Final decision: Council OKs six-storey retirement complex

City council has approved a six-storey South End retirement complex, forging past widespread opposition from area residents and a recommendation against doing so by city administration.

The 9-4 vote of city council prompted a gallery of disappointed area residents to file out of council chambers with their heads hung low during an Oct. 10 meeting.

Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh represents the neighbourhood on city council, and fought to pare the 150-unit building down to four storeys, which would lower it from a height of 21 metres to 15 and eliminate 60 units.

“This is not about being open for business, this is not about NIMBY-ism, it’s about respect for the city’s approved Official Plan and the overall build form of our community,” she told her colleagues around council chambers.

The city’s Official Plan, which maps out a long-term vision for Greater Sudbury, states that new builds “must be compatible with the existing physical character of established neighbourhoods,” McIntosh relayed.

The vacant property in question, at the southeast corner of Algonquin Road and Rockwood Drive, “is smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood,” she added. “The transition from single-family homes to a six-storey, 21-metre building, is far too harsh.”

This, she said, is why city administrators recommended paring the build down to four storeys.

During the Sept. 25 planning committee meeting of city council, Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc introduced a successful amendment to scale the building back up to the six storeys the developer had initially sought.

Approximately 50 area residents attended the Sept. 25 meeting in a show of opposition to the proposal, of whom 14 spoke during its public hearing. The meeting’s agenda also included more than 100 letters of opposition, while a petition objecting to the project included 848 signatures.

Area residents’ chief concerns related to the building’s height, traffic impacts, flood zone implications and the potential clear-cutting of trees, including those in a vegetative buffer required along the easterly lot line.

The planning committee’s decision was expected to be ratified by city council as a whole during a meeting held the following evening, but McIntosh introduced a motion during that meeting to defer a final decision to Oct. 10, which was supported by a vote of 7-5.

During the Oct. 10 meeting, McIntosh introduced an amendment to bring the structure back down to four storeys, but it was defeated by a vote of 8-5.

Yes to limiting the building to four storeys

Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh
Ward 10 Coun. Fern Cormier
Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann
Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer
Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc

No to limiting the building to four storeys

Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti
Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini
Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier
Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin
Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent
Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre
Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée
Mayor Paul Lefebvre

Fortin spoke out in support of the development on Oct. 10, after voting during the Sept. 25 planning committee to approve six storeys.

“I agree this development will adversely affect some local residents,” she said. “However, we are in a very real housing crisis and affordability crisis, not to mention, we need homes for our seniors.

“We do not have a traffic crisis, we do not have a noise crisis, we do not have a shadow crisis. No children will be harmed by a seniors building being built.”

Because the property on which the property stands is partially within a floodplain, she noted it must go vertical.

During the Sept. 25 planning committee meeting, city staff clarified that the floodplain is currently under review, which, depending on the results, may free up more land for the developer to reconfigure the build to accommodate additional units within four storeys.

The proposed retirement complex has not been classified as “affordable,” but Fortin said, “Adding homes anywhere in the housing market makes a difference.”

Labbée echoed Fortin’s sentiments during the Oct. 10 meeting, noting that the province has had a “hard line” against municipal councils putting up walls to housing developments.

“When we look at communities to the east and west of us, we see growth, because they’re breaking down barriers, they’re getting rid of red tape,” she said.

“I wouldn’t want to put a barrier in place where we’re going to lose the development altogether and then have that word of mouth spread across the province or broader, ‘Don’t go to Sudbury, they’re just going to say ‘no’ to your project.’”

City council’s discussion on the matter capped with a 9-4 vote to approve a six-storey build.