Maximum number of storeys may be cut back
The city´s big development dreams for south downtown may be replaced by a smaller than expected skyline.
A retooled master plan for south downtown will keep the main features proposed to the public in April, although a few key changes are under consideration.
Cityspaces consultant Gwyn Symmons says he’s leaning toward shrinking the maximun height and density for a proposed hotel-residential complex on the Gathercole site.
Under the first-draft plan, the hotel could rise as high as 20 storeys. Its ceiling will likely drop by an undertermined number of storeys when Symmons submits his final master plan for city council’s consideration June 21.
“We are looking at that,” Symmons said in an intervieuw from Ottawa. “That’s definitely feedback we did get, even among people supportive of the project.”
The potential height of the hotel has stirred up critics who want to preserve the views of both the river and the historic traffic bridge.
Mayor Don Atchinson prefers to leave the height limit at 20 storeys.
“If a developer wants to do it for fewer storeys, so be it,” he said. “But we´re already putting architectural controls in place, so we need to offer them some flexibility.”
Another possible change is relocation of the proposed Riversdale Square on the A. L. Cole site. The Riversdale Business Improvement District (BID) has suggested moving the square from the south side of 19th Street and an extended Avenue A to the middle of the Cole site.
A “European-style” courtyard in the middle would draw visitors through the site, said BID executive director Phyllis Lodoen.
It would have to be done with enough visibility to make it safe, she added.
Symmons prefers using the square as a gateway to the site that would also provide a natural spill area for visitors to the adjacent farmers market.
The feedback Symmons and the city had collected comes from the comments of 500-plus people who attended two open house events last month and more than 300 written submissions. Most of it is generally supportive of the plan, Symmons said.
Other key features are likely to stay in the plan, although council and other groups could still change the proposed landscape:
- Some type of landmark proved a popular way to identify the area. Symmons suggests the city hold a competition of ideas before selecting what form it should take.
- The proposed performance theatre stays, due to overwhelming public support for it, Symmons said. He will continue to suggest the city or Meewasin Calley Authority open an interpretative centre within the same complex and possibly a café and small attraction. A Joni Mitchell museum is a “pretty good idea”, Symmons said, but adds he’ll leave it up to the city and Meewasin to decide on the type of attraction.
- A branch library remains at the corner of 19th Street abd Avenue C. The library board has mixed feelings, however, on that site. It hasn’t decided, either, on wether that branch is a priority over a new downtown library, said director of libraries Zenon Zuzak.
- Housing, a business incubator and microbrewery are also still in the works for the Cole site.
- The hotel-residential project with a restaurant, stays, albeit downsized.
- A river’s edge outdoor skating rink stays in the plan, despite raising a few concerns, such as the practicality of keeping the rink frozen and the risks of skating close to the river.
- The idea of making the river itself an attraction, with a floating barge for performers, lights on bridges and synchronized sound and light shows using submerged fountains, is popular and remains alive, Symmons said.
The redevelopment of the Cole site hinges on the federal government agreeing to spend $10 million in strategic infrastructure funds on environmental cleanup and servicing of the contaminated site.
Federal officials have informally told the city will get the money, but an announcement will wait untill after the election, Atchison said.
This year, the city plans to begin construction of a riverfront park on the Gathercole site, design the park’s extension onto Cole site, demolish the Gathercole building, begin construction of roads and underground services, request proposals for a hotel and build a new home for the farmer’s market on the Cole site, he said.
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