KITCHENER — Kitchener council approved a major downtown condominium development Monday, despite the threat of an appeal of its decision to the Ontario Municipal Board.
The Momentum development would replace four commercial developments at
100 Victoria St. S. with two residential towers, one 14 storeys and one 18, atop a three-storey podium of offices and shops.
City planning staff recommended approving the developments, which they say is precisely the kind of development the city wants to attract along the planned LRT route: a high-quality development that brings more residents in areas close to the future transit line, within walking distance of shops, offices and other amenities.
But Owen Allerton, who owns five properties on Arthur Place, the street next to the Momentum development, said the nearest Momentum tower, which is proposed to be 7.6 metres from the property line, is too close and will wipe out any possibility of putting up a tower on his properties at some future date.
He argued that the city needs to draw up guidelines on how far apart towers must be before council approves the Momentum development. He urged council to hold off approving the Momentum development until city planners draw up tower separation guidelines, likely in about six months. He warned that if council approves the development, he would appeal the decision to the board.
But imposing such a rule this late in the game threatens the entire development, Momentum warned.
"If we start introducing any regulations of this magnitude, that puts the entire project in jeopardy," said Chris Pidgeon, speaking on behalf of Momentum. Pidgeon said Momentum also plans to appeal to the board if the city deferred approval, 18 months after the developer began working with the city on the project.
Coun. John Gazzola moved a deferral until May, in the hopes that the parties could work out a solution or the city could come up with new guidelines, but that motion was defeated 7-3. Council then approved the original proposal, with the tower some six metres from the property line.
"We need to make a decision based on the planning principles that we have," said Coun. Berry Vrbanovic.
The developer argued that it has made many changes to its design in response to concerns raised by Allerton, and that it's not reasonable to ask Momentum to wait for some future rules to be in place.
