1. ZONING - 3512 STRANDHERD DRIVE AND 203 DEERFOX DRIVE

ZONAGE - 3512, PROMENADE STRANDHERD ET 203, PROMENADE DEERFOX

Committee recommendation

(This application is subject to Bill 51

That Council approve an amendment to the former City of Nepean Urban Zoning By-law to rezone portions of 3512 Strandherd Drive from RMU to R5 (H)Blk 6, and to amend the zoning for portions of 203 Deerfox Drive from R5(H) Blk 6 to RMU and from RMU to R5(H) Blk 6, as shown in Document 3, and to amend the existing R5 Block 6 (H) Zone, as detailed in Document 2.

Recommandation du Comité

(Cette demande est assujettie au Règlement 51)

Que le Conseil approuve une modification au Règlement de zonage urbain de l’ancienne Ville de Nepean afin de changer la désignation de zonage de parties du 3512, promenade Strandherd de RMU à R5 (H)Bloc 6, et de changer le zonage de parties du 203, promenade Deerfox de R5(H) Bloc 6 à RMU et de RMU à R5(H) Bloc 6, comme il est indiqué dans le document 3, et de modifier la zone R5 Bloc 6 (H) actuelle, comme il est expliqué en détail dans le document 2.

Documentation

1. Deputy City Manager's report Planning, Transit and the Environment dated 10 October 2007 (ACS2007-PTE-APR-0150).

2. Extract of Draft Minutes, 23 October 2007.

Report to/Rapport au :

Planning and Environment Committee

Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement

and Council / et au Conseil

10 October 2007 / le 10 octobre 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 : Karen Currie, Manager / Gestionnaire, Development Approvals / Approbation des demandes d'aménagement

(613) 580-2424, 28310 Karen.Currie@ottawa.ca

Barrhaven (3)

Ref N°: ACS2007-PTE-APR-0150

SUBJECT:	ZONING - 3512 Strandherd Drive and 203 Deerfox drive (FILE NO. D02-02-07-0040)

OBJET :	ZONAGE - 3512, promenade strandherd et 203, promenade deerfox

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

That the Planning and Environment Committee recommend Council approve an amendment to the former City of Nepean Urban Zoning By-law to rezone portions of 3512 Strandherd Drive from RMU to R5 (H)Blk 6, and to amend the zoning for portions of 203 Deerfox Drive from R5(H) Blk 6 to RMU and from RMU to R5(H) Blk 6, as shown in Document 3, and to amend the existing R5 Block 6 (H) Zone, as detailed in Document 2.

RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement recommande au Conseil d’approuver une modification au Règlement de zonage urbain de l’ancienne Ville de Nepean afin de changer la désignation de zonage de parties du 3512, promenade Strandherd de RMU à R5 (H)Bloc 6, et de changer le zonage de parties du 203, promenade Deerfox de R5(H) Bloc 6 à RMU et de RMU à R5(H) Bloc 6, comme il est indiqué dans le document 3, et de modifier la zone R5 Bloc 6 (H) actuelle, comme il est expliqué en détail dans le document 2.

BACKGROUND

The subject property is located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Strandherd and Claridge Drives, in the Longfields Community.

It is also bounded by Deerfox Drive, an internal residential street to the east. There is a grade difference of approximately three to four metres across the site from east to west, and it slopes towards Claridge Drive. The site was originally occupied by a single detached residence, which has long since been removed. The current zoning of R5 Block 6 Zone with a holding designation was established by the former City of Nepean during the preparation of the Longfields Secondary Plan. The intent of the original Zoning By‑law was that townhouses would be developed fronting Deerfox Drive with home-based businesses that would operate out of ground floor storefront units fronting onto Claridge Drive.

