Application from GSP Group on behalf of Killam Apartment Subsidiary II Limited Partnership and HIP for an Official Plan Amendment to change the Zoning from the…

18:32This is a decision item.

18:36We have a couple of delegations that have signed up

18:38but I was just told before the meeting started

18:39that actually the delegations

18:42might be doing it sort of together.

18:44And that would be Rachel Bossy and Daniel Medill.

18:49Is that correct?

18:51And both in person, are they here?

18:54Yes, it's separate.

18:58Oh, okay.

18:59Would you like to get to know each other at all?

19:00Or okay, all right, separate.

19:03All right, sounds good.

19:04All right, Rachel, come on up then.

19:06You will let you go first there.

19:10Daniel, now I know where you are sitting.

19:11So thank you for waving your hand.

19:14So this is, because this is a decision meeting,

19:16it's a five minute time allotment, okay?

19:18So for both of you, you'll hear a chime

19:21at the four minute and 30 second mark,

19:23which is your warning that you have 30 seconds left, okay?

19:26Don't let it get to the five minutes

19:28because your microphone will be turned off.

19:30I don't want that.

19:31And then just stick around in case

19:32there is any questions for myself or my colleagues, okay?

19:35Sorry about that, go ahead.

19:36The timer will start whenever you start.

19:39So mayor and members of council, good evening.

19:41My name is Rachel Bossy.

19:42I'm a senior planner with GSP Group.

19:44I'm here tonight with Wes Hordek

19:46and Scott Higgins from HIP developments

19:48and Hugh Handy from GSP Group.

19:50We're here tonight to respectfully request

19:52that council support the staff recommendation

19:54to approve the official plan and zoning by law amendments

19:57at 105 Amira Road North, highlight the updates

20:00to the plan and provide some additional commentary

20:03and answer any questions.

20:05So since the public meeting

20:06and receiving staff's comments in May,

20:09we met with staff and updated the plan

20:11to add two three-bedroom units

20:13in response to council's feedback.

20:15This change reduced the overall unit count to 124 units

20:18and parking spaces to 142 spaces.

20:21Visitor parking spaces have been increased to 10 spaces

20:24now representing 8% of the parking spaces

20:27and amenity areas have been adjusted

20:29and now provide a combined total of 15.06 square meters

20:33per unit, both including common and private amenity space.

20:37So we recognize that some members of the public feel

20:40that this application represents a significant change.

20:44This is likely due to the changes

20:45that were made through the city initiated 2023,

20:48comprehensive zoning by law update,

20:50which are now coming to light,

20:51which rezoned the property

20:53from a neighborhood shopping center zone,

20:56which only permitted commercial uses

20:58at a maximum height of two stories

21:00to a neighborhood commercial center,

21:01which now permits residential uses

21:03in a mixed use building above the first story

21:05and allows the maximum height of six stories.

21:08While the requested amendments

21:10remove the commercial requirement,

21:12no increase to the height is requested

21:13and the proposed development reflects a general built form

21:16that is comparable to what would be expected

21:19under the current zoning

21:20if a six-story mixed use building was proposed.

21:23I also wanted to highlight that new fencing is proposed

21:26along the rear and interior lot lines

21:27along with new trees along all property lines,

21:30which will screen the parking

21:31and outdoor amenity from adjacent properties.

21:34This will be implemented

21:35through the site plan approval process.

21:38So questions have been raised

21:39about the number of site specific provisions requested.

21:42The planning act allows applying

21:44for site specific provisions

21:45when doing a zoning by law amendment

21:47and there's no limit on how many can be requested.

21:49It's very common for site specific provisions

21:52to be requested when rezoning a site

21:53to accommodate a specific development.

21:56This is in part because standard zones

21:58are applied broadly across the city

22:00and are not tailored to reflect specific sites

22:02or specific developments.

22:04And the number of scale of site specific provisions

22:06in itself is not an indicator

22:08of whether a proposal is appropriate.

22:10Each provision is assessed on its own merits

22:13and within the context of the overall development.

22:15In this case, all of the required site specific provisions

22:18have been supported by technical studies

22:19prepared by qualified professionals,

22:22which have been reviewed and supported by city staff

22:24as outlined in the staff report.

22:27This development would deliver

22:28much needed purpose about rental apartment housing,

22:31which is critical to address

22:32Guelph's growing housing demand.

