Stittsville Village Association gives feedback on 1531 Main Street proposed development

At the March 14th monthly Executive Meeting of the Stittsville Village Association (SVA), Alan Whitten, President and Founder of Huntington Properties was invited to outline the proposed new development planned for Stittsville Main Street at Orville Street.

Alan Whitten started the meeting with a summary of the open house that took place on March 6th with a few updates. Alan addressed the concerns expressed about the building being too horizontal and spread out by explaining that it is broken up to appear as three segments with each having a different façade. He indicated that the building’s north side will not be close to Orville Street to allow for a barrier free ramp and will provide a good entrance into the building.

There will be four ground floor retail units of 6,000 sq. ft each that will ‘animate the street’. Alan explained that the top three levels of the main building would be used for rental apartments as there are not many rental properties available in Stittsville. There will be 43 apartments ranging in size from 950 to 1,050 sq. ft. with rents expected to be in the $1,800-$2,200 price range for a two-bedroom unit. One-bedroom units will be available, however, no pricing has yet to be determined. Two-thirds of the rental units will be two bedrooms and the balance one bedroom. The target market for these apartments are seniors, empty nesters and mature tenants. The seven proposed townhouses would be built after the initial building is completed.

There will be a layby for parking in front of the building for seven vehicles. It has yet to be decided if these spots are to be City parking with perhaps parking meters or free. The OC Transpo bus stop would be relocated to around the Quitter’s/Stittsville Signs & Glass businesses.

Alan also added that the building had to pass a zoning by-law amendment for the garbage refuse container and appear before the Urban and Rural Development Policies (URDP) committee which would be held on April 5th. Follow-up would have to take place on the suggested changes provided by URDP. The project then goes before Ottawa’s Planning Committee on May 23, 2019. Alan went on to say that once the building has passed all criteria, Huntington hopes to be able to break ground in the late summer/early fall of this year with the building seeing completion in a year’s time.

After the presentation, feedback was provided by the SVA members with Tanya Hein, President, expressing concern that this plan dilutes the Community Development Plan (CDP) as it carries on. Phil Sweetnam, Director, expressed his concern over the building’s façade – could it be altered to take on a heritage look. Phil was also concerned about meeting the obligations of the CDP Plan. Overall, the SVA Executive are concerned with the lack of heritage details in contrast to the CDP. The SVA will be sending comments to the Planning Committee for their consideration when discussing the development. For reference here is the CDP plan link  https://documents.ottawa.ca/sites/default/files/documents/stittsville_main_cdp_en.pdf.

Alan Whitten indicated that the existing buildings would be commemorated by perhaps using the old timbers for a display in the building’s lobby or on the property.

Representing the Stittsville Village Association (SVA) for the presentation were Tanya Hein, President; Nancy Therrien, Vice President; Luke Therrien, Director; Phil Sweetnam, Director; Doug Sutherland, Treasurer; and Dayna Hammond, Director.

Should you have any questions or comments, please visit www.stittsvilleva.com. You can also contact them at (613)–686–1842 and stittsvillevillage@gmail.com.