A plan to build a massive, three-tower development on the sliver of land that was once home to the Preston Springs Hotel continued to take hits during a second round of public meetings Tuesday.
The meeting gave residents who didn't have time to delegate last week a chance to say their piece on the Haastown Holdings project that would see 753 residential units built in towers up to 26 storeys tall on the 1.15 hectare Fountain Street property.
Again citing concerns about traffic, parking and the negative impacts on the surrounding neighbourhood, about half a dozen delegations spoke in person and over the phone about their concerns.
After hearing from all of them, council directed staff to set up another meeting with residents and the developer to determine if some kind of consensus can be reached before staff brings its report and recommendation back to council in the new year.
Coun. Nicholas Ermeta said he wants to see the density and heights of the towers significantly reduced, perhaps using site specific zoning. He asked staff to look at "every planning tool available" to give council additional time to consider the project.
Taking the advice of Jim Karahalios, who delegated to urge the city to get third party opinions on the project in advance of a potential appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT), Mayor Jan Liggett asked that all studies submitted by the applicant be peer reviewed.
Those studies include density, servicing, hydrogeological, traffic and parking for residents and visitors and customers.
Coun. Corey Kimpson also asked staff to look into an existing bylaw that could restrict access from the property on Abraham Street.
Aside from traffic, one of the main concerns from people living in that neighbourhood is parking overflow on Abraham. Many believe the development's low parking-to-unit ratio will force visitors and residents to find places to park wherever they can.
Stopping a planned access road from Abraham to the towers could eliminate that possibility.
Feb 27 is the date council must come to a decision on the proposal. That's the night of the last scheduled meeting before March 15, the last day of a 120 period outlined in the Planning Act that if not met would force the city to refund the application fee and risk an appeal to the OLT.
Liggett agreed with the direction council is taking and says she has no problem handing the fees back to Haastown.
"I've been on council for nine years now. I've seen some pretty bad developments, but this is right up there at the top with some of the worst."
"We're trying to develop that area into something that is livable for everybody and I can't imagine what the traffic nightmare would be at that intersection," she said.
