A pair of seven-storey buildings are on their way to a vacant site along a busy road, bringing a mix of residential and commercial opportunities.
During its Tuesday evening meeting, city council unanimously approved plans for 265 Edinburgh Rd. N. – 139 residential units and 188 square metres of commercial space on the ground floor of the southernmost building.
“I look forward to development on this particular site because it has been largely an abandoned site in the past,” commented Ward 3 councillor Phil Allt, noting he’s concerned about density in the area generally but agrees with this plan. “As everybody is aware, it is encroaching along the highest density area in Guelph, with the lowest income and fewest parkland amenities.”
Located just south of Willow Road, backing onto Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School, one of the buildings is to be purpose-built rentals while the other is condominiums. They are to be a mix of one and two-bedroom units.
The property has been vacant for several years. For a long time the site was home to the White Rose Nursery, followed by Meadowville Garden Centre. After years of sitting vacant, a demolition permit for the store structure was approved in 2017.
On Tuesday, council endorsed a series of official plan and zoning bylaw amendments needed for the project to go forward as proposed. They include allowing the building to go beyond the previous six-storey height limit and changing the land use designation to medium density residential from service commercial.
When first introduced in 2020, the development was proposed to have 141 residential units – two more than the current plan – along with a third building on the site which was intended to be used as a daycare centre, reducing the amount of commercial space from 440 square metres to 188 square meters, among other alterations.
A public meeting held in February of 2021 saw no opposition.
The proposal was revised this past April. A day care is no longer part of the plan.
Ahead of the vote, council heard concerns about the impact of Bill 23 on this project – specifically reductions to development charges and parkland allotments. However, it’s too early to know because the bill hasn’t been fully implemented and several aspects of it are still going through the public comment phase, noted Krista Walkey, the city’s general manager of planning and building services.
“We’re kind of caught in this limbo period,” she told council.
Several issues were also raised that will be addressed during site plan consideration, including connections to local trails and the placement of amenity spaces.
A spokesperson for the developer said the hope is to begin construction next year, following site plan approval.
