By DENIS LANGLOIS
Sun Times staff
Christy Hempel says she has no plans to fight city council’s decision to block her from building a four-unit apartment near Harrison Park in Owen Sound.
“We will not pursue the matter at the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board). This kind of project requires solid political support at the city and county level,” she said Monday.
Council rejected Hempel’s application to rezone the southern half of her 2nd Ave. E. property to permit an apartment with four affordable housing units.
A report by city hall planning staff recommended council reject the application because the planned apartment would not fit in with the neighbourhood and the lot would not have suitable space for parking.
Hempel, an architectural designer, said she was seeking federal-provincial funding from the Affordable Housing Program to build the apartments.
She said she wanted to prove that an apartment for low-income residents can be designed to fit into any neighbourhood, including the one by Harrison Park that includes mostly older, single-family homes.
“My goal was to design a four-plex to show that you don’t have to have a horrible apartment building to intensify,” she said in an interview.
She said cities should focus on infilling, rather than permitting urban sprawl. They should also relax the parking rules, she said, if the units are for low-income tenants and are located near a downtown.
City planning rules require five parking spaces, in the rear or side yard, for a four-unit apartment. Hempel proposed to have all five spaces located in the front yard, both on her lot and a severed apartment lot.
Many of Hempel’s neighbours attended a public meeting to protest her plans.
Neighbours said a multi-family dwelling would ruin the single-family character of the street and could set a precedence for more apartments along that section of 2nd Ave. E. They were also concerned about the appearance of five cars parked on a front lawn and the potential impact on neighbouring lots.
City planners and council agreed, saying the proposal is not consistent with the intent of the Provincial Policy Statement, as implemented through the city’s official plan.
“While the subject proposal can achieve many of the criteria listed in these policies, parking and compatibility of the type and scale of development proposed with adjacent lands are significant concerns,” said the planning report to council.
“The PPS would also not support development that was so compact that it could not be properly accommodated with respect to the need for infrastructure to support the use, including parking.”
City planners said a semi-detached home would be better able to meet the parking requirement, which is two spaces in the front yard for a semi.
