The developer behind a rental complex planned for 937 View St. will need to head back to the drawing board after the city’s committee of the whole sided with its staff and declined to advance a 266-unit rental project.
Citing its size, shading and failure to sufficiently conform with design guidelines, the committee agreed with a staff report that said the 19-storey project just didn’t suit the site.
“As much as we want more rental housing, not every application that supplies rental housing is the right fit — there’s living and there’s livability,” said Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe.
Thornton-Joe said over the last five years, council and city staff have been “very generous” with variances for some projects in the core, but this one “goes too far.”
She said staff have striven to help the developer make the project work, but the developer didn’t seem interested in veering from its path.
“I don’t think we should be putting the staff back to the applicant to work with an applicant that, from what I’m hearing, is pretty set in that this is what they want to put forward,” she said.
The proposal by Nelson Investments, which has been in the works since 2017, has gone through a series of revisions over the years, shifting from a 14-storey to a 19-storey building, which was ultimately deemed too big by city staff.
In a report prepared for committee of the whole, staff noted the project is consistent with the area plans and would offer a significant supply of rental units, but limited setbacks as well as the orientation of units in all directions is a challenge when it comes to privacy and livability of units.
“The proposed height exceeds those recommended in the guidelines and would have negative shading impacts on the public realm and the location directly adjacent to an existing tall building would exacerbate the negative impacts on views to the sky and access to sunlight,” the report added.
The report also pointed out that despite advice from staff to make adjustments to the project, the developer opted to pursue the current proposal.
“Given the longstanding nature of the application, it is therefore not recommended the applicant be directed to prepare an alternate design,” said the report.
Coun. Geoff Young said he was concerned about the fact there would be no parking on site for any of the 266 units and a lot of density on a very small lot.
Councillors Marianne Alto and Ben Isitt were in favour of referring the project back to staff to work with the developer again, but they were outvoted by a council that opted to scrap the project outright.
In a letter to council, Nelson Investments president Chris Nelson called the 266 rental units efficient and said they would have rented for $1,400 to $1,800 per month. They ranged from 314 to 523 square feet.
