(Rendering of the Lépine Corporation development to be constructed at 5000 Robert Grant Avenue in Stittsville.)
I was very disappointed to see on May 13th that every member of the City of Ottawa’s Planning Committee voted in favour of allowing Lepine to build an 18-tower apartment building in Stittsville. This prompted me to ask Mayor Watson and Council to delay the final vote on this proposed amendment until after the next municipal election.
Dear Mayor Watson and Members of Council,
I would ask that you to postpone the vote on the Planning Committee’s amendment regarding 5000 Robert Grant until after October 24, 2022.
The reasons for this request are as follows:
· 170 of 175 comments made at the public meeting at the Cardel Recreation Complex March 6, 2020 were in opposition to the Lepine proposal.
· Over 800 residents signed two petitions that clearly outlined their opposition to the construction of a 15-storey apartment building. I think it is fair to assume that those same residents would oppose the new proposal for an 18-storey apartment building on the same site.
· During the Planning Committee meeting May 13, 2021 three delegations voiced their opposition to the amendment that opened the way for the City to grant the revised proposal by Lepine to construct an 18-storey apartment tower at 5000 Robert Grant. The amendment was approved on the basis that a new Transit Station was planned to be built within 400 meters walking distance from 5000 Robert Grant. I contend that a Transit Station does not exist beyond that of a conceptual map. To the best of my knowledge there haven’t been any surveys done on a proposed site, engineering, plans drawn, budgeting or any reserve funds put in place for said Transit Station.
· If future City Councils decide that a Transit Station will not be built due to financial limitations or lessening commuter demand, the 18-storey building will still be in place without the supporting infrastructure required for a building that is greater that 9-storeys tall.
· This matter should be left to the next Council because this project and the potential for similar high occupancy towers to be built should be left for the Municipal voters to decide on October 24, 2022 and not to today’s Council alone.
The Planning Committee’s approval of the proposed amendment for 5000 Robert Grant has caused a great deal of disappointment and even some anger in the community. In my opinion, the significant opposition to this proposal has not been given the consideration that it deserves. The residents of Ottawa should be allowed to vote for Ward Councillors that will best represent their views on how Stittsville and all of Ottawa will be developed in the future.
Respectfully yours,
Neil MacLellan
Sounds like NIMBYism to me. The price of housing continue to soar. If not here, where should there be low-cost housing in Stittsville? And saying nowhere is not a viable option. We can’t expect our community to thrive if people can’t afford to live here.
The City of Ottawa’s Planning Committee clearly has their own agenda.
They are nothing if not consistent in pushing through projects that local residents are overwhelmingly opposed to (i.e. Salvation Army move from Market to Vanier).
These people seem to forget that they are all elected officials and can all be replaced come election day
Take the Salvation Army move most outside a few anti development people supported the move.
We fully support this letter. Many thanks for preparing it.
To me this is another case where city councillors outside their ward simply follow the pack. The councillors don’t rock the boat if it isn’t their residents. The city is bent on building more things without waiting for the associated infrastructure to be realized. The targeted LRT station is 10+ years away and more likely never to exist as LRT costs go up every phase and this city cannot afford what we are building now.
So if we don’t allow houses for 10 years most will leavse as prices will be higher then Toronto and Vancouver.
1. Take a look and consider the traffic flow on the surrounding streets if the largest building is built now without the infrastructure for both personal or OC Transpo being built.
2. Not sure I see the correlation between the large building presence and a decrease in housing prices. Given the vast amount of homes being built in the west end alone, and in ares like Maple Grove, homes are happening. The concern raised here is simple adjust the timing to when the amount of people living here and the surrounding infrastructure are appropriately matched.
I vote we continue urban sprawl until every field, forest and natural habitat it covered in single homes and townhouses. Then we can all sit back and watch everyone in every Stittsville Facebook group openly ask why there are so many coyotes in “our” neighbourhood.