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Yeah, people don't seem to realize that golf courses are infamously bad for the environment. The aforementioned chemicals, and of course mowing hundreds of acres with gas powered lawn mowers.

These deals that assume golf courses will always be profitable were puzzling. At least the Campeau-Kanata deal was keep operating the golf course OR hand it over to the City to transform into a park. This sounds like the golf course has to stay for eternity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet (Post 10179691)

"Our residents feel strongly about protecting the area's tree canopy, the natural habitats, the open green space for the enjoyment of current and future generations.

I find the lack of self awareness in this statement so typical of people's reactions to housing issues these days. The homes around this course are large on large treed,grassed lots and they want to preserve more lawn that is probably full of 'lawn treatments' just so that they have somewhere to walk their labradoodle.

Unfortunately, the lack of sewers will make any large scale housing development difficult.

Its also technically not inside the urban boundary but its also not inside the greenbelt....

There is a common law prohibition against perpetuities. I don’t see how anyone ever thought the 1981 agreement was legal.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule...t_perpetuities

Quote:

Brigil seeking approval to build nearly 2,000 residential units in Kanata North

David Sali, OBJ
April 8, 2024

https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/forum/...15-png.554921/

One of the National Capital Region’s most ambitious real estate developers is ramping up plans to build more than 1,900 residential units on nearly 50 acres of land in Kanata North.

In a planning application filed with the City of Ottawa, Gatineau-based Brigil says the proposed development just northwest of the Marshes Golf Club on March Road would include five separate zones of residential development for a total of 1,908 units in buildings as tall as 15 storeys.

A document prepared by consulting firm J.L. Richards and Associates notes the property at 927 March Rd. is located “only a short commute” from the Kanata North Business Park, which is located southeast of the subject lands along March Road.

“The expansion of transit along March Road will eventually bring future residents of the site closer to live, work, play options found in this business area,” the document says.

The project is expected to feature as many as eight low-rise apartment buildings, along with four mid-rise buildings of six storeys and two 15-storey towers. There would be ground-floor commercial space in the highrise and mid-rise buildings.

A final zone would be devoted to 32 townhouses and 19 single-detached dwellings. Brigil says the mixed-use and condo blocks would be served by underground parking lots ranging from two to four levels.

The concept plan also calls for three parks covering a total of nearly 14 acres of green space. At the request of city staff, Brigil has agreed to set aside a future block for a French-language school.

The latest proposal is an updated version of a plan of subdivision Brigil originally submitted in 2020.

That proposal included a total of 1,861 residential units in buildings with lower overall heights. The plan featured two nine-storey buildings along with nine low-rise buildings of four storeys each. Brigil had intended to request an Official Plan amendment to allow for buildings of up to nine storeys on the site.

In 2022, however, the City of Ottawa adopted a new Official Plan that allows for greater density along major corridors such as March Road and eliminates rules that require a certain percentage of dwelling types on such properties, paving the way for Brigil to submit a revised plan with greater density and taller buildings.

Brigil did not provide any timelines for the project. In the most recent planning documents, the developer says it is seeking city council’s approval for the plan of subdivision and will request zoning bylaw amendments for specific elements of the proposed development “at a later date.”

Busy development pipeline

The updated application comes at a busy time for Brigil, which has become one of the region’s most prolific housing developers.

The Gatineau-based builder currently has thousands of residential units in its pipeline across the city.

Among its biggest proposals is an application to build three towers ranging from 26 to 40 storeys at a 2.8-acre property on Catherine Street between Kent and Lyon streets that would eventually be home to more than 1,000 apartments.

The developer bought the land in 2021 after the bus station shut down in the wake of the pandemic and demolished the building the following year. Brigil said a couple of months ago it hopes to break ground on the project later this year.

Meanwhile, the firm is also proposing to create what it calls a “complete neighbourhood” featuring nearly 3,200 residential units and at least 100,000 square feet of commercial space on a 26-acre plot of land at 8600 Jeanne d’Arc Blvd. N.

The project would mark the third phase of the company’s Petrie’s Landing community, an ongoing development near Trim Road. The first two phases of the development are expected to eventually include more than a dozen buildings with about 2,200 residential units and 8,000 square feet of retail and office space.

Brigil’s other projects include a 28-storey rental tower at 99 Parkdale Ave., the second phase of a two-tower project. The 240-unit highrise should be ready for occupancy this fall.

The developer also expects to start construction later this year on a pair of four-storey buildings and a 20-storey highrise at the site of a former strip mall on Ridgewood Avenue near Mooney’s Bay. That project will include a total of about 440 rental apartments.

Longer-term projects on Brigil’s docket include a three-building development on Baseline Road and a two-tower proposal for Richmond Road.

