‘Urban village’ will have nearly 6,000 units
Development planned for property next to Long Lake Provincial Park prompts concern
Nestled up to Long Lake Provincial Park, nearly 6,000 housing units will go tall instead of spreading out.
Rob Leblanc is the partner and founder of Fathom Studios which is designing a new neighbourhood on the 44-hectare Exhibition Park lands in Goodwood for owner Banc Group Inc. In an interview, he said the 5,000-housing-unit estimate, reported earlier this week by The Chronicle Herald, is actually 5,867 with about 45,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.
“It’s an area that could be a gateway into (Long Lake Provincial Park) with a bunch of entries into that big provincial park. We’re only roughly about two kilometres from Bayers Lake so it’s close to shopping, services and retail and recreation,” Leblanc said.
The two tallest buildings are 18 storeys high, but most of them are eight storeys and some are 14 with street walls and stepbacks to minimize shade and create building articulation so they don’t look like Lego blocks, he said. There are no single-family homes in the project, rather multi-unit buildings, townhomes and stacked townhomes.
Of course, they might not get what they want. The application with HRM was recently filed and after a vote to proceed from council, it will go into negotiation and public consultation.
“The development itself is imagined as an urban village, surrounded by provincial park land. It’s got a large urban park in the centre of it that’s kind of the village square for the development.”
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
This has Martin Willison worried. He’s a retired biology and environmental studies professor who lives close to Long Lake Provincial Park and is involved in the leadership of the Long Lake Provincial Park Association.
“We’re not aware of all the details but we’ve seen a proposal and it has apartment buildings lined up right against the edge of the park which will result in a very intense usage,” he said.
He’s concerned about fire risk after the situation last spring, as well as overuse of the park leading to contamination of the lake with bluegreen algae.
And there was a long-term plan to have a parking lot and main entrance where the development is going now, Willison said.
“Where now will be the main entrance to Long Lake Provincial Park in the future and where will be the parking for this main entrance?”
Leblance said they’ve done a wetland delineation study and more than 17 acres of the 100-plus acres on the property have been preserved for conservation.
There are a number of places where stormwater drains off “and we have to meet the no-net runoff requirements so that means the same amount of stormwater that falls on it today, you can’t exceed what’s already coming off the property,” he said.
“That’s why we’ve got a lot of park space, a lot of conservation areas. We’ll be looking at rooftop storage of water and there will be stormwater islands in parking lots — all the modern ways to handle stormwater will be employed.”
They’re also planning for a six-acre urban square, with the idea that restaurants will spill into that space. There are some surface parking lots but mostly underground parking.
“We’re trying to develop it as a bit of an eco community so that we’re minimizing the surface runoff into the provincial park to the east.”
TRAFFIC HEADACHES?
Adding traffic to an already congested Prospect Road is going to be a big issue for residents, predicted Coun. Patty Cuttell (Spryfield - Sambro Loop - Prospect Road).
Leblanc said they have conducted a traffic study and are proposing three entry/exits onto Prospect Road.
“It’s designed to be a walkable community that you don’t necessarily have to own a car. We’re on a transit route here, we’re close to Bayers Lake, all of the things of the complete communities that you tend to be seeing more of,” he said.
“Part of the plan is we’ve got a transit loop that goes into it. We’re looking at extending active transportation, add bike lanes out here. And obviously with this many units there would be upgrades to that (Prospect Road).”
There are no single-family homes in it, but there are a range of townhomes and stacked townhomes that people could purchase and there’s a series of multi-unit buildings that will most likely be rentals.
ESCALATION
Cuttell said earlier this week that she was concerned about the escalation in the number of units for this project. In 2021, the developer was looking at 1,844 units — a mix of semi-detached, townhomes and multi-unit buildings.
Leblanc said years ago, a tall building in more rural areas like this would be in the six-storey range, but more recently the focus has been on maximizing services and minimizing sprawl “so we’re going up.”
“There used to be a 30-storey maximum height and now they’re looking at 40 storeys. It’s this idea of going up rather than spreading out. Four years ago, five years ago, there wasn’t a comfort level with height as there is now,” he said.
“There are costs, of course, usually with going higher but it usually means there’s a trade off with additional open space for that additional density.”
AFFORDABLE?
With every major development, the question of affordability always comes up. Leblanc said it depends on the timing and what Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation programs are available at the time, but unfortunately the cost of construction is going to continue to go up, driving the cost of rent.
But density bonusing would apply here. That’s where developers with big projects have to contribute a formulated amount into a pot collected by HRM for non-profit housing providers.
“The bigger part of affordability is creating homes which opens opportunities for people who own homes now to get into rentals, seniors and that, which opens up housing for young families,” Leblanc said.
TIMELINE
Given the planning needed and the scale of the development, the construction is probably on a 10-20 year timeline, Leblanc said.
Once council approves to move to the next stage, more information on the development will be posted on the municipality’s website as well as opportunities for public feedback.