Purpose of Zoning Amendment

There are two components to the proposed zoning changes. The first involves rezoning two small irregular parcels of land from RMU to R5 Block 6 (H). These parcels, shown as part A in Document 3, were originally part of the former Strandherd Drive right-of-way. After the roadway was realigned, and the closed portions incorporated into the undeveloped subdivisions to the north, these parts were zoned to RMU, the zone applicable to all of the surrounding lands. Part C is a remnant from the former single dwelling lot that was zoned R5 Block 6 (H), and is also part of a land trade with the neighbouring property to the east. With the consolidation of part A into the applicant’s land (Part B in Document 3), a rezoning is necessary in order to develop them in conjunction with the proposed R5 Block 6 (H) zone.

The second part of the Zoning By-law amendment is to change some of the provisions applicable to the lands zoned as R5 Block 6 (H) Zone in order to facilitate the construction of a mixed use development. The proposal includes eight townhouse units, comprising two blocks with four units each. Those fronting onto Claridge Drive will be three storeys, while the Deerfox Drive units will be two storeys. The mixed-use building will incorporate commercial business uses on the ground floor, with the second and third floors being occupied by 13 loft style condominium units.

Existing Zoning

Part A in Document 3 is currently zoned as RMU – Residential Mixed Unit Zone. This zone is predominantly used in newer subdivisions and permits a combination of single, semi-detached and townhouse dwelling units.

The majority of the development site, part B in Document 3, as well as a small triangle, part C in Document 3, is currently zoned R5 Block 6 – Residential Fifth Density Exception Zone with a Holding symbol. The R5 Block 6 zone, in addition to permitting singles, semi-detached and townhouses, also permits:

· Business Office

· Medical/Dental Office

· Service Establishment

· Craft Store

The conditions for lifting the Holding symbol are that:

· On redevelopment of the site, the owners shall connect to full municipal services, and

· The owners shall enter into a site plan agreement with the City for a development that addresses the development details provided for in the R5 Block 6 zone.

Proposed Zoning

Part A is proposed to be rezoned to the R5 Block 6 (H) – Residential Mixed Unit Block 6 (H) Zone, to permit these two parcels to be used in conjunction with the balance of the lands (part B in Document 3).

With respect to the R5 Block 6 (H) lands, the following amendments are being proposed to the existing zone provisions:

· An apartment is a permitted use on the second and third storey of the Commercial-Residential Buildings;

· Limitations are removed regarding employee numbers for commercial uses in the Commercial-Residential Buildings;

· Minimum front yard for the Commercial-Residential Buildings of 3.1 metres fronting Strandherd and Claridge Drives;

· Minimum rear yard for Commercial-Residential building from Deerfox Drive is nine metres;

· Minimum rear yard for townhouse units from nine metres to six metres;

· Minimum side yard from 1.5 metres to 1.2 metres with respect to the townhouse units;

· Minimum lot area for townhouse units from 165 square metres to 144 square metres.

· In addition, the lands will be considered one lot for zoning purposes, notwithstanding the lawful division of a lot pursuant to the Planning Act, as amended, the Condominium Act, as amended, or any other similar legislation.

DISCUSSION

Official Plan

The site lies in the General Urban Area designation in the Official Plan. The Secondary Plan for Area 1, 2 and 3 designates the subject lands as Low Density Residential. This designation is intended to permit single, semi-detached and townhouses, including stacked townhouses and compatible neighbourhood serving commercial uses. The proposed development meets these criteria.

Discussion of the proposed zoning

The Zoning By-law amendments being proposed can be considered to be minor in nature as they do not propose any uses that were not contemplated in the original R5 Block 6(H) zone. The apartment building use that is being sought is similar in density and built form to townhouse units that are permitted as-of-right under the existing zoning. The building form results in these units being classified as apartments because they will be accessed via an elevator and common hallway and do not have individual direct access to a street.

The original zoning was designed to accommodate townhouse units that would front directly onto Deerfox Drive and that would have commercial business/office type uses on the ground floor or walkout basement level, with access onto Claridge Drive. The zone was also designed such that the owners of the townhouse units residing above would be the principle operator of the business uses permitted in the R5 Block 6 (H) Zone. Only four land use categories are permitted; Business Office, Medical/Dental Office, Service Establishment and Craft Store. The expectation was that these uses would avoid the perceived nuisance effects associated with typical commercial plazas, and they were intended to be of a small, home based business scale. No additional or freestanding commercial pads uses are being proposed by the Zoning By-law amendment.