22:34The proposal aligns with both provincial

22:36and city policy directing supporting intensification

22:39in a location that makes efficient use

22:41of existing land and infrastructure

22:43while delivering secure long-term housing

22:45on an underutilized vacant site

22:47at the corner of two arterial roads.

22:49In conclusion, we're before you tonight

22:51to respectfully ask you to support the staff recommendation

22:54and are happy to answer any questions.

22:55Thank you for your time.

22:57Great, thank you.

22:58And just before we continue, I just wanna apologize.

23:01I read my notes wrong.

23:02It was you and Wesley, I think that might be here.

23:05Who's Wesley?

23:07Oh, okay.

23:08So did you guys wanna answer any questions together

23:11or are you wanting to actually do your own delegation too

23:14or you're kind of covering it off?

23:16So I will say Scott Higgins is available for questions

23:19if necessary.

23:20Okay, so my apologies.

23:22I just read the notes wrong.

23:23So thank you very much for your presentation.

23:25Is there any questions at all as a follow-up

23:28to the proponent?

23:30Okay, we'll go with Koran and then Bucitil.

23:37I'm new.

23:38This is a minor question.

23:40It's not about the nature of the density.

23:42I was looking at the renderings that are in our package

23:45and there isn't a clearly defined entrance

23:48from what I can see.

23:49I just wanted to confirm that there is an entrance

23:52that is street-facing, not parking lot-facing

23:56that is at the corner of Willow and Elmira.

23:59So through you, Mayor, there is a corner.

24:02The main entrance is at the corner of Willow, Rodinomir.

24:04There's a bit of a notch out

24:06and that's where the entrance

24:07will be the main entrance for pedestrians.

24:10Okay, so visually, I'm thinking in word five

24:12at the corner of court rate and at Nubara,

24:15we have a similar development.

24:17That is kind of the model of the street-facing facade

24:22that I believe is the same developer.

24:30Yes, yes.

24:31I could be wrong.

24:32Yeah, okay.

24:33Yes.

24:34Great, that was just clarification.

24:34Thanks so much.

24:35Great, thank you.

24:37And Bucitil.

24:38Thank you.

24:39Through you, Mayor, just a question of clarification

24:41on the number of parking spaces.

24:44I know you reference 10 additional for visitors.

24:47Can you just walk me through the number of parking spaces

24:51and where any anticipated overflow parking might go?

24:56So through the chair, what we did,

24:59so before we had 144 parking spaces

25:02and then we adjusted the units to have the two,

25:05two, three bedrooms.

25:06So our unit count went down to 124 units.

25:10And then we also did compact parking spaces.

25:13So we have 15% are compact, 10 are visitor.

25:16Of the visitor, one of them is accessible

25:18and we have six accessible parking spaces.

25:21And in terms of overflow,

25:24there's been analysis that demonstrates

25:27that our proposed visitor parking rate,

25:28which is now up from the proposed eight spaces

25:32that we were proposing before,

25:33that that will be sufficient to support the site

25:37based on our hip and kill-ems experience

25:40with many buildings, as well as the study

25:43that was prepared in support of the application by Croger.

25:47And also this rate that we're proposing

25:49also aligns with the 2019 IBI group study.

25:53Because we're at 1.145,

25:55which is extremely close to that 1.15.

25:58And lastly, we aligned with the rate

26:01that is permitted if we were doing

26:04residential and a mixed use building.

26:06So hopefully that clarifies.

26:10Okay, thank you.

26:12That's it for questions for you.

26:14So thank you very much.

26:15We appreciate your time.

26:17And Daniel Madill, come on down.

26:23Thank you so much.

26:31And whenever you're ready, okay?

26:32The clock will start going ahead.

26:34Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor and Council

26:36for the opportunity to speak.

26:40We felt we'd take advantage again of the opportunity

26:42to present our concerns to the council.

26:46Resident letters attached to this agenda point

26:49out several concerns that neighborhood residents have

26:52with the proposed development.

26:54How much higher density than even the change zoning allows.

26:57Just to give you an example,

26:59the townhouses across the street

27:01are much lower density and the overflow

27:03actually ends up on our streets.

27:07So we've already seen overflow parking

27:09from another much smaller development.

27:12So lack of sufficient parking as far as we're concerned,

27:16all parking will be surface parking, increased traffic,

27:19safety issues for children and many other issues.

