A developer wants to build 288 stacked townhouse units across from Jacob Hespeler Secondary School's sports fields.
The townhouses would be in 12 blocks at 180 Groh Ave., around the corner from another large-scale housing development proposed for 410 Queen St. E.
The proposal, which will be discussed during a public meeting scheduled for the end of May, requires official plan and zoning by-law amendments to allow increased density, reduced parking, and reduced yard setbacks.
The applicant is proposing 518 surface parking spaces and a maximum building height of three-and-a-half storeys.
Rumours about redevelopment at the site, which was once home to Rauscher Plating Limited, have been swirling around Hespeler for years. The business went bankrupt in 2010 and the building was left abandoned and neglected before demolition in 2017.
Since then, the owner has removed heavy metals from the soil.
Several trees were removed from the property last May, prompting the city to consider fines against the owner.
The official plan amendment seeks to re-designate the property from business industrial/employment corridor to high density residential to permit the stacked townhouse development.
The applicant is asking to increase density from 40 units per hectare to a maximum density of 75 units per hectare, reduce parking from 1.25 spaces per dwelling unit to 1.2 spaces per unit and reduce the required setbacks from six metres from the window of a habitable room to an access driveway, aisle, parking lot or stall, to a minimum setback of 4.5 metres.
The proposed amendment also asks that a holding provision be removed from the property upon approval of a record of site condition and receipt of a letter of acknowledgement from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
A virtual public meeting for the proposal will be held May 31 at 10 a.m.