Heritage vs. housing: Panel hears arguments on heritage-sensitive development proposals
Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
May 10, 2022 • 44 minutes ago • 3 minute read
Three development applications considered by a panel of advisors on Tuesday threatened to pit heritage protection against homebuilding, but they didn’t stand in the way of the projects.
Trinity Developments might have finally found the winning blueprint to redevelop the site of a heritage-protected “cottage” service station at the edge of Westboro.
The city’s built-heritage subcommittee fully supported the company’s plan to reposition the old building to squeeze in a nine-storey residential complex at 70 Richmond Rd. at Island Park Drive.
The development prospects on the property have, at times, befuddled interested builders because of the city’s decision to protect the one-storey service station, which was built in 1934.
Council only voted to slap heritage protection on the old Champlain Oil Company building in 2015 to recognize the building’s symbolism of reflecting an era when more people were becoming motorists.
Trinity wants to move the structure to the northeast portion of the site and covert it to commercial space. The company has a little more breathing room for the project after acquiring a property next door on Island Park Drive.
The complex would have 85 apartments and two levels of underground parking.
Advocacy group Heritage Ottawa supports the heritage-protection plan for the project.
Nearby residents are wary.
Paul Forster, representing the Island Park Community Association, said there hasn’t been enough discussion about the project’s impact to the stately road, which is owned by the National Capital Commission.
The Trinity project would introduce a “nine-storey barrier” that would interrupt a sightline down historic Island Park Drive, Forster said.
The built-heritage subcommittee is tasked with only assessing a project’s impact to the city’s historic fabric, not the planning arguments when it comes to density and height of buildings.
The appropriateness of Trinity’s proposed mixed-use development at that site will be a fight for another day. The planning committee will need to consider applications to amend the official plan and zoning bylaw.
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