6. ZONING - 186 ST. PATRICK STREET

ZONAGE - 186, RUE ST-PATRICK

Committee recommendationS

(This application is subject to Bill 51)

1. That Council approve an amendment to the former City of Ottawa Zoning By-law to change the zoning at 186 St. Patrick Street to permit the continued use of parking lot for a temporary period of three years, as detailed in Document 1.

2. That the By-law to implement Recommendation 1 not be enacted until such time as an updated site plan providing for improved landscaping treatment, is submitted, and approved with an agreement entered into or a letter of undertaking provided.

3. That approval of the temporary zoning set out in Recommendation 1 be null and void if the requirements of Recommendation 2 have not been satisfied within six months of approval.

RecommandationS du Comité

(Cette demande est assujettie au Règlement 51)

1. Que le Conseil approuve une modification au Règlement de zonage de l’ancienne ville d’Ottawa visant à changer le zonage du 186, rue St-Patrick, afin de permettre l’utilisation continue du parc de stationnement pour une période temporaire de trois ans comme le montre le document 1.

2. Que le Règlement pour mettre en pratique la recommandation 1 ne soit pas sanctionné avant que l’on soumette un plan d’implantation actualisé prévoyant l’amélioration de l’aménagement paysager et qu’on l’approuve avec une entente intervenue ou une lettre d’engagement présentée.

3. Que l’approbation du zonage temporaire exposé à la recommandation 1 soit nulle et invalide si les exigences spécifiées à la recommandation 2 ne sont pas respectées dans les six mois suivant l’approbation.

Documentation

1. Deputy City Manager's report Planning, Transit and the Environment dated 9 April 2008 (ACS2008-PTE-PLA-0093).

2. Extract of Draft Minutes, 22 April 2008.

Report to/Rapport au :

Planning and Environment Committee

Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement

and Council / et au Conseil

09 April 2008 / le 09 avril 2008

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

Rideau-Vanier (12)

Ref N°: ACS2008-PTE-PLA-0093

SUBJECT:	ZONING - 186 St. patrick Street (FILE NO. D02-02-08-0009)

OBJET :	ZONAGE - 186, rue st-patrick

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

1. That the Planning and Environment Committee recommend Council approve an amendment to the former City of Ottawa Zoning By-law to change the zoning at 186 St. Patrick Street to permit the continued use of parking lot for a temporary period of three years, as detailed in Document 1.

3. That approval of the temporary zoning set out in Recommendation 1 be null and void if the requirements of Recommendation 2 have not been satisfied within six months of approval.

RECOMMANDATIONS DU RAPPORT

1. Que le Comité de recommande au Conseil d’approuver une modification au Règlement de zonage de l’ancienne ville d’Ottawa visant à changer le zonage du 186, rue St-Patrick, afin de permettre l’utilisation continue du parc de stationnement pour une période temporaire de trois ans comme le montre le document 1.

BACKGROUND

The subject property is located at 186 St. Patrick Street, on the south side of St. Patrick Street and also fronting the east side of Parent Avenue. The site has approximately 20 metres of frontage along St. Patrick Street and 31 metres of frontage along Parent Avenue and an area of 614 square metres. The property has been a parking lot since 1985 and was purchased by the current owners in 2003. The parking lot has 25 permanent spaces and an additional 10 spaces are provided as tandem parking. The site is screened along its northern and western perimeter with a wooden fence, shrubs and trees. There also exists a kiosk for the parking lot attendant.

The subject property is located on the northern edge of the Byward Market and is zoned "Byward Market Commercial Zone" subject to a height restriction and an exception permitting a temporary use parking lot until November of 2006 (CM2 [786] Sch 200). The properties to the west, south, and east are also zoned CM. Directly south of the property is a restaurant/bar (Pier 21) and to the east, west and north are medium-density commercial and residential uses.

The property to the northwest is zoned Minor Institutional (I1) and is occupied by the Basilica Notre Dame. Temporary parking is a permitted use on this site and there is currently a rezoning application to change it to permanent parking.

As noted, the subject property has been used for parking since 1985 when a fire destroyed the building, which was on the property, although it was not zoned to allow for parking until 1988. Rezoning applications to permit a temporary parking use have been approved five times since December 1988, subject to landscaping improvements through Site Plan Control. The most recent approval for a rezoning was April 2005 (enacted October 2005) and for Site Plan was October of 2005, permitting the temporary use until November 6, 2006.

Purpose of Zoning Amendment

A Zoning By-law Amendment has been submitted to re-establish the temporary zoning on the site to permit the continued operation of a public parking lot at this location for a further three‑year period.

The property owners have determined that redeveloping the site would not be financially viable at this time.

DISCUSSION

Official Plan

Strategic Directions

The strategic directions of the Official Plan recognizes that although priority is to be given to reducing car dependency, that all modes of transportation, including car travel need to be provided for. The strategic directions related to parking are:

1) To provide short-term parking that supports the vital interests of local businesses, institutions and tourism destinations.

2) To limit the supply of long-term parking to levels that balances the needs of automobile users with the City’s transit ridership objectives, while minimizing spillover parking in residential areas.

