By Peter Ferguson
We’re a dying community! This disquieting fact popped up in a discussion with city planning staff during the second phase of City Hall’s Residential Fourth Density (R4) Zoning Review, which is going ahead later this year. While the R4 zoning review has the potential to add to the current housing mix new models that would be appropriate for Lowertown (and the rest of the city), we need more than what the R4 review alone can offer. The fact is, at this time we don’t have the housing mix that will lead to a revitalized Lowertown; that will attract new individuals and families to the community, and that will lead to the addition of a new mix of retail and other services.
So what could lie ahead for Lowertown in terms of its housing mix? What are the pressures on the current housing mix that could help and hinder the further revitalization of our community?
There is some limited in-fill underway. At 33 Heney Street, east of Cobourg, a new 3-storey, 11-unit apartment building is being built containing one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Of technical interest is that it will fit in with a row of larger, older houses designated fourth density. It’s a useful example of intensification and shows that, with careful design, new housing models can fit in with older stock.
Also, in the same neighbourhood, at 101 Wurtemburg, there will be three new two-storey town houses on a site deemed too small for high-rise development , which was the original intention of the developer. At 339 Cumberland, an innovative approach has been taken to building design and materials that have helped to keep the cost of the project in check in comparison to other similar projects.
For Lowertown a major influence on current and future development will be the new LRT service. The city has designated special housing-development areas around each of the LRT stations,and this will have an impact on our community most likely in the form of new apartments and condominiums. Rideau Street east and west of King Edward will be the focus of most of the high-rise aspects of this activity. But there will also be pressures for high-rise and mid-rise development in a northerly direction away from Rideau on Dalhousie, Cumberland and Parent. Some of these projects will be in direct conflict with the community’s need to protect individual heritage properties and existing designated heritage conservation districts.
Looking east to King Edward from the Rideau LRT station, most of the high-rise development on the south side of the street is completed or underway east of Waller. Only a single high-rise property remains undeveloped next to the Ottawa Little Theatre. On the north side of Rideau running east to Dalhousie there are a number of properties of varying sizes that could be developed, but many of these are too small for tall buildings. A recent proposal for a 24storey combination hotel and residence next to the Waller Mall was severely criticized for planning and heritage reasons by the Lowertown Community Association and the Urban Design Review Panel as inappropriate to the location.
East of Cumberland, Claridge Developments has plans for the site presently occupied by a Metro store including a hotel and residence.
Things look good on Rideau Street east of King Edward. On the north side of the street, and a good example of adaptive re-use in our community, is the conversion of a former government office building to a new student residence at the corner of King Edward and Rideau. Yes, student accommodation is part of our housing mix! Most of the building’s brutalist-style exterior architecture will be preserved. Further east, at the north east corner of Chapel Street, Trinity Developments is expected to re-submit zoning and site plan applications, in the near future, for 2 25-storey residential towers with retail space. This previously approved project will now be built in two phases, with the south tower and retail space as part of the first phase. Further east, at Cobourg and Rideau, the Chenier Group has started demolition at the site and will be building a nine-storey apartment building due to open in late 2020.
There is a serious shortage of apartments across Ottawa. The tour of Rideau Street described above is intended to show that there are significant numbers of new apartments coming to Lowertown that will help with our need for a better housing mix. With them will come new retail opportunities.
Of interest in this discussion is the fact that the eastern boundary for the downtown core, as set out in the City’s official plan, is King Edward Avenue. However, the impending spate of apartment and condo developments on Rideau Street east of King Edward suggests that the Rideau River, the eastern boundary of Lowertown, is becoming the eastern edge of the downtown core.
Some lessons emerge from this overview. First we need to welcome a mix of new development, including new and interesting housing models such as those at 33 Heney, 101 Wutemburg and 339 Cumberland. Second, we need to be vigilant that excessive the height and density associated with high-rise development doesn’t creep into areas of our community where it would be inappropriate. Third, we need development in the form of a mix of new housing models but not at the expense of our unique heritage conservation districts. Fourth (and perhaps unpopularly), land in Lowertown costs a lot of money. Developers need some reasonable return on investment. Otherwise there is no development and we could remain what the city planners call a dying community.