KITCHENER — A development proposal for two highrises at 1198 Fischer Hallman Road was presented by the planning staff and a partner at MHBC, Pierre Chauvin, at a Planning and Strategic Initiative Committee meeting on October 30, 2023.
In the Williamsburg neighbourhood, MHBC applied for a zoning and Official Plan amendment on behalf of the developer and owner of the land, Activa Holdings Inc.
Phase one of this development consists of 138 townhouses, which has conditional site plan approval. The second phase comprises two proposed highrise towers at 14 and 22 storeys.
The first tower, closest to Rockwood Road, is proposed to be 48.9m and connect to the second tower at 74.5m, with a 4-storey podium connecting the two buildings.
The highrises would consist of 1,200 square metres of ground-floor commercial units and 373 residential units throughout both towers.
The application requests zoning and Official Plan amendments to increase the building height, reduce the parking requirements, and increase the floor space ratio (FSR). These requests are considered special provisions.
The subject lands are currently designated ‘Mixed Use Two.’ Activa Holdings requests a change to the Official Plan designation to rezone the lands ‘Mixed Use Two with Special Policy Area 6’; this designation would allow the special provisions.
The special provision requests include increasing building height permissions to permit up to 75m from the maximum current allowance of 25m.
The developer seeks to increase the FSR (floor space ratio) to 6.34 from the maximum of 2.0 for the high rises to allow for an increase in square footage for the buildings.
Also, Activa Holdings is requesting a reduction in parking spaces per unit to permit 0.82 from the required 0.9 for residential parking and visitor parking spaces per unit to be 0.04 from the required 0.1.
The reduced parking request would provide 349 parking spaces for residents, visitors, and commercial use in the second phase of the development, in the form of surface and structured underground parking.
At the committee meeting on October 30, 2023, city staff expressed concern about the stepback distance from the first tower (14 storeys) to the low-rise neighbourhood beside the subject lands.
Planning staff advised city staff that the stepback exceeds the standard guidelines for the required distance and that the transition meets the city’s requirements. Still, city staff felt the developer needed to see if it was possible to make a change.
Planning staff mentioned that the change would require a shift in the tower, podium, and underground parking structure.
City staff motioned to defer the application until planning staff can consult the developer on the concern.
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