Eyesore or enhancement?

A local building company wants to erect an 8-storey* condominium on Bruyère Street on a fifty-foot lot facing the Rideau River at Bordeleau Park. Claridge Homes already has quite a presence around the national capital but this would be the first such edifice in our own neighbourhood. It would also extend "below grade" to provide parking space for about 110 vehicles. Whether this underground car park would be within the river's flood plain or not hasn't yet been made clear.

It is the city's policy to allow the construction of modern "infill housing in mature neighbourhoods" whenever a reasonable site plan is submitted, in order to avoid too much new construction around the outskirts of the city (although that is tending to happen too).

Yesterday evening I was one of about sixty residents of Lowertown who turned up for a "Bruyère Street Rezoning Task Force" meeting about the possible development, which most people seemed to see as a threat.

Predictably, most of the neighbours weren't happy about the proposed "revitilisation" of our corner, especially as the plan is to demolish existing houses on the site after evicting the 16 families who currently live there. Before this actually happens, however, several stages have to be passed. The zoning amendment would come first, before the site plan is approved, and only after that would a building permit be granted. The city planning representative wouldn't commit herself as to what her department thinks of the proposal and our newly elected councillor wants "to work with all parties" over this issue, so no promises were made either way.

Some of what was said at the meeting:

"This is the most attractive spot anywhere in the city."

"Don't forget the heritage aspect. The houses to be demolished are of historical interest."

"Is this proposal a done deal, or are we going to fight it?"

"As far as the density criteria are concerned, what are we grappling with here? I like the idea of having new neighbours, but why has this thing got to be so high? It would set a precedent."

"How can we get its footprint reduced?"

"Since the neighbourhood came together to reclaim Bordeleau park, we have turned this neighbourhood around. Was this all for nothing?"

"The proposal is out of character ... a slap in the face of the community."

"It's incongruous with the neighbourhood and completely out of scale ... representing overdevelopment."

If the construction goes ahead the problems foreseen are to do with vibration, the cost of the services that will have to be upgraded, the infiltration of water from the river bed and the extra traffic. The new structure will throw a significant shadow over the park, dwarfing the neighbouring properties, especially because not much of a setback from the sidewalk is planned for its façade,


* British spelling is preferred in this blog; I've had dual British-Canadian citizenship since 2005