nother large-scale infill housing project has begun construction in Old Ottawa South. One of the goals of this 41 unit development is to complement and enhance the existing neighborhood, creating a win-win situation with adjacent homeowners.
In the past, developers did not solicit input from the local community and OSCA frequently withheld its support or actively opposed proposals which called for creating additional dwelling units, either by individual infill, cluster infill or subdividing existing lots.
Happily, that is not the situation today. In contrast, both builders and OSCA are now more cooperative and constructive toward achieving well-designed local infill. As a result, this contributes toward better integrated architectural solutions and less deeply felt resentment to change.
The new Brewer Gate project, to be located on the foundations of the former family court complex north of Brewer Park, is such an example. According to director of sales Suzanne Gauthier, the developer for this project has specialized in infill for several decades and works hard to build complementary new homes which will offer improvements for the local community.
The reasons why people want to live in an old, well-situated urban community - but in a new house - are clearly apparent to Ms. Gauthier and the local sales staff. She points out, "when we first advertised that we had a development coming up in Old Ottawa South, we were already getting calls. Many people like to be next to a city park, near Carleton University and Dows Lake, with a scenic bike-ride to the urban core."
Benefits to the local community include a larger population base to support our local schools which might otherwise losing enrolment as family size decreases. Another benefit is the reduced tax burden of providing extra municipal services outside the Greenbelt and increased car pollution because people have to drive much further for everything.
With the Brewer Gate project,there are additional benefits because they are keeping the existing trees and concrete foundations. By using the former provincial court complex's foundations, they are saving the problems of disposing of more landfill, plus the energy wasted by manufacturing and transporting new cement. Also, future heritage buffs (like me) will still be able to see the "footprint" of the former structures. Using the old foundations may also save money.
Still, we need to ask ourselves: with how many others do we want to share our outstanding community? What methods should we use to limit the number and locations of new dwellings? How can we most successfully influence architectural style, especially choice of materials, garage door locations and inappropriate height which blocks sunlight?
One method is to use trade-offs within the flexibility of zoning bylaws, as recommended by OSWATCH chair Glenn Elder in this case. He and other community activists have worked hard to resolve as many local concerns as possible. Glenn wants to eliminate as many problems as possible which might have a negative impact on adjacent residences. Early on, in this project, a serious concern was raised by those who were afraid of the additional traffic created by the proposal. Councillor Inez Berg's office was involved with resolving most of these concerns, Glenn explains.
The Brewer Gate infill project is an example of developer and community working together to achieve the least disruption and maximum benefit. "Overall," OSCA president John Graham reports, "the project is about as good as the community can expect."
This is the second in a series of articles David will be writing on the subject of infill housing. Anyone with questions or different views is encouraged to submit a draft article, write a letter to the editor or call David at 730-0728 to determine how your views might become part of this discussion topic.