The province’s appeal tribunal rejected a plan to construct an apartment building on the site of the former Rideau Marina.
Homestead Land Holdings had proposed building a seven-storey, 90-unit building on a 1.85-hectare site on property at 48A Point St. Mark Rd.
The company was seeking amendments to the city’s official plan and its zoning bylaw to permit the project to proceed.
The project was being opposed by the city, which argued the proposed building was too big for the property, and by lawyer Vicki Schmolka, who argued the project would damage the natural heritage of the location.
The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal agreed with both of the arguments against the project.
“The tribunal has found that the proposed high-density development adjacent to a low-density residential area does not comply with the official plan and would not be compatible with the area,” LPAT member Chris Conti wrote in a 34-page decision released Monday. “Any future proposal for residential use of the site must be based upon planning documentation and studies that demonstrate that the proposal will be compatible with the area, and the level of use is similar to that which could be anticipated with the permitted use.”
Access to the property, which would have been via a steep laneway, was a significant problem with the proposal, Conti wrote. According to the city’s zoning bylaw, buildings like the one proposed need to front onto improved roadways.
In rejecting the project on heritage grounds, the tribunal joined other agencies in voicing concern about its impact on the Rideau Canal.
“The proposal does not comply with the requirements of the official plan in terms of its impact the Rideau Canal UNESCO World Heritage Designation and because of its incompatible scale and massing with the surrounding area,” Conti wrote.
Conti did not rule out residential development of the site altogether but wrote that any development would need to be compatible with the surrounding low-density neighbourhood.
The project, which was first proposed in 2013, has been opposed by nearby residents, who were worried about the building’s impact on the local of infrastructure, including roads, sewers and water, the effect on property values and the harm it could do to the environment.
In 2017, Homestead submitted an updated version of the project to the city for approval, a plan that reduced the building’s height from eight to seven storeys, moved the structure farther away from the water’s edge, and added a public boat launch and a shoreline path along the entire length of the property connecting with Lilla Burke Park.
The company is proposing to plant trees in the open space between the shore and the building in order to obscure the view of the structure from the water.
Parks Canada, the federal agency tasked with protecting the Rideau Canal National Historic Site, had expressed concern about the “incompatible scale of the development.”
“While Parks Canada notes improvements to the revised proposal, including reduced building height, enhanced vegetative screening and a greater setback from the water, there remains, however, concerns regarding the height and overall scale of the proposed development in this particular landscape, dominated by mature vegetation and two-storey single residential development,” Parks Canada stated in a letter to the city in 2017.
“While the use of natural building materials, an articulated exterior and enhanced vegetation purport to minimize the impact of the development, the building’s scale is incongruent and unharmonious with the surrounding landscape character.”
The potential impact on the proposal also drew criticism from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which monitors the condition of the world’s heritage and cultural sites.
“The construction of a 26-metre-high building adjacent the boundary and buffer zone of the Rideau Canal World Heritage property holds the potential to negatively affect the outstanding universal value of the property and its setting,” the head of the cultural sector at the UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre wrote in a letter late last year.
Elliot Ferguson
Whig-Standard