The R5 Block 6(H) zone also limits the number of employees to one, over and above the resident, who can work in the permitted uses. The proposal seeks to have this removed as this creates a limitation in the ability to market the units for commercial purposes.

The other zone provisions that are being varied are the minimum front yard for the commercial-residential buildings, which is proposed to be 3.1 metres; and with respect to the townhouse units, a minimum rear yard to be 6.0 metres, a minimum side yard of 1.2 metres and a minimum lot area for of 144 square metres. These are being sought based on a conceptual site plan, attached as Document 5, which more closely resembles the development potential of the site. The original zoning was crafted in the absence of such a conceptual plan and is based on the standard R5 townhouse zone. It does not adequately accommodate the unique product that had to be designed to accommodate the mixed-use development potential and the site’s topography.

The Department is supportive of this Zoning By-law amendment as it proposes a mixed-use development form, combining residential and commercial uses, which was always contemplated by the existing R5 Block 6(H) zone.

The applicant will be filing a site plan application in the near future that addresses these zoning provisions.

Traffic Issues

There are only a total of 21 units being added by this development, and therefore the Department does not anticipate there to be any traffic related issues with the proposal. The site is also close to the Strandherd Drive arterial, one of the main entrances and exits for this community.

Servicing Issues

This site was accommodated in the design of the services that were installed in Claridge Drive and the development will be on full municipal services.

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. A community information meeting was held on June 21, 2007 at the site. Staff received a few written comments from neighbouring landowners who expressed concerns with the proposed uses. These comments and those from the community information session are summarized in Document 4.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

N/A

APPLICATION PROCESS TIMELINE STATUS

The application was not processed by the "On Time Decision Date" established for the processing of Zoning By-law amendments due to the community information session and negotiations with an abutting landowner to resolve zoning setback and site design issues that would have impacted his home.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

Document 1 Location Map

Document 2 Details of Recommended zoning

Document 3 Zoning Key Plan

Document 4 Consultation Details

Document 5 Conceptual Site Plan.

DISPOSITION

City Clerk’s Branch, Council and Committee Services to notify the owner, Spyros Dimitrokapolous, Tega Developments Inc. 403-711 Churchill Avenue N., Ottawa, ON, K1Z 5G6, applicant, David Krajaefski, MCIP RPP, Stantec Consulting Ltd. 1505 Laperriere Avenue, Ottawa, ON, K1Z 1T1, 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

DETAILS OF RECOMMENDED ZONING DOCUMENT 2

1. The following changes are proposed to Schedule B14 of Zoning By-law 100-2000 as it pertains to the lands known municipally as 3512 Strandherd Drive and 203 Deerfox Drive, and shown on Document 3:

i) Area A: Rezoned from RMU to R5(H) Blk 6,

ii) Area B: Remain as R5 (H) Blk 6;

iii) Area C: Rezoned from R5 (H) Blk 6 to RMU

2. Clause 6:5:3 of By-law 100-2000 be amended by replacing the existing R5 Block 6 (H) Zone with the following:

R5 Block 6 ……………North East Corner, Strandherd and Claridge, See Schedule B14

Despite anything to the contrary the following applies to land zone R5 Block 6:

- Commercial-Residential Buildings are also permitted,

- vehicular access to a Commercial-Residential Building is prohibited from Deerfox Drive,