In addition, the firm is in the process of revising a plan to build a residential highrise near the Bayshore Shopping Centre.

Brigil’s original proposal called for a 30-storey building with 330 rental apartments. After consulting with nearby residents and city planning officials, the firm is now hoping to gain approval for a taller tower of up to 40 storeys that would include as many as 370 units.

All projects in the company’s development queue are currently forecast as rental complexes, but vice-president of development Jessy Desjardins told OBJ earlier this year that could change as time goes on.

“When we look at a site, depending on the market, we always have the opportunity to convert (units) to condos or rentals,” he said in a February interview. “We’re pretty open to adapting to the market. Right now, people are looking more towards rentals.”

https://obj.ca/brigil-seeking-approv...-kanata-north/

What the heck are all those white buildings behind the development?

Brigil should perhaps focus on their current plans and finish before pushing new hinterland developments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marshsparrow (Post 10181063)

What the heck are all those white buildings behind the development?

Brigil should perhaps focus on their current plans and finish before pushing new hinterland developments.

The small white buildings are all existing houses.

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...140109&page=58

There's a new crane at McConnell and Samuel-Edey in Aylmer. Next to the Lebeau Glass place. Pretty big pit there.

A 'standoff' between developer and city is keeping buyers out of their new Orléans homes
Sam Bibi's Orléans home was built last year. But he can't move in until Ashcroft Homes and Ottawa settle a dispute over sewers in the new development.

Joanne Laucius, Ottawa Citizen
Published Jun 16, 2024 • Last updated 18 hours ago • 8 minute read

Sami Bibi put a down payment on a house in the new development of Eastboro in Orléans back in October 2019.

His four-bedroom home — exteriors, bathrooms, kitchen, hardwood floors — was completed in June 2023. Since then, he’s driven up and down his street and walked along his sidewalks. But he still hasn’t moved a single piece of furniture through his front door.

That’s because a year after the house was completed, Bibi and his family are still waiting to move in because of an impasse between the city and the developer, Ashcroft, over who has to pay for a stormwater sewer. And they’re not alone.

Another 24 Eastboro homebuyers also own completed houses they can’t occupy.

Even if an agreement were reached today with the city over the stormwater sewer, it would still take between six and eight months to complete, said Manny DiFilippo, Ashcroft’s chief financial officer.

“We are in an unfortunate standoff with the city.”

<more>

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...-orleans-homes

Does this mean that the city can charge those 25 homeowners the Vacant Unit Tax? Or does the builder get dinged for it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Eade (Post 10227467)

Does this mean that the city can charge those 25 homeowners the Vacant Unit Tax? Or does the builder get dinged for it?

Hehe. If there's no occupancy permit, then they aren't technically vacant.

Aylmer's new tallest - 65 m.

Courtesy of Rogers?

https://www.gatineau.ca/upload/avis_..._de_vernon.pdf

Stalled Orléans development reaches deal after dispute that's left homeowners locked out
'I find it deplorable that these folks have been in this situation,' says local councillor

Elyse Skura · CBC News
Posted: Jul 10, 2024 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Homeowners who bought into Ashcroft Homes' Eastboro development in 2019 — and spent over a year looking at completed homes they couldn't live in — could soon see an end to their residential limbo.

Lawyers for the city and the developer reached a deal on Monday for how to split the cost of a new and expensive storm sewer system, prompting a last-minute meeting of the planning and housing committee.

Members approved an agreement to reimburse $30 million for construction, land and other costs, which Ashcroft will pay upfront. If all goes as planned, the full council will greenlight the deal on Wednesday.

Orléans South-Navan Coun. Catherine Kitts said she feels angry and handcuffed, after a process her colleagues called "terrible" and "dysfunctional."

"I have been advised by our legal counsel not to share my true thoughts on ... the experience of working with this developer," Kitts told the committee. "But I find it deplorable that these folks have been in this situation."

The construction would start this summer. If the developer can complete it within six months, the city has agreed, as an incentive, to pay additional interest.

<more>

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...-out-1.7258693

Really? Was it ever? Lots of hyperbole here...

Quote:

Barrhaven is no longer the jewel of Ottawa suburbs
Barrhaven has had its share of negative headlines: tornadoes, a mass homicide, car thefts, controversial developments, and increased crime. Some urban councillors barely know where it is.

Charlie Senack
Published Aug 30, 2024 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 3 minute read

For years, Barrhaven was the sprawling suburb everyone wanted to live in. Families lined up outside of sales offices for days and would overbid on properties to be among the 100,000 people who call it home. Yet it seems the heyday of “Farrhaven” is over — and it’s no wonder why.

