CAMBRIDGE — Arcadis presented the development concept of 30 Lauris Avenue to the City Council on behalf of the Region on October 24, 2023, seeking approval for a zoning by-law and Official Plan amendment with site-specific policies.
In the Alison neighbourhood of Galt, the Region of Waterloo owns the property, and the subject lands have been vacant since a school was demolished in 2009.
The proposal concept suggests a 3-storey and 5-storey building. A suggestion for units includes 48 one-bedroom units, 31 two-bedroom units, 11 three-bedroom units, and the remaining 14 studio units. They are totalling 104 units in the proposal.
The units would also be purchased and maintained by a non-profit partner or through the Region’s RFP (request for proposal) process. The purchasing of the property allows the potential for the new owner to make changes to the proposed concept plan oered by Arcadis.
Also, the Region has proposed the subject lands as affordable housing, making the neighbourhood a mixed-income family area. Doing so would provide much-needed affordable housing units for the community.
When the development begins construction, at least 30% of the units are expected to be affordable (no greater than 80% of the current market value), and the remaining units will be market value.
The units would be deemed affordable for at least 40 years, a significant increase from the usual 20 years that other affordable housing unit projects offer.
Concerns raised at the statutory public meeting in August have been incorporated in this revised proposal brought to the council meeting in October.
One of the changes included increasing the number of parking spaces, which has now increased by 20%.
The increase in parking for the proposal provides 0.81 spaces per dwelling unit for residents and visitors (85 spaces for residents and visitors), even though the required spaces in the area per dwelling unit are 1.0 for residents and the equivalent of 0.25 spaces for visitors parking (130 spaces for residents and visitors).
The 0.81 ratio is an increase from their proposal of 20% less at the August meeting. The council believed it was necessary to increase the parking ratio to deliver affordable housing.
The application consisted of a proposal requesting to re-zone the property from N1R4 to N1RM3 but keep the land designation as a ‘low/medium density residential’ area. The zoning by-law was approved at the council meeting.
Also, the request for site-specific policies and an Official Plan amendment to increase the property’s density allowance was requested and approved.
These site-specific policies and Official Plan amendment include increasing the units per hectare that are permitted from 40 to 112, decreasing the minimum gross floor area from 50 square metres (one bedroom) to 48.7 square metres, and reducing the minimum distance between an access aisle, driveway, parking lot or parking stall to a habitable window from the required six metres to 4.20 metres and 3.88 metres.
Since the City has approved these changes and amendments, the next step is finding a non-profit partner or going through the Region’s RFP process to reach the goal of more aordable housing and development intensification.
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