Committee denies zoning variance applications for Wellington Crescent condo project

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This article was published 04/01/2023 (678 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A second round of zoning variance applications for the controversial development at 514 Wellington Cres. was denied by the City Centre Community Committee on Thursday.

The developer was seeking two variances, the key one asking that the height of the proposed four-story eight-unit condominium project be increased to 49.9 feet up from 35 feet.

The property is zoned for RMF (residential multi-family)-small which allows for building heights up to 35 feet.

The proposed development, on the site of the old Gordon House beside St. Mary’s Academy, has been mired in controversy ever since it was sold to developer Jeff Thompson in 2016. The former mansion was demolished in 2020 after several attempts were made to prevent the wrecking ball from bringing the house down. (It had fallen into significant disrepair. Some of the neighbourhood heritage advocates claim the developer purposefully let the property deteriorate so that it had to be taken down.)

Vigorous neighbourhood opposition to the size and scale of the development has existed for years led by Christine Skene, a nearby resident on Kingsway.

After the hearing where all three councillor members of the community committee voted to deny the variance application, Skene said, “I don’t think these meeting are win-lose things. I don’t go out victorious. I’m pleased the integrity of the bylaws are maintained and that councillors heard the arguments and saw the flaws in what would have happened if they had granted this variance.”

The Urban Planning Division of the city administration recommended the committee approve the variance based on infill guidelines that allow for heights of 45 feet on arterial roads.

Those infill guidelines were only introduced subsequent to city’s standing policy committee on property and development, heritage and downtown development approval of the re-zoning to allow the building in the first place in January 2022.

John Orlikow, chairman of the City Centre Community Committee, said he disagreed with the administration’s decision to even allow the variance application at all since the committee had denied some other variance applications in June and developers are generally supposed to wait a year between such applications.

As for the height, he said it was a substantial jump up.

“The bylaws says 35 feet,” Orlikow said to reporters. “If they want RMF (residential multi-family)-large or medium they should have applied for that the first time. They didn’t. They asked for RMF-small. But then the infill guideline came in and now they think they can go bigger. To me, it is a little disingenuous.”

Representing the developer, Christopher Gibson a registered city planner with M. Richards & Associates, said the design of the property took pains to stay within the footprint of the former structure that was on the property. He said without the extra height, the design of the building would have to expand the footprint.

The proposal is for an aging-in-place residence that has accessibility features and would include eight units between 2,500 square feet and 3,000 square feet.

Orlikow suggested that maybe the building could be designed with small residential units.

The decision can be appealed to the city’s appeal committee.

Gibson said he did not know what the developers’ plans would be regarding a potential appeal.

In their presentation, the developers showed shadow study results indicating the extra height would not significantly affect neighboring buildings.

They also showed comparable heights in other buildings close by that were of equal or greater height.

But Skene said the comparisons were of other buildings on Wellington Crescent, not necessarily part of the immediate neighborhood.

Skene and Orlikow both also took exception to the timing of the variance application, coming as it did only months before the city’s property and development committee is getting ready to put the final stamp of approval on the creation of the Crescentwood-Enderton Park heritage conservation district that 514 Wellington would be part of.

Once that designation is in place, there would be stricter design protocols applied to redevelopment and construction in the district.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca