewing this application

1:12:59the city has received an application for an official plan and zoning bylaw amendment from gsp

1:13:04group on behalf of 1 000 243 563 ontario incorporated the application is to rezone the property known

1:13:15principally as 14 stevensson street north to permit the establishment of a two-story 10 unit

1:13:21multiple residential dwelling uh today's meeting is the statutory public meeting required under

1:13:27the planning act and no decisions will be made on the application today the subject site is a 0.123

1:13:39hectare lot located on the west side of stevensson street north just south of grow street and north

1:13:45of the metro links railway the property currently contains a single detached dwelling and detached

1:13:50garage which are proposed to be demolished the subject property is currently designated low

1:14:01density residential in the official plan the low density residential designation permits a density

1:14:07of up to 60 units per hectare and three stories on a material road such as stevensson street north

1:14:14the applicant is requesting to change the designation to medium density residential

1:14:18this would prevent a maximum net density of 100 units per hectare and up to six stories the subject

1:14:32lands are currently zoned single detached residential r1b in the 1995 zoning bylaw the

1:14:39applicant is requesting to change the zoning of the subject lands from the current r1b zone

1:14:44to a specialized apartment residential r4d zone the subject lands are also zoned low density

1:14:54residential one rl1 in the 2023 comprehensive zoning bylaw the applicant is requesting to

1:15:01change the subject land zoning from the current rl1 zone to a site specific medium density residential

1:15:08six rm6 zone a zoning bylaw amendment is required for both the 1995 zoning bylaw and the 2023

1:15:19comprehensive zoning bylaw to facilitate the proposed development the applicant is requesting

1:15:26to change the zoning of the subject lands from the current r1b and rl1 zones to specialize medium

1:15:31density zones r4d and rm6 in the 1995 and 2023 zoning bylaw respectively these specialized

1:15:39regulations include permitting a multiple attached residential building in the r4d zone

1:15:45where the r4zd zone generally permits apartments permit parking to be in front of the front wall

1:15:52of the building whereas the zoning bylaw requires parking to be behind the front wall of the building

1:15:58to reduce the minimum front side and rear yards landscaped open space as well as buffer strips

1:16:04to accommodate the proposed building and required setbacks from the railway

1:16:09and to reduce private abandoned areas located on units in balconies and sunken patios the

1:16:36applicant is proposing to construct a two-story 10-unit multiple residential building with 13

1:16:41parking spaces the building will have units with sunken patios on the ground level and

1:16:47balconies for units on the two floors above parking will be accessed from stevenston street north

1:16:53and is located between the proposed building and the metro links railway a barrier wall will be

1:16:58constructed between the parking area and the railway staff's review of this application will

1:17:08include evaluation of the proposal's conformity and consistency to the 2020 provincial policy

1:17:13statement and the gross plan for the greater golden horseshoe evaluation of the proposals conformity

1:17:18with the official plan review of the proposed zoning and review of supporting documents submitted

1:17:23with the development application including the requested very specialized regulations for setbacks

1:17:31and private amenity areas as of this afternoon no comments from the public have been received

1:17:36regarding the proposed application thank you very much and i would be pleased to answer any questions

1:17:42council may have great thank you ryan i gotta kick you to your seat now uh you as our signed up

1:17:52delegate uh come on down and he was here on behalf of the the applicant oh and i think we have a

1:18:06i guess coming with you did you want to just you'll you'll share the time together just in case

1:18:10questions or exactly okay could you just state your name for the record my name yes yep oh hi

1:18:20i'm e-barami hb developments i'm the owner and also developer and also the designer of the building

1:18:26okay wearing several hats thank you for joining us tonight thanks all right so again no it's a combined

1:18:33your thing here so i'll say 10 minutes tops and uh you'll hear the chime at nine minutes 30 seconds

1:18:38go right ahead thank you very much uh merigoth three members of council my name is hu handy and as

1:18:45just mentioned i'm here with the owner hamid barami i'm a land use planner and vice president with gsp

1:18:52group um i you've heard from um ryan this evening on the application um so i won't spend

1:19:05time still getting used to the new system um i won't spend a lot of time on the

1:19:12location but to say that the current dwelling has sat vacant for a number of years since 2014

1:19:20um has been broken into uh and tried to be repaired several times and as part of this

1:19:25application would ultimately uh be demolished the current proposal before you this evening

1:19:36is a two-story 10 unit multiple residential building as ryan has mentioned with a mix of

1:19:43one two bedroom units and a one three bedroom unit bicycle storage is within the building

1:19:52as well as on the property waste is not within the building clarifying that it is at the end

1:19:58of the parking lot uh is where that is uh located uh the proposal is gives you a range of unit sizes

1:20:10you know from uh 490 square feet up to 1265 is the 1265 square feet for the three bedroom unit

1:20:20so there is a good range of unit sizes within the building uh for uh the proposal before you this

1:20:27evening one of the um one of the uh really the determining factors of locating the building

1:20:35as mentioned by ryan is the setback from the railway which is 25 meters so that

1:20:40really set the building at the one side of the development the proposed official plan amendment

1:20:50really is for density uh it is not to increase the height in fact three stories is permitted

1:20:55within the low density residential so it's really to get to that 10 unit on the site which I think

1:21:01we're about 90 units per hectare so we're slightly under the the density the setbacks

1:21:15really the one on the 95 bylaw is to permit the multiple residential to permit some of the

1:21:21side yards as we've had to shift the building around and uh hamlet will go into some of the design

1:21:28considerations that we've uh as the designer of the project the parking in front of the front yard

1:21:34or in the front yard is really only slightly to allow the parking space it's not to really project

1:21:40into the front yard very much and uh the number on the on the left or on the right column

1:21:48one clarification the buffer strip should read two meters not three meters on the right column

1:21:54boat halfway down and as well one of the regulations that we unfortunately had left out in our

1:22:00presentation was the 36 percent open space on the on the property um with that maybe I can shift it

1:22:09over to uh hamlet to give you a little bit of design evolution of the project and then we'd be happy

1:22:15to answer any questions absolutely I think everyone knows about the restriction of the

1:22:20metro links on the property now so uh in conversation with metro links they established a 25 meter

1:22:28setback from the property line to the age of any living uh any livable space or any kind of building

1:22:36structure which is livable and that's big that became actually a defining line to shift the

1:22:41building more toward the north to uh work with their limitations within several studies uh

1:22:49as far as the metro link is concerned uh they're actually gave us a clearance letter for for a

1:22:55current design previously before uh staff uh staff comments on our community consultation meeting

1:23:04back in June we proposed a three-story building with 1.6 meters setback

1:23:10I'm just going to move on to that uh that button to the side plan yeah that's the one

1:23:24oh I think we've been one so you see the crash wall on the right side of the drawing and also the

1:23:34ancillary building used to be the bicycle and garbage room and the building footprint was

1:23:39slightly larger than our second submission uh six of the units were getting access through

1:23:46with Stevenson and then a one and a half meter sidewalk will take you from the sidewalk on Stevenson

1:23:52toward the back of the building or along the parking parking spots and four units both facing to the

1:23:59parking spots will get access through those stray cases the configuration of the building gets more

1:24:04or less as a hybrid buildings there is no common corridor hallway every unit has its own individual

1:24:10access to outside so it's kind of a apartment stack townhouse configuration

1:24:19we provided 14 parkings with this original design but the parkings were narrow and

1:24:25further discussion with the staff we revised the site plan we got to the that the ancillary building

1:24:31in uh if I can uh this is just a comparison between the existing house at number 16 Stevenson

1:24:41and what's been proposed right now those dashed lines shows the potential massing of the of the house

1:24:51if if they decide to build one day with one and a half meter setback as per zoning by law and three

1:24:57story height this again shows the as of right footprint of the building so assuming that it was

1:25:08just a single family house as it is uh I think the crash wall will still need it to be there

1:25:13and the gray area shows the shows the uh as of right footprint of the footprint of the house

1:25:22this one again looks at the second scenario what if you have a detached

1:25:27car garage at the back in a separate building and a main house and that configuration is again

1:25:33as of right some elevations facing Stevenson uh railroad and side yards building renderings

1:25:47the left rendering is view from Stevenson and the and the right rendering is from

1:25:53corner of the parking lot see the side one yeah well the site plan you want to go back

1:26:09if there is any question okay we'll just take you back I think we're done

1:26:16Marigathry we just we're gonna move back to the yeah okay to the site plan if there's any

1:26:25okay would you would you like me to jump in then to see if there's any follow-up questions or

1:26:29yeah you're just want to make sure you're all done yes okay just want to make sure perfect all right

1:26:34uh we'll assist let's just uh go to a couple questions chew and then a roar okay mr. mayor

1:26:44I'm just curious I'm I'm looking through the site plans right now um it says in the arborist

1:26:51report that the trees are going to be maintained a retain rather I'm just curious that that's

1:26:58being reflected in the current site plan um can you just help me reorient myself onto the

1:27:05site here a little bit just I'm just looking at Jason onto the rail line here but uh Councillor

1:27:21to your work yeah Councillor to your uh in relation to the number of trees on the property

1:27:28currently whether that we've maintained there there is a Hammett the we are uh the trees at the

1:27:37west side of the properties will all remain all the trees are at the pre-beater of the building

1:27:42or the current property have to be removed we're replacing it with uh larger canopy trees at the

1:27:49bulwark as per staff suggestion we have 12 replacement trees in total and along the uh

1:27:56south side where the crash wall is metro links does not allow any kind of vegetation within three and

1:28:02a half meter of the of the crash wall therefore those trees have to be removed okay yeah and just

1:28:08a quick follow-up um I really appreciate that clarity uh there uh they have no issues with

1:28:15that whatsoever I'm just curious just from a design perspective I know it's mentioned in the

1:28:21urban design brief that there'd be no blank wall so can you maybe speak on the materiality of the

1:28:26crash wall a bit the crash wall has to be a minimum 45 centimeter of reinforced concrete

1:28:36okay yeah where is the aesthetic of it uh all metro links allow exactly an anti-graphy

1:28:44paint on it so we'll actually discuss it with them if it can decorate it but cover it with some sort

1:28:50of a wood pattern or any kind of vegetation and they uh they disagree the reason is that the wall

1:28:58has to be inspected every year and reported back to the metro links so they want to have a visual

1:29:06of the whole structure of the wall okay and one quick follow-up uh decided curiosity has the design

1:29:14team considered maybe like a 1.5 meter offset and doing like a sod strip and maybe you can

1:29:21plant some coral forester just in the back there because that's something that you guys would

1:29:26maybe consider during site plan I just have a suggestion because I think it's then the day

1:29:31like that blank wall yeah it looked quite ugly and I know it's not our purview to comment too

1:29:38highly on design but I'm just kind of curious if there has been those kind of considerations

1:29:43um for the parking lot through your worship to the counselor I think we could look at that I mean

1:29:52it's a it's a tight site you've obviously looked at the site plan in detail whether we could achieve

1:29:57that 1.5 I guess it it needs to kind of move through the design phase but I understand where

1:30:04your comments are that it might look like a bleak concrete wall is that kind of where you're heading

1:30:10with the comments yeah and I like for me like this is not like within my purview but I'm just

1:30:16curious if you consider you know alternative ways in which you can kind of green up the space a little

1:30:23bit because if you can try to minimize some of the liminal space on that parking lot I think

1:30:33future residents would really appreciate that consideration through your worship to the counselor

1:30:40I agree if we could do any planting in front of it or anything that might allow to grow up but

1:30:47the complication and Hammond has had more direct communications with Metrolinx yeah well

1:30:55first we are allowed to actually have some some sort of shrubs and anything that that grows up

1:31:04to three feet in front of it they don't object to it but the location that the wall is set based

1:31:10up the based on the calculation of the engineers and the fall angle of a train so in our conversation

1:31:18with city staff we asked them if they allow us to actually have a narrower drive aisle in order

1:31:24to achieve a landscape buffer in front of it and it was it was rejected so we can go back and ask

1:31:31again see if they can if they if they're satisfied with six and a half meter oil of

1:31:37dry weight then we have enough room to plant to plant something in front of it yeah I just

1:31:43think there may be some options for some low maintenance you know considerations with with

1:31:50regards to landscaping so I appreciate the conversation thank you thank you councillor

1:31:58work please thank you marica three three two our proponents first of all this looks fantastic

