YEARS OF CONTROVERSY OVER
Château Laurier addition approved
It's finally lights out for the design controversy over the addition to the Château Laurier.
City council on Wednesday voted 14-10 in favour of the latest concept, created through a negotiated settlement between hotel owner Larco Investments and advocacy group Heritage Ottawa.
Council's approval means the city will issue Larco a heritage permit that expires four years after it's issued, paving the way for the company to expand the historic hotel.
It caps four years during which council and city planners tried to answer a public outcry while avoiding costly legal battles over a private development project.
The sixth iteration of the addition responds to council's requirement for more limestone. It also reduces the negative visual impact from Major's Hill Park.
Councillors who still disliked the design teed off on the concept during the meeting.
Coun. Riley Brockington called it “bland, boring and benign.”
The chair of the built-heritage subcommittee, Coun. Rawlson King, reminded council that many members of his panel didn't give the latest design glowing reviews.
“It is middling, average and of ordinary design,” King said. “It represents `good enough.'”
Coun. Glen Gower, a former chair of the built-heritage subcommittee, defended the design as “good for our city” and said Heritage Ottawa's support for it holds significant weight.
Mayor Jim Watson, who voted in support of the design, said the city needs to turn its attention to more important issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Only one citizen addressed the latest design when it was discussed by the built-heritage and planning committees this month, a stark contrast to the public opposition voiced over previous iterations.
Coun. Mathieu Fleury, who opposed the latest design for the hotel expansion in his ward, won council's support for Watson to ask Parks Canada for stronger protections for national historic sites.
The National Capital Commission must also approve the hotel addition's impact on surrounding federal land.
Council members voting in support of the design were Watson and councillors Jenna Sudds, George Darouze, Jan Harder, Eli El-Chantiry, Jean Cloutier, Catherine Kitts, Laura Dudas, Tim Tierney, Allan Hubley, Keith Egli, Matthew Luloff, Scott Moffatt and Gower.
In opposition were Catherine McKenney, Carol Anne Meehan, Shawn Menard, Rick Chiarelli, Theresa Kavanagh, Jeff Leiper, Diane Deans, King, Brockington and Fleury.
WESTBORO CHANGE
The city has a playbook for bringing intensification to established areas, thanks to a zoning change to a Westboro neighbourhood endorsed by council.
Leiper, who represents the Westboro area, recommended that his colleagues “come to grips” with intensifying existing communities with housing.
The new zoning bylaw for an area bound by Byron, Dovercourt, Golden and Tweedsmuir avenues will allow more homes to be built on single properties to encourage low-level intensification. Four-storey buildings will be permitted on Churchill Avenue, for example, with no limit on the number of units. Corner lots on major streets can also have larger buildings.
The city's next Official Plan calls for more than half of new homes to be built in established communities.
Council also approved a subdivision design plan for a large undeveloped area of south Orléans. The 220 hectares of land, south of Innes Road in the area of Mer Bleue Road, is mostly owned by Richcraft Homes. It could have between 4,050 and 5,230 new homes.
East-end councillors, like Catherine Kitts of Cumberland ward and Laura Dudas of Innes ward, have called for the city's attention on the local transportation network if thousands of more people move into south Orléans.
PARK RENAMED
Sandy Hill Park at 250 Somerset St. E. has been officially renamed Annie Pootoogook Park.
Council was unanimous in its support for renaming the park after the late Inuk artist, whose depictions of life in the North have been celebrated across the country.
Pootoogook, 47, was from Cape Dorset, Nunavut, and lived in Ottawa. Her body was found in the Rideau River in September 2016.