Our Last Chance to Influence the Site’s Zoning!
On Tuesday evening, Canada Lands Company held an information session on the 291 Carling site, unveiling its preferred concept. Being an empty parking lot, the 3.4-acre site provides a clean slate and many opportunities – including the chance for another community park, and hopefully, a grocery store. How this area is developed will undoubtedly impact the fabric of our neighbourhood, and we want the community to help shape this important space. Canada Lands has agreed to receive the community’s input until the end of July, after which it will apply for zoning approval.
Canada Lands expects a mix of uses on the site, including ground level commercial, and residential towers. The 3 towers/land use areas (with proposed maximums of 13, 20 and 25 stories) are expected to contain approximately 530 residential units, with parking mostly underground. Exactly what will be built will be decided later – once Canada Lands obtains zoning approval (spring 2020), remediates the site, and starts to market to developers (2021). The site also maintains a fair amount of green space, including a potential new community park.
What do residents want to actually see on the site? Comments we’ve received to date include calls for:
- A larger podium in the 25-storey building, so we can have space for a full-size grocery store on the site. The proposed podium is about the size of the downtown Sobey’s at Metcalfe, or the Glebe Metro (less than 30,000 square feet). Many are calling for a building that can house a full-service urban grocery store like the Independent on Bank St, or the Whole Foods at Lansdowne (about 40-45,000 square feet).
- Affordable, family homes – We hear people want more than just more condo/apartment style dwellings. Many would like to see something like stacked townhouses to bring more families into the neighbourhood.
- Less height – Many are looking for a building that will cast less of a shadow on our neighbourhood than the current 25-storey building proposed at Carling.
- Park space! Over the years, people have asked for things such as a community food garden, adolescent play areas (like multi-purpose courts), children’s play equipment, a native plant pollinator garden, a splash pad, an amphitheatre, a gathering space with benches, etc.
What do you think our neighbourhood needs at 291 Carling? We hope you will make use of this opportunity to shape our neighbourhood, and tell Canada Lands what’s important to you for this site.
Please send any comments via Canada Lands’ web form by the end of July or via email to Katherine Constantine: kconstantine@clc.ca. Feel free to copy us (info@glebeannex.ca) so we also know what is of importance to you.
For more images from the Canada Land June 25th session please see our previous web post.
