ARAC amendments big step toward Hyde Park completion

The City of Ottawa Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee has recommended that Council approve a zoning amendment and a modification to the Official Plan that would allow for the completion of the Hyde Park project at Perth Street and Huntmar Road in Richmond.

The Hyde Park development was intended to be an aging in place senior’s campus, providing more active seniors with independent living options from the existing primarily bungalow townhouses, to apartments, and retirement home units as the requirement for assistive living increases. Phases 1 and 2 were completed in 2005 and 2010 respectively, as 92 residential townhouses on were built on private roads located off Perth Street. The units were serviced with a private communal water system and connected to the municipal central sanitary sewer system. Those units are occupied by life-lease tenants.

Phase 3A and 3B were approved in 2010, with a three-storey 35-unit and two three-storey 52-unit independent living buildings and a three and five-storey 124-unit retirement home off of Talos Circle and Cedarstone Street, to the rear of 6143 Perth Street.

Construction of Phase 3A commenced in about 2011 and was partially built out prior to the previous owner’s 2014 bankruptcy. The current owner bought the bought the whole property including the 92 residential townhouses from phases 1 and 2, and is currently in the process of resuming the development of phases 3A and 3B.

Following the 2018 amendments to the Official Plan and Zoning By-law, the 35-unit building was completed and occupied as a low-rise residential apartment. The balance of Phase 3A is the partially built five-storey building with the three-storey wing. It is to remain a retirement home but with a potential unit count reduction.

Construction of Phase 3B has not started. It had originally been site plan-approved with two, three-storey, 52-unit retirement homes – with only independent living units. The development plan in the Planning Rationale for the condominium application filed with this current proposal shows eight, three-storey, 14-unit low-rise apartment buildings. An amendment application to the Site Plan Approval will be required to address any of those proposed changes to the site.

Phase 3 is serviced with an extension of the private well system. Access to Phase 3 would be off Cedarstone Street and Talos Circle, as well as through the private roads in Phases 1 and 2. The infrastructure internal to the site and servicing all phases, including the drinking water system, sanitary pipes, stormwater management system, roads and parking are privately owned.

Any proposed Phase 3B changes will require Site Plan Approval and would be subject to demonstrating that there is capacity within the existing municipal sanitary system, within their own private communal water system and the balance of the infrastructure. A holding provision will be remaining on the Phase 3B lands.

The Richmond Secondary Plan identifies the servicing for the Village as municipal sanitary services and a mix of private water wells and municipal communal wells. It also contemplates that ultimately the Village could be serviced by municipal communal well systems. The amendments proposed to the Official Plan and Zoning By-law will permit the creation of freehold parcels for various parts of the development that are all still legally tied to the shared infrastructure through a Common Elements Condominium. The amendments are intended to apply to and be only appropriate for this development as it is; partially built and occupied, intended to maintain the intent of the aging in place campus, and has approved servicing in place.

While all committee meetings at City Hall have been postponed, the March 25 Ottawa Council meeting is, as of publishing time, still scheduled.