Parkview Homes appeals to tribunal

Developer wants to build 239 new apartments, but faces rezoning roadblocks

A local developer who wants to build a total of 239 new apartments in three different locations in Peterborough has appealed to a provincial tribunal for rezonings.

Parkview Homes has three apartment developments in mind — one on Armour Road, one on Lansdowne Street West and another on Sherbrooke Street — all of which are under appeal with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT).

No hearings have been scheduled. Parkview Homes owner Paul Dietrich couldn’t be reached Thursday.

One of the appeals is over a seven-storey apartment building proposed for Armour Road.

Parkview Homes had applied for a rezoning, but council voted in late July to defer it pending a city-produced traffic study. The deferral came after neighbours told council they were concerned the proposed apartment building, with its 76 units, would increase traffic along Armour Road.

Many neighbours also said the proposed seven-storey building is too tall to fit into the neighbourhood.

Meanwhile two further rezoning applications from Parkview Homes made more than a year ago have not yet been presented to council — and now both matters are under LPAT appeal. Councillors will receive an update on those appeals at a meeting on Monday.

Here are the details, as outlined in the city staff reports:

Lansdowne Street West

> Proposed site: 1597, 1607, 1619 and 1633 Lansdowne St. W.,

side-by-side properties on the south side of Lansdowne Street West, just west of Spillsbury Drive.

> Proposed development: A pair of six-storey buildings, each with 59 apartments.

> The history: Parkview Homes applied in 2019 to build bigger — the original plan was for a nine-storey building a 10storey one, but there were concerns from neighbours that the buildings were too tall for the neighbourhood.

At a public meeting in December 2019, Parkview Homes presented a scaled-back plan for a pair of six-storey buildings reoriented on the property so they are both parallel to Lansdowne Street. But that new placement meant reorienting the proposed underground parking structure, and some neighbours had fresh concerns about the height and placement of that.

City staff expected Parkview Homes to hold a second public meeting, but Parkview Homes declined. Instead, it resubmitted its new plans on Jan. 31, 2020, without holding a second public meeting.

Nine months later — in October 2020 — an appeal was filed to LPAT because the rezoning application still hadn’t been brought before city council. City staff states in its report it needed additional public input in order to make a recommendation.

Sherbrooke Street

> Proposed site: 1737 Sherbrooke St. This vacant property is on the south side of Sherbrooke Street, east of Brealey Drive.

> Proposed development: In the first phase of development, Parkview Homes proposes a three-storey apartment building with 41 units, plus a threestorey townhouse building with four units.

> The history: Parkview Homes originally planned a four-storey townhouse building, but neighbours at a public meeting in 2019 said four storeys was too tall — hence the revision.

A revised plan was submitted to the city, but city staff still had servicing questions. Staff was trying to work out those details with the developer when an appeal to LPAT was filed in October.