The Planning and Housing Committee today approved zoning amendments to facilitate the development of new homes in Stittsville and Kanata North.
The approved zoning in Stittsville would allow for a subdivision with 570 dwellings northeast of Hazeldean and Carp roads. The subdivision is designed with 20 detached homes, 150 townhouses, four-storey apartment buildings, a nine-storey mixed-use building and a public park. The amended zoning includes a mix of zones in line with that design and would increase required rear-yard setbacks for lots backing onto existing homes along the property boundary. To encourage more local business in the area, the nine-storey building would need to include at least 1,500 square metres of non-residential space. A limit on heights within 30 metres of a residential zone is also included, to ensure the nine-storey building would transition appropriately to planned low-rise homes nearby.
In Kanata North, the Committee approved a zoning amendment to facilitate the continued development of the 915-dwelling Brookline subdivision, northeast of March and Klondike roads. While zoning for the subdivision was approved in 2021, the applicant has since made design changes to nine lots. The amendment would reduce the required setback for those nine lots by half a metre, allowing development to proceed.
Also in Kanata, the Committee approved a zoning amendment to facilitate a nine-storey, 126-unit apartment building on Weeping Willow Lane, between Varley Drive and Teron Road. The building would drop down to six storeys along Varley Drive. The existing zoning limited development to a five-storey retirement home, in line with an earlier development planned by the prior owner. The amendment would retain the site’s residential parent zoning but remove those earlier limits to allow for the planned nine-storey apartment building. The applicant plans to dedicate more than 875 square metres of parkland to an existing City park on Varley Drive, and those lands would be zoned Open Space.
The Committee also approved zoning for a planned 27-storey residential building with 315 dwellings on Gloucester Street, between O’Connor and Metcalfe streets. An existing six-storey office/retail building and parking lot would be demolished to allow for redevelopment. The amendment would retain the existing residential parent zoning but increase the maximum building height, reduce the required front yard setback and lift restrictions on some additional permitted commercial uses. It would also reduce required resident parking from 152 to 68 spaces and increase required bike parking from 158 to 315 spaces.
If Council approves, the land-use permissions that the Committee recommended today will help put applicants in a position to build 1,011 new dwellings in Ottawa. To help address the housing challenge, Council committed to providing home builders enough opportunities to build 151,000 quality market homes by 2031. Visit ottawa.ca/residentialdwellings for a graphic showing quarterly progress towards Ottawa’s housing pledge targets.
Recommendations from today’s meeting will rise to Council on Wednesday, April 17.