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6. ZONING
– 460-480 BRIGITTA STREET ZONAGE –
460-480, RUE BRIGITTA |
Committee recommendation
(This application is subject to Bill 51)
That Council approve an amendment to the former
Township of Goulbourn Zoning By-law to change the zoning of 460-480 Brigitta
Street from Residential Type 5 Special Exception 6 (R5-6 Zone) to Residential
Type 5 Special Exception 7 (R5-7 Zone) and as shown in Document 1 and as
detailed in Document 3.
Recommandation du Comité
(Cette demande est assujettie au Règlement
51)
Que le Conseil approuve une modification
au Règlement de zonage de l’ancien Canton de Goulbourn afin de changer la
désignation de zonage du 460-480, rue Brigitta de zone résidentielle de type 5
assortie d’une exception spéciale 6 (zone R5-6) à zone résidentielle de type 5
assortie d’une exception spéciale 7 (zone R5-7), tel qu’il est indiqué dans le
Document 1 et expliqué en détail dans le Document 3.
DOCUMENTATION
1.
Deputy
City Manager's report Planning, Transit
and the Environment dated
27 July 2007 (ACS2007-PTE-APR-0156).
2. Extract
of Draft Minutes, 28 August 2007
Report to/Rapport au :
Planning and Environment Committee
Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement
and Council / et au Conseil
27 July 2007/le 27 juillet 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
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SUBJECT: |
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OBJET : |
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That the Planning and
Environment Committee recommend Council approve an amendment to the former
Township of Goulbourn Zoning By-law to change the zoning of 460-480 Brigitta
Street from Residential Type 5 Special Exception 6 (R5-6 Zone) to Residential
Type 5 Special Exception 7 (R5-7 Zone) and as shown in Document 1 and as
detailed in Document 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’ancien Canton de Goulbourn afin de changer la désignation de zonage du
460-480, rue Brigitta de zone résidentielle de type 5 assortie d’une exception
spéciale 6 (zone R5-6) à zone résidentielle de type 5 assortie d’une exception
spéciale 7 (zone R5-7), tel qu’il est indiqué dans le Document 1 et expliqué en
détail dans le Document 3.
BACKGROUND
The subject site is a 7791 square
metre parcel of land located on the west side of Eagleson Road, at the corner
of Romina Street and Brigitta Street, known as 460‑480 Brigitta Street
(formerly 5264 Fernbank Road) as shown in Document 1.
The site is part of
the Bridlewood Trails Subdivision (D07-16-03-0046) which was draft approved on
June 30, 2005. The draft plan of
subdivision combines residential, employment, commercial, mixed use, and open
space uses. The subject site is a block on the first phase of the registered
plan of subdivision.
The purpose of the application is
to rezone the block to permit the construction of a six-storey Continuing Care
Retirement Facility that would include a range of dwelling units and health
services as shown on the proposed site plan (Document 2). The development will consist of two
buildings to be constructed in phases.
Phase 1 will be constructed at the corner of Eagleson Road and Romina
Street. Phase 2 will be constructed immediately
north of Phase 1 at a later date. The main floor will consist of a kitchen
and dining area, an exercise room, a games room, a living room, a library, a
wellness centre and other amenities for the residents. Assisted Care units will be located on the
second and third floors. The Assisted
Care units have their own communal dining kitchen area located on the same
floor, separate from the communal dining and kitchen area located on the ground
floor. The other floors will be
designed with a variety of independent living quarters including studio units,
studio suite units, as well as one-and two-bedroom units.
A Continuing Care Retirement
Facility allows residents to take advantage of the full range of services
available and ease the transfer to a different type of facility as his or her
condition and needs change without needing to look for a new facility,
relocate, or adapt to a new setting. As
seniors age, their physical situation may change yet they may want to remain in
the same building for convenience or the social network they have gained. For example, the resident may begin in the
independent living units, move to assisted living as he or she needs help with
activities of daily living, and eventually move to the nursing home as ongoing
care becomes necessary.
