3.             ZONING - 300 ROCHESTER STREET

 

ZONAGE – 300 RUE, ROCHESTER

 

 

Committee recommendation

 

(This application is subject to Bill 51)

 

That Council approve an amendment to the former City of Ottawa Zoning By-law to change the zoning of 300 Rochester Street from Minor Institutional (I1) to a Minor Institutional (I1-XXX SCH.XXX) exception Zone, to permit parking not associated with an institutional use, as shown in Document 1 and as detailed in Documents 2 and 3.

 

 

Recommandation du Comité

 

(Cette demande est assujettie au projet de loi 51)

 

Que le Conseil approuve une modification au Règlement de zonage de l'ancienne Ville d'Ottawa, de manière à faire passer le zonage du 300, rue Rochester de zone de petites institutions (II) à zone d'exception de petites instititions (II-XXX SCH.XXX), afin de permettre l'aménagement d'un parc de stationnement non associé à une utilisation institutionnelle, tel qu'illustré dans le document 1 et exposé en détail dans les documents 2 et 3.

 

 

 

 

Documentation

 

1.      Deputy City Manager's report Planning, Transit and the Environment dated
25 April 2007 (ACS2007-PTE-APR-0107).

 

 


Report to/Rapport au :

 

Planning and Environment Committee

Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement

 

and Council / et au Conseil

 

25 April 2007 / le 25 avril 2007

 

Submitted by/Soumis par : Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager /

Directrice municipale adjointe,

Planning, Transit and the Environment / Urbanisme, Transport en commun et Environnement

 

Contact Person/Personne Ressource : Grant Lindsay, Manager / Gestionnaire, Development Approvals / Approbation des demandes d'aménagement

(613) 580-2424, 13242  Grant.Lindsay@ottawa.ca

 

Somerset (14)

Ref N°: ACS2007-PTE-APR-0107

 

 

SUBJECT:

ZONING - 300 Rochester Street (FILE NO. D02-02-07-0003)

 

 

OBJET :

ZONAGE - 300 rue, rochester

 

 

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

 

That the Planning and Environment Committee recommend Council approve an amendment to the former City of Ottawa Zoning By-law to change the zoning of 300 Rochester Street from Minor Institutional (I1) to a Minor Institutional (I1-XXX SCH.XXX) exception Zone, to permit parking not associated with an institutional use, as shown in Document 1 and as detailed in Documents 2 and 3.

 

 

RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT

 

Que le Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement recommande au Conseil d'approuver une modification au Règlement de zonage de l'ancienne Ville d'Ottawa, de manière à faire passer le zonage du 300, rue Rochester de zone de petites institutions (II) à zone d'exception de petites instititions (II-XXX SCH.XXX), afin de permettre l'aménagement d'un parc de stationnement non associé à une utilisation institutionnelle, tel qu'illustré dans le document 1 et exposé en détail dans les documents 2 et 3. 

 


BACKGROUND

 

The subject property, 300 Rochester Street, comprises the entire block between Preston Street, Gladstone Avenue, Rochester Street and the Queensway, as shown in Document 1. 

Currently located on the property is a secondary school with a soccer field and a parking area.  The applicant is proposing to rezone the subject property to allow approximately 62 parking spaces to be used by people coming to the Preston Street commercial strip.  This amendment is being initiated by the Ottawa Carleton District School Board along with the City of Ottawa and is intended to help address the shortage of commercial parking spaces in the Preston Street area.

 

The subject property is zoned Minor Institutional and the proposed rezoning will create an exception which will allow the parking of vehicles that are not associated with the school use.  The area that will be used for commercial parking will be delineated in the proposed Zoning By‑law amendment by a schedule as shown in Document 3.  The majority of this area is currently being used for parking.  The proposed rezoning will not result in a parking deficiency zoning violation for the existing school.

 

 

DISCUSSION

 

The City's Official Plan designates the majority of the subject property as Mixed Use Centre, with the portion along Preston Street being designated Traditional Mainstreet.  The Official Plan states that the boundary of a Mainstreet is flexible, depending upon circumstances and lot configuration. The area where the proposed non-accessory parking will occur is along the southern portion of the property, next to Preston Street.  As this area is adjacent to Preston Street, it is designated as Traditional Mainstreet.

 

The Mainstreet designation identifies streets which offer some of the most significant opportunities in the city for intensification through more compact forms of development, a lively mix of uses and a pedestrian-friendly environment.  Over time, Preston Street has developed with these characteristics and is evolving into an excellent example of what a Mainstreet should be.  In addition to the compact development and pedestrian-friendly environment, the Official Plan also recognizes that Mainstreets provide a multi-modal transportation corridor function, including the use of private automobiles.  As such, there is a parking requirement associated with uses along the street.  The proposed rezoning addresses this reality and will help provide parking for people who use their private vehicles to visit the commercial uses along Preston Street.

