Rezoning For Mattamy Land South of Fox Run Approved
Ottawa’s Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee has unanimously approved a zoning amendment that will allow for a subdivision to be built in Richmond’s Western Development Lands.
The land is owned by Mattamy Homes, and the site location is 6420 and 6431 Ottawa Street. A portion of the property lies north of Ottawa Street and south of the Fox Run development. The land is mainly open fields with a few trees, and only the land north of the Jock River is subject to the zoning application.
The applications for subdivision and zoning for these lands was originally filed in 2013. There were a few revision applications to the subdivision occurring, with the most recent in 2018, which was subsequently draft approved this year for 777 single family homes on a range of lot widths as well as approximately 26 blocks of street townhouses and eight blocks of back-to-back townhouses. There will be a community park, and one neighbourhood park as well as an English public elementary school block. The Jock River flood plain will remain unchanged until it is revised and accepted through permitting from the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority. The open space blocks associated with the Moore Drain will be naturalized and conveyed to the city. The applicants are currently working on the approvals for registering the first phase of the subdivision, which will primarily be lots and blocks on the north and west sides of the lands.
This draft approved subdivision is to be serviced from the Richmond Municipal Well and the central sanitary system. The applicant is responsible for front-ending 5.9 kilometres of the twinning of the sanitary forced main towards the Kanata Pump Station to facilitate sanitary sewer capacity for their development. Upgrades to the Richmond sanitary pump station are also required to facilitate development and are expected to be completed within the next two years. Storm water management is to occur pursuant to the approved Master Drainage Plan with the northern portions draining to the existing storm pond and the balance to drain into a future pond on an adjacent property. There is a Landowners Agreement, pursuant to the Official Plan, to cost share the provision of services and parks amongst the developers in the Western Development Lands.
The layout of the subdivision and proposed uses and densities in the recommended zones meet the intent of the Secondary Plan for the Village of Richmond with respect to a community and local park, schools, as well as the mix of unit types. Although the layout of the units and location of the park and school do not specifically match the demonstration plan in the CDP, it does still meet the intent of what is contemplated in that plan. Both the Secondary Plan and the CDP are flexible in terms of the specific locations of the types of uses.
The density of the development, although more of a suburban density, optimizes the infrastructure designed for the Village. The proposal would see 73 per cent of the units as single-family homes, and street townhouses and back-to-back townhouses accounting for 27 per cent of the unit count.
The yards are proposed to be reduced with three metre front yard setbacks and the 2.5-metre corner side yard setbacks, with permitted projections to allow those as close as 0.5 metres in the front and exterior side yards and 0.2 metres in the interior side yards. This may be problematic for access, maintenance, and construction of fences between units, but will be further reviewed as part of the detailed design of the subdivision. The projections (primarily in the form of the front steps) towards to streets could impact the ability to place trees or dictate the size, shape or species of the trees possible.
Although the required parking (one per unit) would be in the attached garages, the reduced front yard setback would only allow for driveway parking spaces depths of three metres in front of the garages (excluding the boulevards) except on the streets that have sidewalks where that would increase to 5.5 metres. This three metres from the boulevard to the garage may cause issue with increased on-street parking, wherethere are the townhouses. Most of the blocks of townhouses are distributed through the development which assists in alleviating that concern, by providing more opportunities for on street parking without conflicting with driveways. The proposal to reduce the parking required for home-based businesses, except in the instance of an external employee in the townhouses can be similarly alleviated. Meynell Road is a transit route through the community and within easy walking distance of most of the community, which should also assist in reducing the need for additional parking spaces.