27:21Some won't go through them all.

27:23They were all remarked upon in the initial planning meeting

27:26and in subsequent letters,

27:28which I trust that you've read.

27:31As far as we're concerned,

27:33the developer seems to have done very little

27:35to address the concerns in the revised proposal.

27:39As far as we can tell,

27:40only a few minor changes have been made

27:42and the developer will still not meet a significant portion

27:45of the zoning requirements.

27:47As the staff noted in their initial report,

27:50their impression was that this proposal

27:52was an over development of the site

27:54and we feel that very little has changed

27:57and we agree with the initial assessment by staff

28:01that it's an over development.

28:07The residents expressing concerns about this proposal

28:10have lived at their properties for years, even decades.

28:13They faithfully paid their taxes

28:15and submitted to bylaw requirements.

28:17Whenever they wanted to build a deck,

28:19a fence, a pool, et cetera.

28:22And so it doesn't feel fair to us

28:25that the developer can go past 30% of the requirements,

28:29zoning requirements.

28:33We moved to Guelph from Waterloo more than a decade ago

28:37and our experience from Waterloo

28:38was that city ignored what residents advised,

28:41did what they wanted

28:43and the residents suffered the consequences

28:45and we're hoping for better here in Guelph.

28:50And so I thank you for your attention.

28:52Thank you for listening.

28:54Yeah, for sure.

28:55And just before you walk away,

28:56this is let me check with my colleagues

28:57to see if there's a follow up for you.

28:59There is a Councillor Busuttil.

29:01Thank you.

29:03Thank you for the delegation.

29:05Just a question, you mentioned about the overflow parking

29:07that's on your street.

29:08Is that on McLaughlin or on Flaherty

29:11that there's the overflow that you're finding?

29:14I think it was neighbors on Flaherty, right?

29:16That, yeah, that said they had overflow

29:19at the end of Flaherty near Willow, I think.

29:22And is there currently parking permitted on Flaherty South?

29:28There is parking permitted, yes.

29:32Remember from last meeting there was parking,

29:35they talked about parking along Elmira Road.

29:38There is parking along Elmira Road,

29:39but that's often occupied,

29:42I think probably by residents who live along that strip.

29:45But yeah, so the overflow would naturally not go

29:49on Elmira, I think, but would more likely go upon.

29:52Will Flaherty in the surrounding streets?

29:57Thank you.

29:59Great seeing nothing further.

30:01Thank you very much for taking the time to come down.

30:02Yeah, thank you.

30:05Okay, it's back to us Council.

30:08Is there someone that would be willing to please move

30:10the motion to approve?

30:14Okay, Richardson and Gibson?

30:17I will second, okay.

30:19And is there anything further on this

30:21before I call the vote with staff?

30:24No, okay.

30:25I'll call the vote then.

30:26Is there anyone against the approval?

30:31Sorry, Mr. Mayor, I think Christine had her hand up.

30:35So those.

30:35Oh, sorry, Councillor Billings, okay.

30:37I didn't call the vote there officially.

30:38So go ahead, Councillor Billings, you go first.

30:41That's okay.

30:42I just wanted to speak to this application

30:46with respect to the density.

30:48I do think going 30% higher than the max required is too much.

30:54And for this neighborhood, I believe an alternative

30:58that would be better than this proposal is stacked townhomes.

31:02And this site is really being overbuilt

31:05with respect to the neighborhood

31:08and the zoning bylaw amendment

31:12is really proving that point on the density.

31:17The parking, I still have a concern about the parking.

31:22And if you remember many, many times, Mr. Mayor,

31:26former Councillor Oror would often fight to have more parking.

31:31And that's just because of experience,

31:33not a parking handbook or a study,

31:36just the experience that after a build,

31:39then there wasn't enough parking.

31:42And I think that the parking requirement is too low anyway.

31:47And now we're not even requiring the amount of parking

31:51that's required.

31:53So what do you do with that?

31:54So I'm just going to vote against this application.

31:59I think, thank you very much.

32:02All right, I will call the vote then on this

32:05and is there anyone against the application?

32:08Okay, just Alt and Busatil and Gibson and Billings.

32:16Okay, so that passes.

32:18And we have approval for that, okay?

32:21Thank you very much.

32:22And we will continue on.

32:26We have 30 and 32 Eremosa Road.

32:29We have an objection to the notice of intention