TRAFFIC TOP OF MIND FOR NEIGHBOURS OF HIGHRISE PROPOSAL

Neighbours cite traffic congestion, scarcity of parking, and a potential increase in illegal activity among their main concerns about a proposed 108unit apartment building near the intersection of Wellington and William streets in Lindsay.

The highrise building by private developer Muskoka D & M would house mostly two- and one-bedroom units, with a small number of three-bedrooms, with a range of designs and price points from affordable to market rents.

"That is one of the worst intersections in town for traffic congestion," deputant Mike Sloboda told the Planning Advisory Committee during a public meeting on the proposed development at 73-83 William St. N.

"Our streets are already overrun with traffic to an unbelievable degree because our town is growing so fast."

Beverly Saunders of Ecovue Consulting, on behalf of the developer, noted a 2022 traffic study did acknowledge an "existing imbalance at that particular intersection," as well as signal timing optimization as a solution.

She added that the city's engineering department has access to the submission for the proposed development so congestion issues can be addressed in the Master Plan design at the municipal level.

Parking and safety concerns are also top of mind for Burt and Donna Gaynor, who live and own a business at Bond and William streets a block away. The area already has a shortage of parking and is a route for emergency vehicles, Burt told the committee, noting the addition of so many new units, so close to an existing 60-unit building, will likely only aggravate existing issues.

"It seems like most days, the police or ambulance or fire truck are there," Burt said of the existing apartment building, adding that drugs, violence and illegal activity already plague the area. "We see it, we live it all the time," he told the committee.

"People need to have a place to live, yes, but to have two buildings like that on the same block, almost, would be putting a lot of strain on the neighbours and the road."

Addressing the parking concerns, Saunders noted that justifications for asking for lower parking ratios are based on studies that showed less parking is needed for affordable housing, where fewer people own vehicles. A proposed car-sharing program would further reduce the overall vehicleper-unit ratio, she said.

Saunders added that having affordable housing units incorporated into a building alongside marketrate units, with shared amenity space and a sense of community, as well as a building manager on site to deal with any issues, are all intentional design items meant to minimize any negative impacts of the new building on the surrounding area.

"Just because someone is in affordable housing or were placed due to social situations doesn't mean they will be bad neighbours, and even if they were, we've put a lot of things in the design to make sure that wouldn't impact the neighbours," she concluded.

This is not the first time the developer has reached out to the neighbours. Saunders noted amendments already made to the design as a result of an earlier open house.

"That consultation process resulted in us in reducing the building by a floor," bringing it down to seven storeys with a halfstorey amenity space, she told the committee, and reducing the total number of units by two.

"We've also done some innovative designs on this project to compensate for the amendments that we're asking for," she added, referencing the wide range of zoning amendments being requested including reductions of required parking spaces, minimum setbacks and landscaping requirements.

Saunders explained that the building design, including indoor/outdoor amenity space on the roof, would compensate for reduced landscaping at the ground level, while design elements, like the lack of balconies, are also meant to minimize impact on surrounding neighbours.

"This entire building is intended to be rental, and we are doing that on purpose; one, because Lindsay really needs rental properties, particularly at a central location, and we'll have a property manager on staff, so part of the design is including an office in the building to enable proper management of the site, particularly in acknowledgment of the proximity to the street," said Saunders.

During the March Committee of the Whole meeting, the committee voted to recommend council support building incentives for Muskoka D & M to ensure 37 affordable units are included in the design. Incentives include waiving $591,410 in development charges and contributing to a rent supplement program to support low- and middle-income households, explained Michelle Corley, Kawartha Lakes manager of housing. All 37 affordable units would be occupied by tenants on the city's wait-lists.

"The need for more purpose-built rentals has been and continues to be a main priority within Kawartha Lakes. The vacancy rate has remained low for several years, with supply not keeping up with demand," according to Corley's report to council, which notes that while a 10-year affordable housing target of 1,280 rental units of Kawartha Lakes was set in 2020, just 19 new units have been created since then.

A second public meeting on the proposed William Street North development will be announced in the coming months.