The city and the company behind a 48-unit housing development planned for the Regent Park United Church property in Orillia's south ward hosted a virtual open house Wednesday to discuss the project’s status and to garner feedback from the public.
A handful of people “attended” the virtual forum and three spoke about the proposal, which includes a mix of affordable and market-value units being created by Kindred Works as part of a nationwide project.
Resident Cam Davidson, who serves as chair of the city’s affordable housing committee, questioned what developers are doing for seniors in the project, and whether social services would be included on site.
“Is there anything in here for seniors?” he asked.
“What’s happening is the senior population is getting larger here in Orillia … so within the next five or six years, those people, whatever happens to them, they have nowhere to go if they sold their house right now.”
“What we’re looking at is trying to get the social services either very close or on site, like some mental health services,” he continued.
The project will have some social services, such as child care, Kindred Works planner Carly Forrester explained, adding the affordable units will be open to seniors.
“Everything on this particular project is geared towards housing and some community uses in subsidized child care,” she replied.
“Understanding that seniors are a growing demographic … across Canada, but generally across North America as a whole … there needs to be accessible (units) to allow that demographic to move into these spaces.”
She noted accessibility will be an important feature of the project.
“As for the market units, they’re open to everyone, so they can be rented by seniors or families or whoever.”
One resident, Alan MacRobie, asked whether taxpayers would have to foot the bill for property or sidewalk maintenance as a result of the project.
“Everything within the property boundaries as outlined currently will be non-taxpayer (funded). They will be Kindred Works’ and the property management corporation’s responsibility, so we’re talking snow removal, mowing the lawn, all that kind of stuff, not a taxpayer concern,” said Forrester.
Another resident, who did not provide a name, passionately opposed the project.
“I understand that Cam, and probably yourself, and a lot of other people think that this is a great idea, but obviously it’s not your backyard,” she said to Forrester.
The resident, whose property abuts the church property, said she is worried the project will interfere with the privacy of nearby homes, and called the project a “monstrosity” for its design.
“You’re talking about building structures and cutting down the forest and putting concrete in. That’s not acceptable,” she said. “It’s just a bunch of sheds joined together, and I think it’s insulting that you would make such a design and think that we are that low on the scale that we would accept that ugly monstrosity to be in our community.”
“Removing trees is unacceptable, especially if the owner does not know,” replied Forrester. “That is not what we understand to be what’s happening on the property.”
An overview of the project was presented at the meeting.
Forrester explained the development will provide housing to 80 people through 48 one- and two-bedroom units.
She said the independent company was created with an initial investment from the United Church, and it hopes to build housing for 34,000 people nationwide over the next 15 years.
On top of green initiatives, like reducing the development’s energy use by 65 per cent of a comparable project, 30 per cent of the units built will be affordable. Kindred Works aims to produce 80 per cent less carbon through construction compared to today’s standards by 2030.
In addition, 30 per cent of the units will be universally accessible to people with disabilities, and 70 per cent will be priced at market rates.
“As a company, we have some pretty lofty goals. We plan to build upwards of 17,000 new homes across Canada over the next 15 years, which would deliver housing to an estimated 34,000 people,” said Forrester. “We are targeting a third of them to be below market as a company in all of our projects.”
Forrester said the company has submitted its initial applications for site-plan approval and a zoning bylaw amendment, and it will be ready to proceed once it receives approval.
Though in a residential neighbourhood, the property is currently zoned for institutions, meaning the project will require a zoning bylaw amendment to be compliant with the site’s designated uses.
“The current iteration of the proposal isn’t permitted within this zone, which is why we’re currently seeking a site-specific zoning bylaw amendment,” said Forrester. “We have to go through a number of approvals before then, but as soon as the city is willing and able to approve the application, we’re willing and able to continue with the project.”
KPMB Architects associate Peter Kitchen said the project has been designed with preserving the property’s environment in mind.
“We were very careful in regards to the placement of the buildings on the site. We had two driving principles which addressed this. The first was to be very aware and careful of the existing mature and large trees that are on the north corner,” he said. “There’s a two-metre buffer that’s required from the property line; we’re providing about four to five times that amount in order to save these trees.”
Kitchen said the project’s accessible units will be located on the ground floor of the buildings and contain numerous features for people with disabilities.
“These one- and two-bed unit mixes, all of the ones in this project will be located on the ground floor and all of them will be accessible, so the bathrooms, the kitchen, the entry, the entry doors to ... outside would all be catered to allow someone with with a physical disability to be able to use the space much easier,” he said.
“The other driving factor was to only have one drive aisle at the site to prevent as much traffic coming in and out … to contain that and not have as many curb cuts along the frontage to Oxford Street.”
The units will be housed across three buildings on the property, with .8 parking spaces per unit, as well as parking for bicycles.