Central Area

The property is designated “Central Area” in the Official Plan. The policies acknowledge that in order to promote the Central Area’s vital role in the city that walking, cycling and transit to and in the Central Area will need to have priority.

Policies specific to parking address the unique role of the Central Area and are directed to support the provision of moderately priced, short-term parking to serve the retail and commercial sectors and the tourism industry and limiting the provision of long-term parking that would be attractive to commuters. The Official Plan also discourages the provision of temporary surface parking lots on vacant sites and requiring new temporary surface parking lots within the Central Area to obtain a rezoning to assess their impact on the pedestrian environment. The Official Plan also provides that where a rezoning permits temporary surface parking, the City will require that the visual appearance of such parking areas to be enhanced and screened through the use of substantial vegetation, while ensuring adequate public safety.

Central Area Secondary Plan

The Central Area Secondary Plan for the Byward Market states that vehicular parking is critical to maintaining the vitality, ambience, and continuous pedestrian-oriented heritage character of the Byward Market.

Proposed Development

The subject property currently provides primarily short-term parking that is moderately priced, to support the vital interests of local businesses in the Byward Market. Long term parking use is limited, which is consistent with the policy directions of the Official Plan. To respond to the policy directions to provide screening and landscaping where surface parking is provided. Recommendation 2 requires that the site plan be revised to reflect these criteria.

The proponents will be required to establish proper fencing, repair existing walls, provide a proper lighting plan and to provide appropriate signage.

Conclusion

The Department is satisfied that the objectives set out in the Official Plan, related to the strategic directions for parking in the Central Area and the provisions for an enjoyable, safe and secure pedestrian environment have been met. The subject parking lot, in addition to being well integrated with the pedestrian environment, will address a need for short-term public parking.

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 summary of the Consultation Details appears in Document 3

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 Consultation Details

DISPOSITION

City Clerk’s Branch, Council and Committee Services to notify the owner, TKS Holdings Inc., 400 Slater Street #2102, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 7S7, applicant, Nadia De Santi, FoTenn Consultants Inc., 223 McLeod Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 0Z8, 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

By-law 93-98 be amended as follows

1. The text of Exception 786 of Table XV, Exceptions, be deleted and replaced with the following:

786

- parking lot

- the parking lot use is permitted only as a temporary use for a period of three years from (the date of enactment of the required amending by-law) to (the date three years after the said date of enactment).

CONSULTATION DETAILS DOCUMENT 3

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.

SUMMARY OF PUBLIC INPUT

One member of the community had the following comments (summarised)

- disapprove of the application

- history indicates no intentions of developing the site

- pulled quote from December 1998 report to the old City of Ottawa’s Planning Committee:

"The original approval of surface public parking on this property for a temporary period was granted on December 21, 1988, conditional on Site Plan Control. Prior to this, the site had been utilized for public parking illegally for two years following a fire, which destroyed the heritage residential building on the property. A second application was submitted June 26, 1991 and approved March 18, 1992 for a three-year extension to the temporary zoning status. The most recent application for a three-year extension was submitted December 6, 1994. On the recommendation of staff a one-year extension was granted by City Council to provide time for the owner to prepare for another use of the property. This decision was appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) and the appeal upheld to allow temporary surface parking for three years until June 20, 1998. The subject application was submitted August 5, 1998 for another three-year temporary zoning period. The reversal of City Council’s decision at the OMB on this matter caused concern that the Official Plan policy direction was not adequate to effectively discourage temporary surface parking. Since this OMB decision staff have been conducting a study of temporary surface parking in the Central Area and inner city neighbourhoods with the intent to clarify City Council’s position on this issue. The results of this study will be presented to Planning and Economic Development Committee within the first quarter of 1999. As this information has not
been presented or any findings endorsed by City Council, it was considered premature to apply it to this case. For this reason staff have recommended that an extension of the temporary zoning permission for surface parking be granted for three years, following which the conclusions of the study can be utilized to evaluate the appropriateness of temporary surface parking at this or any other site in the Central Area and inner city neighbourhoods."

- the elimination of this and other surface parking lots in the Market area would help to encourage transit travel and attract new development

- the City should stop approving these applications

- has the City attempted to refuse the application for temporary parking since 1998?

COUNCILLOR’S COMMENTS

It was stated that Councillor Bédard insists that the landscaping be improved for the issuance of the temporary parking zone. Proper fencing, garbage storage, the wall needs to be fixed, the signage needs to be altered and a lighting plan must be implemented.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION COMMENTS

Byward Market BIA supports the application for temporary parking for an additional three years.

RESPONSE

Temporary parking can be granted by means of Zoning By-law amendments for periods of up to three years. There is nothing that prohibits the property owner from applying for temporary parking whenever the previous approval expires. Any request for a temporary zoning is subject to Council approval, which has the discretion to not approve the request.

For privately owned properties, the City does not have the ability to force development to take place. Development occurs based on the development industry’s determination of what there is a demand for and the best alternative for their investment. The Official Plan has a vision over 20 years of how the City should develop and it is the intention of the Zoning By-law to permit the desired development over the long term. It has not been determined that this temporary parking would create obstacles to future development of the site or to the City’s vision of the development of the site over the long run.