1:32:03that's great it's exactly the kind of missing middle that we're looking for in a three bedroom

1:32:08unit is really needed in the city so well done I have two questions a quick one around noise so

1:32:15three you marica three to the proponents will there be clauses in your closing documents I'm

1:32:21thinking of the future counselors who will get noise complaints and people will say that it's too

1:32:25loud from people who bought next to a train track but what are your noise mitigations for the people

1:32:31in the units and also to ensure that folks are fully aware of potential noise well they we are

1:32:37obligated to have clauses in our agreement of purchase and sales by metro links and legally

1:32:44binded to it so there will be disclosure as far as the noise we have done vibration and noises

1:32:49study of the site the south side facing the tracks gets obviously most of the noise we have

1:32:58noise measures real noise reduction measures into the building structure and wall structure and

1:33:03also windows has been suggested by our consultant and approved by metro links so the walls will be

1:33:09upgraded walls to reduce the noise and the track well there's no vibration actually is the building

1:33:15mostly for the noise attenuation measures okay thanks I'm learning because this is my first one

1:33:21next to a railway actually and three you marica three probably to mr. handy I I think you're over

1:33:29on the required parking right so so I'm thrilled to see that and I am wondering what the contingency

1:33:36plan is for overflow but I first of all thank you for providing a little bit more parking than is

1:33:42required what is the the contingency plan though it should people have visitors or should people

1:33:48have more than one vehicle where's that overflow fall through your worship to the counselor

1:33:57the there is no parking on stevenson street so there would there would be through local streets

1:34:07that where the overflow would be if there is anything okay excuse me marica three three

1:34:13you to the proponent are those extra three spots are they designated as visitor or are they unbundled

1:34:18I mean are there options in terms of how the parking will be located through your worship to the

1:34:23counselor we intend to go through a condominium application for it I would I don't know how

1:34:30I haven't really discussed the unbundling but that seems to be a more popular route

1:34:35nowadays to rather than assigning it to a unit there would essentially be one unit for

1:34:43one space per unit two for visitor and then an additional space so that could be visitor

1:34:51potentially okay thanks okay is there anything further on this side

1:34:56seeing oh yep councillor chron has question go ahead thanks the size and scale of this

1:35:03development I think is is is quite appropriate for this site but it's also really appropriate

1:35:09for additional renewables and sustainable technologies can you walk me through

1:35:16how this site is going to use net zero approach to help us meet our community energy plan and

1:35:22net zero by 2050 goals so I have engaged an energy consultant to help us

1:35:34to achieve energy reduction of we go we're aiming for a 25 to 30 percent energy reduction of the

1:35:40building we also going 100 percent emission free in the building renewal of energy is that something

1:35:48that based on the exposure and the area of the flat roof they need to calculate to see how much we

1:35:53can generate it's from the requirement of the EV charger and all the mechanical equipments it's

1:36:01really hard to say it's probably not going to be close to it but we look at it to see how

1:36:06much percentage we can produce to move forward to that goal I'm not there yet to be honest

1:36:15okay that's great to hear that one of your goals is to make it at least emissions free so that's

1:36:20that's a step in the right direction thanks great thank you okay that's it

1:36:30I appreciate you coming down and talking to us thank you very much okay council a

1:36:36uh mover and seconder to receive oh yes the clerks have reminded me it's my first day

1:36:44um I would anyone else in the room like to speak to this one you would come on down we'll go with

1:36:49you first great thank you for coming if you could just state your name for the record that'd be great

1:37:01it's Stephanos Iqarelli great and then you have up to 10 minutes if you if you need it as well

1:37:05okay you go right ahead I just I guess I just one curious quick question they're talking about the

1:37:11railroad track and the I guess how close they're going to be I guess they're shifting the building

1:37:16a little bit there's a huge restraint on the from the railroad track through wherever is being built

1:37:22and also from I guess the fence side as well or the curb side I don't know if that's part of

1:37:26their plans or not I'm only asking because I'm not too far from them and I had a lot of pushback

1:37:31just to put a tiny house 300 square foot tiny house in my own backyard and they gave me nothing but

1:37:36issues from all because of that train track I didn't even make a plan yet and it was like a definite