- the second and third storey of a Commercial-Residential Building must be used for apartment uses, and the first storey must be used for a use named in paragraphs (i) to (iv) below:

i) BUSINESS OFFICE (Take note of Section 5:25)

ii) MEDICAL/DENTAL OFFICE save and except a pharmaceutical outlet

iii) SERVICE ESTABLISHMENT save and except EQUIPMENT RENTAL

ESTABLISHMENT – DOMESTIC

iv) CRAFT STORE which means a building or part thereof in which a

handicraft is conducted for gain or profit and may include sales of such

handicraft. Retail sales shall be limited to those goods and articles, which

are produced within the building,

- notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection 5:20, Schedule of Required Parking, the required parking for uses named in paragraphs (i) to (iv) shall be calculated at the rate of 1 space per each 40.8 m2 G.F.A.,

- the minimum front yard for a Commercial-Residential building from the lot lines abutting Strandherd and Claridge Drives is 3.1m,

- the minimum rear yard for a Commercial-Residential building from the lot line abutting Deerfox Drive is 9.0m,

- the minimum rear yard required for a multiple attached dwelling is 6.0m per dwelling unit,

- the minimum side yard required for a multiple attached dwelling is 1.2m per building,

- the minimum lot area per dwelling unit of a multiple attached dwelling is 144m²,

- Despite anything to the contrary in this by-law, the lands zoned R5 Block 6 will

be considered one lot for zoning purposes, notwithstanding the lawful division of a lot pursuant to the Planning Act, as amended, the Condominium Act, as amended, or any other similar legislation.

- For any lands zoned R5 Blk 6(H) on Schedule B14 the following applies:

- No person shall use any building or structure or land for any purpose other than that for which it was used on the date of passing of By-law 047-96 (May 23rd 1996) until such time as the holding symbol is removed.

- an amendment to this By-law to remove the holding symbol shall be conditional upon the following:

a) the provision of services to the property from central systems for water supply and sewage treatment to the satisfaction of the City;

b) the owner entering into a site plan control agreement with the City which addresses the relevant development details.

Zoning Key Plan DOCUMENT 3

DOCUMENT 4

CONSULTATION DETAILS

NOTIFICATION AND CONSULTATION PROCESS

Notification and public consultation was undertaken in accordance with the Public Notification and Public Consultation Policy approved by City Council for Zoning By-law amendments. One public meeting was also held in the community, in addition to two meetings with a few residents at City Hall.

June 21, 2007 - PUBLIC MEETING COMMENTS

Suggestions were made that since many residents and children use the site to access Strandherd Drive and the commercial shopping areas to the west, a pedestrian access should be maintained through the site.

Staff explored this aspect with the developer and since the site has a significant grade difference from east to west, between three to four metres, there is not enough room on the site to construct a fully accessible pedestrian connection. In addition, there would be liability issues associated with such a connection over private lands. There is currently an access to Strandherd via Appledale Crescent just east of this site.

Many suggestions were made with respect to site design. A high quality fence was suggested at the Deerfox end of the site, at the top of the retaining wall to avoid the potential for accidents. Planting was also requested that would afford some screening of the apartment building from Deerfox Drive.

The applicant has offered to work with the community through the site plan that will be filed in the near future and is amenable to the various site plan suggestions that were made.

A neighbour to the east of the proposal had a number of issues with the proposal, including the setback from his house, privacy issues with respect to the apartment buildings outdoor amenity areas and windows overlooking his unit, noise and fumes from vehicles entering the underground parking garage, roof top equipment screening, signage that may intrude into his rear yard.

It was explained in a few meetings and through numerous e-mail exchanges, that many of these issues will be addressed with the site plan that will be made available for public comment in the near future. In addition, the developer and the neighbour have entered into an agreement to undertake a land swap of two triangular parcels of land that would in effect move the development further away and also provide the neighbour with a more rectangular shaped parcel.

COUNCILLOR’S COMMENTS

Councillor Harder was instrumental in setting up the Community Information Session and liaising with staff and the residents regarding questions and comments that were provided through her office.

In addition, Councillor Harder has provided feedback to staff and residents that she will work with them on the site plan to ensure that concerns are adequately addressed, based on the site planning comments received through the zoning process.

CONCEPTUAL SITE PLAN DOCUMENT 5