Residents and councillors are worried about the potential impacts of density as a proposed apartment building could “tower” over one Bradford neighbourhood.
Several residents raised concerns about a potential development on the north side of town, including its appearance, height, drainage, parking and impacts on nearby residents, as about 30 people attended a special council meeting on Feb. 11.
According to a report and presentation from Madeline Luker, R-CHAD Bradford is proposing a 10-storey mixed-used building with about 1,680 square metres of ground-floor commercial space, and 321 apartments (262 one-bedroom, 40 two-bedroom and 19 three-bedroom) with both indoor and outdoor shared spaces at 300 Barrie St.
The building is mostly set to front Barrie, with some frontage on Line 8 and set to be joined by five blocks of four-storey stacked townhouses, including 124 units, mostly on the south and west portions. A plaza and parkette is planned for the middle.
Marcio Marques said he’s been living in town for 39 years, was previously a project manager for the town and expressed “strong opposition” for what he called the “extreme” allowances R-CHAD requested.
“While I’m not against development in principal, I have significant concerns regarding the proposed zoning changes and the negative impact they will have,” he said.
The property is currently zoned neighbourhood commercial (C2) and would require amendments to both zoning and the town’s official plan (OP) to create a dual-zoned property of C2 with exceptions and residential two (R2) with exceptions to allow for the 37.85-metre height, smaller setbacks, stacked townhouses, and a reduced number of parking spaces.
Because the property falls outside of the downtown core along Holland Street, Marques said he and other residents near Parkside Court and Countryside Court were opposed to setting a precedent in town by allowing the developer to exceed the three-storey heights currently allowed for that property.
“That high-rise will be towering over everything around. It’s almost as if you put a skyscraper in a fishbowl,” he said.
To put things into perspective, Marques referenced elevation data showing that while 300 Barrie St. is in a low area, the top of the 10-storey building would be about the same elevation as the intersection with Line 9 and Yonge Street, and about 20 metres higher than the Barrie and Fletcher streets intersection.
A study from SRN Architects shows the building could cast shadows on homes as far away as Colborne Street and Gardiner Drive.
When it comes to the townhouses, a presentation from Vladimir Rudenko, a planning consultant appearing on behalf of R-CHAD, explained that because of the lower elevation of the site and because they will be .5 storeys underground, the tops of the townhouses will have a similar elevation to the nearby two-storey homes.
Marques also worried about the potential impacts on flooding as the property is close to a stream and is a “swamp” for most of the year. He noted a letter from the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority regarding the site was from 2014 and outdated, something the town’s Deputy CAO, Mahesh Ramdeo, also noted in his comments, according to the report.
Marques questioned the availability of sewer capacity as plans are also underway for more nearby development in Special Policy Area 8.
He also worried how noise and vibrations from dewatering and construction would impact nearby residents, especially since the underground parking garage is expected to extend within one metre of a shared property line potentially damaging residents’ mature trees — a point supported by the town’s landscape architect and arborist.
“How will the developer dig a hole 10-m deep without affecting the private property of the residents?” Marques asked.
Several residents also brought up issues with insufficient parking, including Frederico Louzada, who said he spoke with neighbours in the area and collected 63 signatures from those opposed to the development.
“There’s a major fallback in the number of parking spaces that we all know will end up on our streets,” he said.
According to the report, a development of this size would typically require 873 parking spaces for residents. However, the proposed two-level underground parking garage only includes 792 parking spaces, as well as a surface-level lot with 19 spaces for commercial use.
Rudenko explained vehicle access is planned from both Barrie and Line 8, with the access for underground parking near Barrie Street, and only right turns would be allowed onto Line 8, which is set for expansion.
That traffic and parking plan didn’t sit well with Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu who said Barrie Street is already busy and the parking garage access could lead to traffic jams.
While he was opposed to more than tripling the number of storeys permitted under the OP, having so little commercial parking was also a “big concern” for Ward 3 Coun. Ben Verkaik, who noted the number of commercial units still sitting empty at 200 Dissette St.
“It’s just a failure,” he said. “You can’t have retail without parking.”
Tony Nagy was particularly concerned with the height of the 10-storey building and felt it would be better suited in areas where more density is already planned, such as near Bradford District High School or in the proposed major transit station area near the Bradford GO station.
“Everything looks nice on the slide show, but ... it doesn't seem to work there,” Mike Vescio said in echoing the concerns of others.
Even if the density can be made to work in that location, submissions from the Simcoe County District School Board and Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board noted they might not be able to meet the needs of the new students.
Licinio Miguelo, who has lived in town for 37 years, and works for the York Region District School Board, estimated the development would bring an additional 386 students.
While Miguelo praised council’s advocacy, he said growth in school spaces still hasn’t kept up with the town’s population and noted both Holy Trinity Catholic and Bradford District high schools face capacity issues. Schools in town, he said, are “already bursting at the seams.”
“I fear it won’t be just the townhouses that are stacked to four stories,” Miguelo said. “First we’re going to be stacking portables to four stories.”
Ward 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper, who represents the area for the development, said issues with school capacity have long existed and urged residents to share concerns with the candidates of the current provincial election.
While he echoed other concerns with the proposal, Harper hoped to find compromise.
Located on the southwest corner of the intersection with Barrie and Line 8, the roughly 1.79-hectare property is vacant save for vegetation and mostly surrounded by single-detached houses, as well as a one-storey commercial plaza across Barrie.
Council is not expected to make a decision until after staff review the public feedback and provide a future report.
For more information, or to submit feedback about planning files D09-24-05 and D14-24-14, contact the Office of Community Planning at 905-778-2055, ext. 1407, or [email protected].