The proposal for a new rental apartment building at 655 Hurontario St. is a personal project for owners Ryan and Jessica Davidson, they told councillors this week.
During Tuesday’s (April 11) development and operations services standing committee meeting, councillors gave preliminary approval for a site plan control agreement for the four-storey 50-unit apartment building proposal for vacant land at the corner of Lockhart Rd. and Hurontario St. across from Collingwood Collegiate Institute.
The owner of the property is listed in town reports as a numbered company, however Ryan Davidson spoke during Tuesday’s meeting identifying himself and his wife Jessica as the owners/developers. Davidson said his wife grew up in Collingwood, which is what attracted them to consider developing in town.
“This has been a project near and dear to our hearts,” he said. “We’re super excited about getting it off the ground.”
The owner is proposing to build a four-storey residential building with 50 apartments and both above and underground parking on the site. Vehicle access is proposed off Hurontario Street with pedestrian connections along Hurontario Street and Lockhart Road. The apartments proposed would be rental units.
The staff report indicates two of the units will be kept "affordable" for income earners in the "sixth decile." According to the town's affordable housing task force report, the sixth decile refers to renters with incomes in the range of $51,600 and the affordability standards for 2021 for that group suggest rents around $1,292.
The development proposal includes adding a children’s playground structure to Kinsmen Park. The property has been designated and zoned for high-density residential uses for more than 35 years.
Coun. Christopher Baines said he was happy with the proposal, although he’d like to see outlets included for electric vehicle charging as part of the plan.
“This is a wonderful development. I think, in many cases, it ticks most of the boxes,” said Baines. “I'd like to see more affordable housing (units) but I'm happy with what we've got.”
Davidson shared with councillors that not only is he considering including outlets for electric vehicle charging, he is also considering having a service available to building tenants to ride-share electric vehicles when needed.
Coun. Deb Doherty asked about the two units set aside as affordable, and the size of those units. Davidson said the two units were planned to be large one-bedroom units of about 700 square feet, but said he would be willing to have one of them changed to a two-bedroom to accommodate a family.
“I’m very happy to see the addition of rental spaces in our community. It is a need that has been flagged by our original affordable housing study and an addition of 50 is warranted,” said Doherty.
“That two of those are being offered to middle-income households is also much appreciated. More would obviously be better, but this offering is appreciated,” she added.
Coun. Rob Ring also noted the need for more affordable housing units.
Davidson said he would love to be able to build more affordable housing, but it would need to be on another site.
“Truthfully, we struggled initially when we bought this property to make it economically feasible to get it off the ground,” said Davidson. “It actually didn't make sense no matter how you cut it. We came back to the drawing board at 50 units and it just got over the finish line.”
Ring also said he had heard concerns from residents about the possibility of a “bottleneck” when it came to traffic entering or exiting the property. Coun. Chris Potts also expressed concerns about traffic and congestion.
“With the high school across the road, I do have a real concern with that,” said Potts.
Planning Director Lindsay Ayers said a traffic impact brief had been prepared by engineering services in support of the development, and any concerns raised about traffic had been addressed by the proponent.
Overall, Mayor Yvonne Hamlin said the proposal went a long way toward helping to bring new rental units to Collingwood.
“I have, for years, driven by that site hoping that, eventually, we'd see some rental units there. We have such a shortage of rental units,” she said. “I'm aware that there is currently no ability for our town to require (affordable housing) units. Thank you for providing them.”
During Tuesday’s committee meeting, councillors voted unanimously in favour of recommending approval of the site plan control agreement for 655 Hurontario St. The decision will need to be ratified at the April 17 council meeting before going into effect.
UPDATE: At their April 17 regular meeting of council, councillors voted unanimously in favour of approving the site plan control agreement for 655 Hurontario St.