1:37:42no so I'm just wondering how if it's just like a wall it needs to be like you say and built is it

1:37:48going to be the one that defines putting any building near a train track because I know that's a

1:37:52big safety or I'm not even talking about parking spots yet either in my area like it's just going to be

1:37:58a tiny house so I'm just wondering who I need to talk to or how that goes forward I don't know

1:38:03if this is even the right meeting but just general curiosity question just because I did try and I

1:38:09was not even close to success poem this was not too long ago this was in within the year so okay

1:38:16um so uh just before I respond to you um anything more that you want to say about this particular

1:38:22site or or no if no no just yeah I understand what they're doing I guess yeah okay no no problem

1:38:28may I just ask you a quick question yeah was the no from city staff or was the no from metro links

1:38:34city staff okay yeah so I would suggest maybe just to come back tomorrow or email into into the

1:38:40planning staff maybe they can do a follow-up with you um and by all means you can copy me on at the

1:38:46mayor's office if you wish and we can just make sure you're getting in contact with the right person

1:38:49to follow up okay okay yeah have you did you I'm sorry did you ever contact your your ward

1:38:57counselors it did not it did not go very far copy copy them too yeah okay copy them as well well

1:39:04we'll at least connect you tomorrow with the right people okay okay sounds good thank you thank you for

1:39:08hanging out here appreciate it yeah all right okay a motion to to receive the application I'll go to

1:39:22the ward oh yes my gosh we're gonna pull up a phone number just in case anyone else wants to to jump

1:39:31in on this one and give us their opinions 519837 5603 and we'll wait a few moments here and see if

1:39:39anyone wants to delegate okay and then we'll come back thank you mr mayor we have one call

1:43:05indeligent proud proud nav charm excuse me is on the line hello uh proud nav this is mayor

1:43:18guthrie speaking thank you very much for calling in can you hear me okay yes mayor guthrie I can hear

1:43:29you can you hear me uh yes you're coming through fine thank you for joining us you have no more than

1:43:3410 minutes if you would like to give us your opinions on this application and then just stick

1:43:39around when you're done if there's a follow-up question your time will start now go ahead

1:43:43thank you well good evening mayor guthrie council members and other staff and everyone else present

1:43:50at the the meeting I had just a few concerns that I wanted to bring up regarding this this

1:43:57proposal the first being that there were a few concerns am I audible I'm actually hearing

1:44:09back feedback from the meeting let me mute that am I audible now yes we can hear you fine yep

1:44:20you're coming through yeah so thank you thank you so uh my first concern is that there was a

1:44:29meeting just held a few months back and I did present some concerns and the developers they

1:44:36they assured me that they would be getting back to me with the with the answers to my concerns

1:44:40but they never got back while I do appreciate that my friend Hamid actually reached out to me

1:44:45owner and and he he actually beefed me about some of the things that they have made changes to

1:44:52but they did that did not address all the concerns it was like earlier we were making three stories

1:44:57about the ground now we are making two stories about the ground but we are going one below the

1:45:01ground and that would mean additional drilling and additional digging up so that brings me to my

1:45:07first concern that since there are units below grade I am assuming that the developers will have to

1:45:13dig deeper than usual developments and since this development is being done so close to my property

1:45:20which is a very old property and and I'm not a structural engineer but you can guarantee that

1:45:25there would be some impact some adverse impacts to the visible and invisible structural integrity

1:45:31of my property because of this so is there an assessment done is there something to to safeguard

1:45:38the interest of the next door neighbor any anything that they have in their plans or something

1:45:44that would ensure that there is no adverse impact to my property because of that's the

1:45:48closer so close development that is going to happen my second concern is that since it's a

1:45:55two-story development and it is close to my property it will block access to some access to

1:46:03my natural you know to access to the natural elements for myself although I appreciate that

1:46:09Amid actually took one story down and I do understand that that helps a bit but I'm still

1:46:15not sure if it would not cast a permanent shadow on my property and and would restrict my right to

1:46:21access to the natural elements that are there because it's a it's a big building it's going to

1:46:25start from the front of the lord and it's going to go till the end and and so close that I'm not

1:46:32right now just watching the drawings I cannot assume that it's not going to affect anything

