The Stittsville Lions Club wants to add an accessible entrance to their building on Main Street, but first they’ll need approval from the City of Ottawa’s Committee of Adjustment (COA).
The building, located at 1339 Stittsville Main Street, includes the Lions banquet hall in the basement, as well as a physiotherapy clinic and medical centre upstairs.
The club wants to replace the existing covered entrance facing the front with an addition. The new addition would include a stairwell and elevator to the basement, and its entrance would face to the side. A wall with windows would face the street.
The addition won’t conform to current zoning requirements, which changed last year as part of the Stittsville Main Street Community Design Plan process. For example, buildings along Stittsville Main Street are supposed to have entrances facing the road, rather than off to the side.
I’ve argued previously that front-facing entrances are very important to ensuring a healthy main street, but in this case the Lions should be allowed to proceed. The building is set so far back from the street that the impact of a side entrance will be minimal.
More importantly, the provision of better accessibility for the decades-old building likely will provide a greater benefit than forcing the Lions to adhere strictly to the front-facing rules that the zoning calls for.
The COA will decide on the application on August 3. You can find more information here…