Current and
Proposed Zoning
The site is currently zoned R5-6 within Zoning
By-law 40-99, as amended. The R5-6 zone
permits an Apartment Dwelling, a Stacked Townhouse Dwelling and a Townhouse
Dwelling. The current zoning does not
permit institutional uses or any form of senior citizen type housing.
The applicant proposes to rezone the property
to add Nursing Home, Retirement Lodge, and Senior Citizen Apartment as
permitted uses in order to design and operate a Continuing Care Retirement
facility as described above.
The Zoning By-law amendment is also requesting
a change in parking requirement standards.
DISCUSSION
The site is designated Arterial Mainstreet in the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan. Section 3.6.3 Mainstreets, Policy 3 states:
A
broad range of uses is permitted on Traditional and Arterial Mainstreets,
including retail and service commercial uses, offices, residential and
institutional uses.
As noted above, this facility will be a combination of residential and institutional uses.
The Official Plan
policies for Mainstreets in
general, intends for development to achieve a compact, mixed-use,
pedestrian-oriented development pattern. The Official Plan characterizes Arterial Mainstreets (as compared to
Traditional Mainstreets), as having an urban fabric of larger lots,
larger buildings, varied setbacks, lower densities and a more
automobile-oriented environment often within a divided cross section of four or
more lanes. Arterial Mainstreets are intended to gradually transition to a
more urban pattern of land use and more intensive forms of development. Unlike
other developments on Arterial
Mainstreets, this development will immediately fulfil the goals of a
compact pedestrian-oriented development pattern as opposed to gradually
evolving from a more low profile and automobile-oriented environment. The proposed
building is six storeys in height, the building is set close to the street and
the majority of the parking is being proposed underground. This will set the
tone for the creation of an “urban” streetscape along Eagleson Road as compared
to the typical “suburban” streetscape with buildings setback from the street
behind an extensive amount of surface parking.
The proposal also conforms to the applicable policies of Section 4 of the Official Plan “Review of Development Applications,” in particular Section 4.3 Walking, Cycling, Transit Roads and Parking Lots and Section 4.11 Compatibility.
In keeping with Section 4.3, and the Arterial Main Street policy calling for “pedestrian-oriented” development, the buildings will have good access to transit along Eagleson Road and Romina Street, and the surrounding planned network of public sidewalks, and recreational pathways. The sidewalks and pathways will connect to the adjacent residential development within the same subdivision, future local commercial development on Romina Street, the planned commercial and employment area south of Romina Street, and to the surrounding residential communities of SoHo and the neighbouring Emerald Meadows community. A transit stop is planned for Eagleson Road immediately adjacent to Phase 2 of this development. On site pathways and building design will provide for a direct pedestrian link from the bus stop to the front entrance of the facility.
A number of different criteria are considered when evaluating the compatibility of a new use. Of particular concern in this location are traffic, parking requirements, building height and massing and pattern of the surrounding community. The development fronts onto an arterial street which has capacity to handle the traffic generated from this site. Parking requirements are discussed in more detail in the following section.
The site is bounded by streets on three sides and a stormwater management facility is located on the fourth property line to the north. Eagleson Road is to the east and the Monahan Drain is immediately east of Eagleson Road. Romina Street, a new local collector street, runs along the south property line with future planned commercial use fronting on the south side.
A new local road, Brigitta Street is located to the west with a new stacked townhouse condominium development presently under construction on the west side. Street townhouses are presently under construction to the north west. The development is compatible with the open space nature of the existing land uses to the north and east and with the future local commercial to the south.
The stacked townhouses to the west are three storeys in height compared to the six storeys of the subject proposal. Stacked townhouses are considered medium density housing, the street townhouses would be considered low density with the subject proposal, the lower end of high density. In this neighbourhood context the location of these three types of residential uses provide an appropriate transition from high to medium to low density.
