Townhomes to take over where West 麻豆精选 鈥楪ables House鈥� leaves off

It seems townhomes will replace the historic Gables house in a West 麻豆精选 neighbourhood after all.

At its Jan. 9 regular meeting, applicant Steven Graham asked council to reconsider his original proposal after spending additional time addressing concerns about a lack of parking and density.

Graham wants to redevelop the property the more than 100 year old farm house sits on, at 2405 Bering Road, to build 14 affordable townhomes.

Having to redesign his proposal he said would compromise the project.

鈥淎ffordability was always one of our primary, if not attainable, we wanted affordable too. Basically for the 14 units, at the price point we鈥檙e proposing, working with CHMC鈥�this is the best we can do.鈥�

Under the Official Community Plan (OCP) the land use designation for the area is intended for the development and redevelopment of higher density commercial uses and mixed-use buildings.

Some councillors felt Graham鈥檚 development did not meet those criteria when he first presented to them it in Nov. 2023.

However, the application has been in-stream since 2021 before the OCP was adopted in Sept. 2023.

Mayor Gord Milsom was in favour of the project from the beginning.

鈥淲e need this type of housing,鈥� he added. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e doing the best with the land that they have.鈥�

The townhomes will be purpose built rentals for a period of at least ten years.

To address the requested reduction in parking stalls, Graham said he is looking at car share program where he would purchase a vehicle that would be used only by residents of the complex.

Coun. Stephen Johnston suggested that to avoid situations such as this in the future, height minimums might be considered in some areas of the city.

鈥淛ust so we can protect density because that鈥檚 what we need in these town centres. I don鈥檛 believe this lives up to it but I do honour the fact that it was started well before the OCP came into play.鈥�

Council voted unanimously to move the project forward, including a variance to reduce the required number of standard parking spaces from 17 to 15.

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