Hintonburg community trades extra height for affordable housing
A nine-storey rental building on Wellington Street West would be taller than land-use rules allow, but the councillor for Hintonburg and the community association are willing to make a trade: more height for two affordable units.
It’s a small number of low-cost homes in the proposed 57-unit rental building at 979 Wellington St. W., but the deal between the community and the developer could inspire other builders and resident groups to negotiate affordable housing in new residential buildings.
City council’s planning committee on Tuesday approved the zoning and official plan changes to allow the development. There wasn’t a single voice of opposition from the public at the meeting, a rare feat in an urban community when a developer wants to change the rules for a property protected by a secondary plan.
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper said the planning report is more like an “essay on what did you do for your summer vacation,” since he worked on the deal over the summer of 2017.
The property — which is currently home to law firm Beament Hebert Nicholson, whose principals are the development applicants — is at the corner of Garland Street, where Wellington and Somerset streets meet.
There would be commercial units and three residential units on the ground floor and one underground level of mechanical “puzzle parking” for 15 vehicles. The building design has nine storeys along the Wellington Street West, with the building stepping down to five storeys along Armstrong Street.
The Wellington Street West secondary plan calls for a maximum of six storeys on the front part of the property, but if a developer offers some benefits to the community, the height limit can be increased to nine storeys.
There was skepticism aired by the city’s urban design review panel last April over the building height after the first development plan went public, but the community was willing to negotiate.
The community, developer and city came to a deal: the developer would have to pay $155,000 to reconstruct the field house at nearby Laroche Park, contribute $10,000 for cycling improvements on Armstrong Street, help gussy up the streetscape around the new building and provide public art.
The architect, Richard Chmiel, reduced the height on the northern side of the building by one storey in response to public feedback.
The developer also agreed to throw into the deal two affordable units, a unique cherry on top for a community concerned about the loss of low-cost housing. Leiper estimated the cost to the developer at $250,000, taking into account the revenue potential of market rent on those two units.
The trick for the city will be holding the landlord, and any future landlords, to the deal. There could be a covenant on the land to make sure those two units are “affordable” under standards set by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp, Leiper said.
The deal is “an example of what we can do when we have the leverage,” Leiper said.
Linda Hoad of the Hintonburg Community Association told the planning committee she hopes the affordable housing arrangement can be repeated in other developments. The community, however, is still concerned that allowing a taller building at a gateway property might lead to “gateway creep” in other nearby developments, Hoad said.