The impact on the stacked townhouses is softened considerably by the design of the retirement facility. Both buildings are to be built in an ‘L’ shape which will create a courtyard adjacent to Brigitta Street and the stacked townhouses as shown in Document 2. While the ends of each of the buildings are 7.5 metres from the Brigitta Street property line, the majority of the building will be over 30 metres from this lot line.
The site and building design reflected in the companion site plan proposal is in keeping with the Urban Design Guidelines for Development along Arterial Mainstreets. A brief summary of how the site and building design is in keeping with specific Guidelines is found in Document 3. In addition to the City’s Arterial Mainstreet Design Guidelines, the development conforms to the streetscape design guidelines developed specifically for Romina Street developed as a condition of subdivision approval. These guidelines envisioned higher density residential uses on the subject site and a possible “landmark style” building at the intersection that would function as a focal point for the community. The design and use of this building would provide such a landmark at the entrance to this new community.
Zoning Details
The Zoning By-law 40-99 of the former Township of Goulbourn defines the proposed new uses as follows:
“Nursing Home” means a building or part
thereof in which the proprietor supplies for hire or gain, lodging with or
without meals and, in addition, provides nursing, medical, or similar care and
treatment, if required, and includes a rest home or convalescent home, but does
not include any other establishment otherwise defined or classified herein.
“Retirement Lodge” means a building or part
thereof in which the proprietor supplies for hire or gain lodging primarily for
retired persons where each private bedroom or living unit has a separate
private bathroom and separate entrance from a common hall but where common
facilities for the preparation and consumption of food are provided, and common
lounges, recreation rooms and medical care facilities may also be provided.
“Senior Citizen Apartment” means a dwelling, apartment principally
intended and designed to meet the specific needs of seniors and containing some
single rooms with communal dining facilities.
In the past, senior citizen apartments, retirement residences (lodges), and nursing homes have been constructed and operated separately throughout a community. The current direction in facility design is to integrate the uses into one development. The Bridlewood Trails Seniors Residence is designed with all three uses within the same building. This design will ease the transfer of residents to a different type of facility as his or her condition and needs change without needing to look for a new facility, relocate, or adapt to a new setting. The ground, fifth and sixth floors are designed with a variety of independent living quarters including studio units, studio suites units, one-bedroom units, one-bedroom-den units, two-bedroom units.
These types of units fall under the definition for Senior Citizen Apartment because they contain apartment type living units with separate bathrooms and separate entrance from a common hall but share common dining, kitchen facilities, lounges. Some units fall under the definition of Retirement Lodge because some medical facilities and care may be provided if needed.
The Assisted Care (Physical and Cognitive Care) units, located on second and third floors fall under the definition for Nursing Home because they have their own shared communal dining and kitchen area located on the same floor and they provide a greater range of health assistance services.
Proposed Change in
Parking Provisions Standards
Currently, By-law 40-99 of the former Township of Goulbourn contains a separate parking space requirement for each of the three uses subject to this amendment application. Senior Citizen Apartment requires 0.5 parking spaces per dwelling or guest room plus 0.25 spaces per dwelling or guest room allocated for visitor parking, Retirement Lodge requires 0.5 parking spaces per dwelling or guest room, and Nursing Home requires one parking space for every four beds. The by-law further states that when a building or lot accommodates more than one use, the parking requirement for the building or lot shall be the sum of the requirements for the separate uses. Using these parking requirements, the retirement facility as proposed would require 85 parking spaces for Phase 1 and 90 for Phase 2 for a total of 175.
The Draft Comprehensive Zoning By-law is proposing that parking for these types of uses and facilities be 0.25 spaces per dwelling unit or rooming unit plus one per 100 square metres of gross floor area used for medical or personal services. Based on these newly proposed parking standards, Phase 1 would generate the need for 49 parking spaces and Phase 2, 45 spaces for a total of 94 parking spaces. Staff are recommending a compromise between these two methods of calculating parking requirements; that parking be provided at a rate of .35 spaces per lodging unit or dwelling unit (see Document 4). Using this zoning provision, required parking for Phase 1 would be 58 spaces and Phase 2, 60 spaces for a total of 118 spaces.