 

Under the Traditional Mainstreet designation, the City's Official Plan prohibits parking in front of buildings, next to the street.  However, it is also understood that in certain circumstances, locating parking next to the street may be unavoidable.  When parking is located next to the street, the streetscape edge is to be heavily landscaped and pedestrian friendly, with the frontage of the parking lot along the Traditional Mainstreet being minimized.  In this circumstance, the area to be used for non-accessory parking is narrowest along Preston Street.  As well, through the Site Plan Control process, the Preston Street frontage will be heavily landscaped to screen the parking of vehicles.


In addition to the policies relating to Traditional Mainstreets, the Official Plan also contains policies on compatibility.  Section 2.5.1. identifies a need to create spaces which are visible, safe and can be confidently used at all hours of the day.  Effectively, the proposed Zoning By-law amendment will create a public space and since this area is located next to the activity of Preston Street, as opposed to the more secluded interior of the site, it provides an opportunity for a safe and visible space which can be used by members of the public.

 

Section 4.11 also contains policies relating to vehicular access.  Vehicular access should cause minimal conflict with pedestrian movement along the street and such accesses, which have the potential to generate significant volumes of traffic, are to be oriented away from local streets.  The location of the vehicular access for the parking lot is intended to be where it is presently located.  As the access is not to be relocated and there are no new accesses proposed along Preston Street, traffic disruptions or other conflicts will be minimized.  As well, Preston Street is an arterial roadway, thus access to and from the public parking lot is not available from a local road.  The majority of the site is presently used for parking by the school.  A small portion of the grassed area at the south end of an adjacent soccer field will be included in the area for parking, but the loss of this grassed area does not negatively impact the functioning of the soccer field.

 

Along Mainstreets, the desired built form results in buildings which are constructed to lot lines where little if any parking is provided on site.  As well, uses in these buildings may have a legal non-conforming right not to provide parking, or in other cases, the amount of parking to be provided may have been reduced through the Cash-in-lieu of Parking process.  The new parking to be used by the public will help alleviate the parking congestion along the Preston Street commercial strip as well as spill over commercial parking onto adjacent residential side streets. 

 

In conclusion, the proposed Zoning By-law amendment is considered to be compatible with the surrounding uses and also satisfies the Official Plan policies for Traditional Mainstreets.

 

Concurrent Application

 

The applicant has recently submitted the complementary Site Plan Control Application, which will address such issues as access, landscaping, circulation and functionality. 

 

 

CONSULTATION

 

Notice of this application was carried out in accordance with the City's Public Notification and Consultation Policy.  The Ward Councillor is aware of this application and the staff recommendation.  The City did not receive any negative comments or opposition to this application.

 

 

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

 

N/A

 

 

APPLICATION PROCESS TIMELINE STATUS

 

This application was processed by the "On Time Decision Date" established for the processing of Zoning By-law amendment applications.

 

 

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

 

Document 1      Location Map

Document 2      Details of Recommended zoning

Document 3      Zoning Schedule

 

 

DISPOSITION

 

Corporate Services Department, City Clerk’s Branch, Secretariat Services to notify the owner, Ottawa Carleton District School Board 133 Greenbank Road Nepean, ON K2H 8R1, applicant, Holzman Consultants Inc. 1076 Castle Hill Crescent Ottawa, ON K2C 2A8 Attention: Bill Holzman, OttawaScene.com, 174 Colonnade Road, Unit #33, Ottawa, ON  K2E 7J5, Peter Bula (Mail Code: 02-63), Ghislain Lamarche, Program Manager, Assessment, Financial Services Branch (Mail Code:  26-76) of City Council’s decision.

 

Planning, Transit and the Environment Department to prepare the implementing by-law, forward to Legal Services Branch and undertake the statutory notification.

 

Corporate Services Department, Legal Services Branch to forward the implementing by-law to City Council.


LOCATION MAP                                                                                                  DOCUMENT 1


DETAILS OF RECOMMENDED ZONING                                                       DOCUMENT 2

 

That the lands known municipally as 300 Rochester Avenue are rezoned from Minor Institutional (I1) to a Minor Institutional exception zone to permit parking that is not required or accessory to a use permitted in that zone, as indicated on Schedule XXX.

 

 


ZONING SCHEDULE                                                                                           DOCUMENT 3