City aims to increase amount of buried hydro lines
By Peter Kovessy, Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Wed, Oct 7, 2009 1:00 PM EST
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The original plans for 300 Richmond Rd. in Westboro called for a rounded glass window at the corner of Eden Avenue. Hydro setback requirements forced the builder, Cassone Construction Ltd., to remove it. (Image supplied)
Overhead power lines puts city's residential intensification goals 'in jeopardy'
Domenic Cassone is a veteran Ottawa residential infill developer who wants to turn a former used car lot in the heart of Westboro into a five-storey mixed-use building.
The original design called for 5,000 square feet of ground-level retail space with 20 residential units above it. A rounded glazed glass window would run up the building located at the corner of Richmond Road and Eden Avenue, just east of Churchill Avenue.
However, Mr. Cassone, the president of Cassone Construction Ltd., says late in the process – after he had already been through a committee of adjustment hearing and an Ontario Municipal Board appeal – he was told the project did not comply with Hydro Ottawa's rules regulating the minimum distance between new buildings and power lines.
The former electrician says he had to redesign the building at a cost of approximately $25,000, delaying the project by nine months. The third, fourth and fifth floors were pushed back, reducing the floor space, and the rounded glass window eliminated.
"The (new) design is not comparable," says Mr. Cassone.
Hydro Ottawa requires a five-metre setback between overhead power lines and new buildings, constraining developers engaged in redevelopment projects in established neighbourhoods.
The city says the costs of meeting the setback requirements has caused several desirable infill projects to be delayed or cancelled and that the issue of overhead power lines is putting its intensification targets in jeopardy.
Developers are generally responsible for covering the cost of burying hydro wires, which is often in the millions of dollars. The price is typically anywhere from four to 10 times more than rebuilding an overhead system, making it unaffordable for many project proponents, especially in the case of lowrises.
Later this month, city council is expected to direct staff to start developing a policy on burying power lines, including a funding model.
"There is clearly a desire to put more wires underground," says Michael Murr, the city's manager of sustainability services.
"The difficulty with dropping lines is that, economically, it doesn't make sense to do it on a per-property basis."
Due to "other funding priorities," the former pre-amalgamation city of Ottawa abandoned an underground wiring program in 1993 that divided costs between the city, the former region of Ottawa-Carleton, the National Capital Commission, utility providers and project proponents or beneficiaries, according to a city staff report approved by committee last month.
Currently, developers are responsible for burying power lines in new residential subdivisions and pay Hydro Ottawa for all electrical installations. In return, the utility compensates developers for the anticipated revenue increase from the new residential customers.
However, smaller-scale infill projects typically have fewer units over which to spread the costs over, which frequently forces developers to work around the overhead lines.
In another Cassone Construction project, the developer says he paid approximately $20,000 to have Hydro Ottawa raise two hydro poles by approximately three metres. Mr. Cassone says he presented his plans for the four-unit, three-storey building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Rupert Street, near the Rideau Canal, to a city committee multiple times. In each case, the plans were supposedly circulated to utility providers, but
Mr. Cassone says no one expressed concerns until the latter part of the planning process.
He says Hydro Ottawa refused to consider a partial burial of the power lines or installing a bracket that would have extended the lines away from the property.
"The way they are going, we are not going to be able to build anywhere pretty soon," he says.
One high-profile project that has apparently run afoul of the setback requirements is the plan to build condominiums on the site of the former Metropolitan Bible Church, at Bank Street and Gladstone Avenue.
The city says the issue "remains unresolved" and the developer, David Wex of Toronto-based Urban Capital, did not return calls seeking comment by deadline.
One of the easiest ways of accommodating setback requirements is to sacrifice floor space. This was the case on Booth Street, north of Gladstone Avenue, where Toon Dreessen, principal at Dreessen Architect Inc., designed the 21-unit Z6 Urban Lofts, currently under construction.
"We lost a significant chunk of space as a result of Hydro Ottawa's rules," he says, estimating about 1,000 square feet had to be eliminated over three floors.
Mr. Dreessen says he would like the city and hydro officials to look at burying power lines as part of larger infrastructure work, including the installation of separated storm water and sanitary sewer lines, aimed at encouraging the redevelopment in older neighbourhoods, such as the Booth Street area.
Otherwise, he says, developers will be forced to construct single-storey buildings on sites that have the potential to be four or five storeys.
"You end up building things you don't necessarily want, but you have no choice."
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POWERING UP: RECENT DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS AFFECTED BY CLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS
30 Bolton St. (Four-storey, 24-dwelling unit building): Project was cancelled after two years due to the five-metre clearance requirement.
19 Melrose Ave. (Conversion of an old school to lofts): An outdoor terrace on the top floor did not meet the five-metre clearance requirement. Hydro poles were relocated at the developer's expense.
300 Powell Ave. (Major condo project at the corner of Bronson and Powell avenues): Hydro poles were relocated to the opposite side of the street at the developer's expense. The project was then able to proceed, but development on the facing side of Bronson Avenue is now constrained because of the presence of overhead power lines.
560 and 594 Rideau St. (Two major mixed-use projects): The developer made an agreement to bury the power lines at its own expense ($1.5 million) to defray these costs.
453 Bank St. (224-unit condo project with retail space along Bank Street incorporating a heritage facade): A grandfather clause exempts the former Metropolitan Bible Church from the five-metre clearance requirement as long as significant changes are not made to the building. However, planned new construction on the site does not meet the five-metre clearance requirement and the file remains unresolved.
Source: City of Ottawa
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FUNDING OPTIONS FOR BURYING EXISTING OVERHEAD LINES OR CONSTRUCTING NEW UNDERGROUND LINES
- The requester (property owner or developer) pays the full cost of a buried installation, less the normal cost of building above ground. This is the predominant practice in Canada.
- The city pays all of the cost from the general tax base. In Ottawa, newer area homebuyers already pay for underground utilities through the sale price.
- The federal or provincial governments cover the cost, which is usually considered in heritage areas.
- The utility provider pays, and adds the cost to its rates.
- A combination of any or all of the above.
Source: City of Ottawa
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