The former Township of Goulbourn By-law 40-99 was prepared at a time when there was no transit service in the Village of Stittsville.
It was generally accepted that the parking requirements should be higher than other suburban locations given that some residents of a senior citizen facility and their visitors and the staff would have to rely more heavily on personal vehicles than in a more urban location. The parking rates in By-law 40-99 for Senior Citizen Apartment and Retirement Lodge were set with this in mind.
The Bridlewood Trails Seniors Residence will have access to a well-integrated bus transit system compared to the shuttle service that was provided for Stittsville residents when the Goulbourn parking standards were created. A division of OC Transpo, Para Transpo, offers a well-equipped service for door-to-door transit when conventional transit is not available. The difference in services between Stittsville when the Goulbourn standards were created and the transit services available at Bridlewood Trails Seniors Residence are significantly different.
The change being requested represents a compromise between that being proposed with the new comprehensive Zoning By-law and the current zoning requirement. This change is appropriate given the location of this development adjacent to existing and proposed transit services and in recognition of the planned network of sidewalks and pathways in the immediate area.
Building Height
Concern was raised by residents from the Emerald Meadows community and the Bridlewood Community Association with the six-storey height of the proposed Retirement Care Facility. The Emerald Meadows residents are separated from Eagleson Road by the Monahan Drain and associated open space area and do not have direct frontage on Eagleson Road. Because of the distance of the existing residents from Eagleson Road and this development proposal, the massing of this six-storey building will not have a negative visual impact on the adjacent neighbourhood. To ensure that buildings on this site are not higher than has been proposed through the companion site plan proposal, staff are recommending that a building height maximum be added to the zoning by law for this property. A maximum building height of six storeys is included in the zone details attached as Document 4.
Conclusion
Staff are recommending the approval of this Zoning By-law amendment. The proposal conforms to the Official Plan policies for Arterial Main Streets and the Review of Development Applications. The form of the development is also appropriate as it is in conformity with the Urban Design Guidelines for Development along Arterial Mainstreets and the approved Streetscape Design Guidelines for Romina Street.
The change in the parking requirement is appropriate for this location given existing and planned transit services to this area. This reduction in parking requirements combined with provision of parking underground will also provide the opportunity to maximize the landscaped area around the building for the enjoyment of the residents and to provide a visually attractive streetscape at this entrance to this new neighbourhood.
Concurrent Application
A site plan application is also being
considered for this site. The details of the site plan have been provided in
the background section of this report.
CONSULTATION
Notice of this application was carried out in accordance with the City's Public Notification and Consultation Policy. Details of the consultation can be found in Document 5. The Ward Councillor is aware of this application and the staff recommendation.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
APPLICATION PROCESS
TIMELINE STATUS
The application was not processed by the
"On Time Decision Date" established for the processing of Zoning
By-law amendments to provide time for an informal public information meeting to
be held and to review the details of the related site plan.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document 1 Location/Zoning
Map
Document 2 Continuing
Care Facility Proposed Site Plan
Document 3 Arterial
Main Street Guidelines
Document 4 Details of Recommended zoning
Document 5 Consultation Details
DISPOSITION
City Clerk’s Branch to notify the owner, Shawn
Malhotra, Claridge Homes, 210 Gladstone Ave., Ottawa ON K2P 0Y6 applicant, 240 Michael Cowpland Drive,
Kanata ON K2M 1P6; OttawaScene.com, 174 Colonnade Road, Unit #33, Ottawa,
ON K2E 7J5,
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.
Legal Services Branch to forward the
implementing by-law to City Council.
LOCATION MAP DOCUMENT
1
PROPOSED SITE PLAN
