Coland Developments hosted an open public meeting Tuesday to present plans and hear concerns from residents about the proposed eight-storey apartment building they want to construct on Atherley Road.
The project includes 45 proposed units, with access points along both Atherley Road and Driftwood Road, to be built across three properties located at 642 Driftwood Rd., and 625 and 643 Atherley Rd.
After submitting requests for a zoning bylaw amendment, and hosting its first public meetings in 2021, two public sessions were held Tuesday afternoon and evening to update residents on the project and address any concerns.
The developer is seeking a zoning bylaw amendment from the city to allow an eight-storey building to be constructed there.
The developer has since revised several aspects of its application and resubmitted its request for a zoning bylaw amendment to the city, which is expected to hold a statutory public meeting for the project later this year.
At Tuesday’s meeting, consultants stated the project is in conformity with the city’s official plan, and said the largest update since the previous public meeting is that the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), who has jurisdiction over Highway 12 along Atherley Road, has given the developer permission for direct access from Atherley Road.
Residents had previously expressed concern about additional traffic in the already busy surrounding area.
“We did hear a lot of concern from the surrounding community about traffic and access into not only this property on its own, but into this residential area on the point here,” said WSP Canada’s Mikaela Sworder. “The developer has done a lot of work to speak with (MTO) to push for this direct access onto Atherley.”
According to a traffic study, however, consultants said the current set up will add less than 0.5 per cent extra traffic to the Orchard Point/Atherley Road intersection.
“(Atherley Road) does provide a secondary access but, in terms of any traffic impact, our study showed that the site adds less than 0.5 per cent of the total traffic at the intersection of Orchard Point and Atherley Road, so that … it's very minimal impact there,” said Natalie Boodram, WSP project manager.
In order to move forward, consultants highlighted they will also need to seek a permit from the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks for approval, and noted the project will have a 30-metre setback from the shoreline.
“What we'll be doing is making sure that the building, of course … (and) parking lot is also outside of that area as well, but any work that is done within the 30 metres is for stabilization, just to make sure that we're protecting against shoreline erosion and hazard protection, and that would be just to make sure that the land doesn't eventually kind of erode into Lake Simcoe,” Boodram said.
“The existing trees and shrubs, trees within the buffer will be preserved, as well.”
Consultants also made note of angular plane requirements and a shadow study carried out to measure the building’s visual impacts on the area.
“We did a shadow study, and what you can start to see is that the shadows actually don't pass on any of the surrounding residential (area),” said Stephen Mauro from Chamberlain Architects. “The surrounding trees would actually create more shadows… like at 4 p.m. in December, and times like that.”
A handful of residents attended the virtual meeting with a variety of questions and concerns.
One resident, Melissa, asked whether garbage storage and pickup could be moved towards the Atherley Road side of the development instead of its proposed location closer to the surrounding neighbourhood.
“Our preferred location was along Atherley Road, but MTO did not want the turning around of the vehicle to be on the road because it would obstruct traffic,” responded Swordman.
Another resident questioned whether a set of lights would be put in at the proposed Atherley Road access point, as it is a busy area, but consultants replied that installing traffic lights is beyond the developer’s control.
One resident questioned what type of additional traffic might be seen along the Driftwood Road area.
“What would be coming in there?” he asked. “Because the loading dock’s there, I can assume that there'd be garbage trucks, delivery trucks, moving vans, things like that. Am I right?”
Consultants responded that larger vehicles, such as garbage trucks, will access the property from Atherley Road, as there is a gap in the development large enough for such vehicles to get through.
The parking and garbage storage, as well, will be three metres below the surrounding residences and out of view, they said.
A resident named Robin raised concern about birds that nest in the area, including blue herons, and noted several trees were removed from the property a year ago.
“I've watched families of great blue herons that nest in those trees every year, and they've been there for many years,” he said.
“We have already noticed that some trees were removed more than a year ago … and we're concerned that there'll be no attention paid to the environmental impact of perhaps removing more trees and creating problems for so many birds that nest in that area," he said.
“There was a shoreline stabilization that needs to happen, just to make sure the shoreline doesn't slip into the water and that everything stays intact,” Boodram responded. “I think that would involve some kind of cleanup, if there's something that was already slipping into the water or falling, but other than that … the trees that are healthy are expected to stay.”
A resident questioned why more parking could not be moved toward the Atherley Road side of the building, citing concern with noise, but consultants responded that the setback from the road is required by MTO to leave space for any future road widening that might take place.
“Any parking there, we have to be prepared to lose … in the future, whenever MTO wants that road widened,” Boodram responded.
Given the large amount of glass in the building’s construction, one resident raised concerns that the project does not mesh with the neighbourhood’s aesthetic.
“The intent is to … maximize the view to the lake,” Mauro responded. “These are units that are meant to be kind of, in some sense, a cottage away from a typical cottage where you'd have that close interaction with the lake.”
“There still is, though, a strong podium … with natural stone.”
Several residents raised concern about traffic flow onto Driftwood Road and the Orchard Point area, arguing against the conducted traffic study that states impacts will be minimal.
One resident pointed out it is already difficult to make any left turns along Atherley Road, and that it’s safer to turn right before turning around at a set of lights to head in her intended direction.
Others worried it might be easier for residents to exit the development through the adjacent neighbourhood, rather than through the Atherley Road access point.
“During the busiest period, if you want to turn from Driftwood onto Atherley Road (going) left you wait around 50 seconds on average,” said WSP’s Ishmet Medic. “If you want to make the same movement from the side driveway, you will wait less than 30 seconds, so … there is no need to go around.”
