Developer confirms start date after city reaches compromise
Developer Rob Piroli confirms that his $43-million residential project in the city’s core is a go — starting April 1 — now that concerns by neighbour BASF Canada have been smoothed over and council has approved the rezoning. With 147 units, the six-storey building at Wyandotte Street West and Crawford Avenue will be the biggest residential development in the core in decades. Council approved the rezoning Monday night, giving the property a special Class 4 sensitive land use designation that will make it much easier for BASF — located directly across Wyandotte Street — to be compliant with noise requirements.
BASF’s noise levels had been low enough for years when the property across the street was vacant. But building a six-storey building so close would have suddenly made the automotive coatings firm non-compliant with Ministry of Environment regulations. Preliminary studies indicated that as many as 27 noise sources on the BASF property would “require significant financial investment into noise mitigation to place the facility into compliance.”
So BASF was objecting to the Piroli Group Developments project, arguing it shouldn’t have to pay upwards of $1 million for noise abatement measures just because Piroli was moving in.
A Class 4 designation lessens BASF’s requirements to control the noise at its site, while the Piroli project will have to be built with special noise-abatement features such as specially glazed windows. According to BASF’s written presentation to council, its noise limits would go from 50 dBA to 55 dBA at night and 60dBA during the day. BASF said it didn’t want to appeal Piroli’s rezoning. It’s a time-consuming process and Piroli was warning that any delays could scuttle the project entirely. “BASF Canada believes that the City of Windsor designation of the property … as a Class 4 area will provide a model for future developments in the City of Windsor,” the company said.
On Tuesday, Piroli confirmed that the rezoning approved by council Monday “means the project goes ahead as planned.”
It’s slated to start April 1, and will be complete by August of 2020, he said. Piroli is building high-end rental units on the 3.6-acre property, purchased last year from Loblaw Properties Ltd., which had owned it for about 15 years. The housing project has been eagerly embraced by city council. It voted in the fall to expand the boundaries for its downtown Community Improvement Plan so that Piroli’s land would be included. While the CIP offers grants of $2,500 per new residential unit to a maximum of $50,000, the big incentive is 10 years of grants that pay back the difference between the municipal taxes for the vacant land and taxes once a $43-million apartment building is built.