A significant new development proposal has been submitted to the City for a parcel of land on the north part of Huntmar Drive near Palladium. The proposal includes detached homes, townhouses, a low-rise apartment building, commercial automotive dealerships and a large district park.
The 135.7-acre (54.9 hectare) property has an address at 195 Huntmar Drive, and extends quite a ways west and then north towards Palladium Drive. The land is undeveloped and is mostly farm fields, brush and trees. It’s located immediately south and west of the existing police station, and north of Fairwinds.
The proposal calls for:
- 174 detached dwellings;
- 285 townhouse dwellings;
- 520 stacked townhouse dwellings
- Approximately 120 to 190 units in low-rise apartment buildings (up to 4 storeys in height)
- A 6-acre neighbourhood commercial block fronting Huntmar
- Three 5-acre automotive parks
- A large 27.5-acre district park, to be handed over to the City of Ottawa.
- A 7-acre stormwater management facility that would be located on Ministry of Transportation land north of the subdivision.
The development needs a number of city approvals before it can go ahead including a zoning bylaw amendment, amendment to the official plan and approval for the plan of subdivision.
The land is currently zoned Development Reserve Zone (DR). According to the City, “the purpose of this zone is to recognize lands intended for future urban development in areas designated General Urban Area in the Official Plan, and a range of permitted uses is limited to those that will not preclude future development.”
This proposal submitted asks to change the zoning as follows:
- Mixed-Use Centre Zone (MU) for the commercial block along Huntmar Drive and the abutting residential block planned for low-rise apartment buildings
- Business Park Industrial Zone (IP) for the three blocks planned for automobile dealerships or other employment uses
- Residential Fourth Density (R4) for the stacked townhouse and street townhouse residential blocks
- Residential Third Density (R3) for the detached dwellings located west of the North-South Arterial Road
- Parks and Open Space Zone (O1) for the district park.
The requested amendments to the Official Plan include:
- Permit the development of detached dwellings in the area currently designated Enterprise Area. Current OP policies permit only townhouses, stacked townhouses and apartments.
- Revise the text related to the requirement to locate the Kanata West District Park in the southeast quadrant of the Enterprise Area to the northwest quadrant.
- Amending the location of the Stittsville Main Street extension, continuing east of the North-South Arterial Road. This would be revised to reflect the alignment and configuration shown on the Draft Plan of Subdivision.
- Eliminate the policy that requires a minimum building height of four storeys for office and residential development in the Mixed Use Centre designation, which applies to the eastern half of the subject site.
The city is accepting comments from residents until November 14. Click here for more info…
(Interestingly, documents submitted reference former city councillor and planning committee head Peter Hume of HP Urban as the applicant for this proposal.)
For more documentation about the proposal visit OttWatch.ca
So, do we really need to encourage 3 more car dealerships into the area? Is there no other commercial options that might provide variety rather than having almost 10 dealerships in the immediate area?
Also, while they are getting closer to connecting Stittsville Main Street through to the Palladium / Queensway interchange, this plan STILL does not connect them. So it continues to avoid addressing some significant traffic flows from Stittsville through to the 417 area.
Lastly, how does the timing of this development meld with the improvement of Huntmar Rd to 4 lanes? Will they be adding significant residents in business that may need to use a transportation corrider that is still a narrow 2 lane road including narrow overpass bridges over the 417?
I am not against development. I am against the continued approach of build new, overwhelm the existing infrastructure and then look to fix it over a long period of time.
Ian, thanks very much for your comments. Make sure you share your questions and concerns with the councillor and the planning lead of this file. It does make a difference.
I agree with you, there must be a better use for that land the car dealerships. However it until more of a start taking the bus or walking, we’ll probably keep seeing more proposals for car lot and gas stations!
For more on the current timeline for building road infrastructure check this out: http://stittsvillecentral.ca/future-stittsville-planned-roads-robert-grant-carp-huntmar-fernbank/