I have a love-hate relationship with the community. It’s where I resided for five years before escaping the utopian village for the urban neighbourhood of Alta Vista. I will admit there are a few things I miss: the smell of the country, cows in fields, and the lush riverscapes and green space that offer an escape from the big city.

But there is a lot I don’t miss — like the failing public transit system, which can leave you waiting an hour for a bus that doesn’t come.

Now a controversial refugee encampment has been proposed for the middle of Barrhaven, at Highbury Park and Greenbank Road. If constructed, it would house 150 newcomers in a large Sprung tent — ideally for no more than 90 days, an unrealistic timeframe given the large flux of immigrants seeking a new life in Canada.

This location is bad for so many reasons: It’s far from essential services; located on land set aside for possible future LRT development; and set in a community that is already struggling to keep up with its aging infrastructure.

Many of these families have young children who would be entering schools in Barrhaven, which are already over-capacity and busting at the seams. How are the asylum-seekers supposed to go and seek employment or other opportunities when they will have to jump through so many hoops just to access them? Ottawa’s shelters are located downtown for a reason: They are central and near related support services.

I am not against helping migrants, and am in fact supportive of the Sprung structures, which can be built cheaply and efficiently, to house them. But everything comes down to location.

During a recent Ottawa Council meeting, many urban representatives argued it was time the suburbs did their part to help out with the city’s housing emergency. I’d argue many of these councillors wouldn’t know where to find Barrhaven on a map. Perhaps they should take a trip out to the community — by transit — to get a first-hand experience of its challenges.

It seems I am not alone in my concerns. While Ottawa’s housing market as a whole is down, properties in Barrhaven are not selling. It’s a sign people no longer want to live there. My mother recently sold her Old Barrhaven townhouse after it had been on the market for over a month. It sold for about $100,000 less than it would have gone for about two years ago — in part also due to the economy.

To make matters worse, Barrhaven has had its share of negative headlines: Tornadoes, a mass homicide, car thefts, controversial developments, and increased crime. Staggering statistics show violent crime in Barrhaven West was up 16.6 per cent last year, and non-violent crime up 6.7 per cent. Barrhaven East had better results.

It’s time infrastructure kept up with the pace of development. Until then, we can’t help ourselves, let alone others. A lack of commercial opportunities is starting to keep people away from the newer areas of Half Moon Bay and Stonebridge, where the Greenbank Road realignment was promised in the early 2000s. Two decades later, shovels are no closer to the ground.

Both communities are disconnected from the rest of Barrhaven and don’t have any grocery stores or retail nearby. Residents have to access the shopping districts of Marketplace or Citigate via an old country farming bridge.

Barrhaven has potential and I’d love nothing more than for it to one day reach it. It’s time we started putting taxpayer dollars where it counts and made decisions based on communities’ wants and needs over politics. Residents’ views deserve to be heard around the council table. Let’s stop building boring cookie-cutter suburbs where the infrastructure doesn’t match the need. Barrhaven deserves better.

Charlie Senack is an Ottawa writer and editor of the Kitchissippi Times newspaper. Reach him at: senackcharlie@gmail.com.

https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/se...ottawa-suburbs

The LRT Phase 3 will help with Barrhaven transit problems,
but I wouldn't be surprised if it takes more than 40 years for it to open.
(just look how long it's taking New York to fully complete its Second Avenue Subway, I fear same thing going on here.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by eltodesukane (Post 10274658)

The LRT Phase 3 will help with Barrhaven transit problems,
but I wouldn't be surprised if it takes more than 40 years for it to open.

Pretty sure in this guy's world the LRT would be the final nail in the coffin of his Jewel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zzptichka (Post 10274681)

Pretty sure in this guy's world the LRT would be the final nail in the coffin of his Jewel.

100%. That said it's an interesting and I think widespread perspective we don't hear much in the media.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eltodesukane (Post 10274658)

The LRT Phase 3 will help with Barrhaven transit problems,
but I wouldn't be surprised if it takes more than 40 years for it to open.

LRT could have opened in 2010. It was not perfect, but it would have worked. It is whole lot better than Phase 3 that I will never live to see.

Charlie Senack is an idiot.

Barrhaven was never the jewel of Ottawa suburbs. It's never been as desirable as Kanata.

Stonebridge is not disconnected from the rest of Barrhaven. Longfields runs through Stonebridge all the way to Woodroffe. The retail stores at Marketplace are a 20 minute walk from Stonebridge. And there's a brand new bridge, not an old country bridge, that you can use to get there.

Greenbank is the most direct route to Barrhaven Town Centre for the majority of the area south of the Jock River. Long Fields is the direct route to Manotick.

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