1:46:38the third thing is that my driveway that the the primary access driveway is right next to

1:46:46this proposed development so I'm not sure if the development is going to cause any any any

1:46:52damage encroachment or you know just block my my right of access to to to the the detached garage

1:47:00at the end of the driveway and my primary access door at the back of the house so that's another

1:47:07concern I also wanted to ask that the proposed density change is from low density to medium

1:47:18density but it's a 50 increase in in in density change I'm not sure how that is going to affect

1:47:25the the community and there's a there's a two-part reason for that one is that we although it's a

1:47:33ten unit proposed building and we are having 13 parkings and I see that everyone is appreciating

1:47:39that we are providing additional parkings and I appreciate that too but we all know that the

1:47:45even normal households here do not cannot work with just one car and that means as

1:47:53mentioned before there are no parking on Stevenson that means the parking is definitely not going to

1:47:57be enough I know it meets the requirements but it's going to cause some concern in in in the future

1:48:06this adds up because there is very recently in the last two three years there has been

1:48:11significant development right across the street first there there were three detached houses

1:48:17which have now been converted into two detached plus a seven row house unit and and the parking

1:48:24is already being an issue and although it does not affect me directly because I my house is on

1:48:30Stevenson and there's no parking on Stevenson but the neighbors across on Grove and others are

1:48:35actually feeling the pinch of it I'm not sure if there's anybody going to be there to represent

1:48:40that but this was a concern that was raised in the last meeting another issue is just a second

1:48:51I might be good yeah I think that's that's enough those are my primary concern my my concern is that

1:48:59with these these proposed additional ten units and the parking not being enough it's going to

1:49:06cause some dissatisfaction in the community uh but and and that's going to over burden with

1:49:12some complaints and the the authorities I I may be looking into the future a lot but we have seen

1:49:20that happen I would like to give a brief background into why I'm raising these concerns I used to

1:49:26work for Toronto Pearson but I chose to live in Guelph as a new immigrant when I came to this country

1:49:31six years ago and that's because I did not want to live in concrete jungles I I decided to drive

1:49:37200 kilometers a day just to be in the peaceful quiet town of Guelph if I'm going to change that

1:49:44then I don't know where should I move that's that so I I'm as much as I'm in favour of development

1:49:50and in favour of you know providing more housing to the people I am not so sure that if I'm in favour

1:49:56of developing it vertically rather than horizontally if we are going to build buildings

1:50:02there are there are places where we can do that but not changing zones just to make

1:50:08accommodate more units and that is 10 units why could it not be uh two semi-detached why could

1:50:14not it not be four units why could it not be six units why does it has to be a 10 unit

1:50:19two-story three floors actually building that's that's my concern and I'll I'll Chris might be here

1:50:28well thank you very much for calling in that's been captured so thank you let me see if there's a

1:50:32follow-up question to you thank you and there there is not so again thank you very much for

1:50:37calling in thank you sir good evening everyone yes take care okay I did originally have a

1:50:48Councillor Goller in Claussen that would be willing to move in second receipt of this application

1:50:53is there any further questions at this time no okay I have a quick comment from Councillor Goller

1:50:59on this before I call the vote thank you and through your worship I just wanted to to thank

1:51:05the the proponent for for coming forward with this design I think we need more of this type of

1:51:12housing I do share some of the concerns that have been raised in terms of the the loss of trees I'm

1:51:18hoping that there can be a plan to have as many trees back into that space and I also understand

1:51:25the concerns about the number of vehicles but as we look forward we will have a lot of Coneztoga

1:51:33college students coming here international students we will need more houses that are

1:51:37small I love that this is one and two bedroom units and very close to two bus lines so I think

1:51:45it's it's that development that we're missing in Guelph and I look forward to seeing more

1:51:50of these sort of applications coming forward in the next couple of years thank you your worship

1:51:56great thank you Councillor and maybe do a green roof or something you know more

1:52:03more green I saw a head nod there all right uh perfect I will call the vote then is anyone

1:52:09against receipt of this application no one's against that so that's unanimous to receive it

1:52:15thank you very much for coming down appreciate it and we're going to keep moving right along here

1:52:19folks our favorite part of the evening bylaws uh councillor busitil are you able to get those bylaws