City staff are recommending that a proposal to build a 25-storey mixed-use tower on the edge of Downtown Guelph be rejected.
That recommendation will go to Guelph City Council on July 13 for discussion and decision.
Skydevco Inc., a development division of property management company Skyline, is proposing to build the tower at 70 Fountain St., to be used for a mix of retail, office but mostly residential purposes.
If built it would be the tallest building ever built in Guelph.
The applicant needs an Official Plan amendment and zoning by-law amendment to allow for a development that tall.
City planning staff say the proposal for that location, which currently allows buildings up to six storeys, is too tall.
“Planning staff recommend refusal of the proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications because the proposed height is incompatible and out of scale with the character of the surrounding area and the redesignation of the site to allow residential units does not protect the employment function of the current site,” the staff report says.
The proposal called for 3,900 square feet of ground floor retail space and 67,000 square feet of office floor space on the first four floors. Above the fourth floor would be 21-storey tower containing 180 apartments.
There would be underground parking for 207 spaces.
There is currently a two-storey building on the site, which is on the northeast corner of the Fountain Street/Wyndham Street intersection.
“The proposed mixed use, 25 storey high building on this site does not constitute good planning and is incompatible with the character of the surrounding lower density neighbourhood,” says the staff report, prepared by senior development planner Katie Nasswetter.
