Trinity floating redevelopment of 'cottage' gas station off Island Park
Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: January 8, 2019
A company is floating a redevelopment idea for the old cottage-style gas station at Richmond Road and Island Park Drive, on the property where a previous plan to install a drive-thru café caused a stir in the community.
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper said Trinity Developments has what he considers a “rough noodle” of the plan for 70 Richmond Rd., rather than a full-blown project proposal. There is no development application filed at city hall.
Trinity has been featuring the future development on its website, with an opening slated for 2022. Trinity officials weren’t available for comment Monday.
Leiper said Trinity has suggested moving the old building on the property closer to the main street and constructing a tall building behind it.
Doing anything with the 1930s heritage building would require city council’s blessing.
Council would also need to approve proposed changes to the zoning rules for the site, including the maximum height. Trinity’s rendering of the development suggests a new building would have roughly nine or 10 storeys.
The Richmond Road/Westboro community design plan calls for a maximum of four storeys of development at 70 Richmond Rd., with potential for six storeys at “gateway” lands in the area.
“We’ve suggested to them that the community won’t act favourably to something that exceeds the community design plan,” Leiper said.
However, holding a development to the prescribed height could be difficult, since Mizrahi Developments has approval from the Ontario Municipal Board to construct a 12-storey condo building diagonally across the intersection at 1445 and 1451 Wellington St. W., which has been considered a gateway property between Westboro, Wellington West and Ottawa’s core.
On top of that, there are already tall condo buildings, in the eight- to 10-storey range, on Richmond Road west of Island Park Drive.
Leiper acknowledged the Mizrahi development in particular could open the door to more development density around the intersection.
The service station building, designed as an English cottage, was constructed in 1934. Benzolene Corporation Ltd. was the first company listed as occupying the property, according to city research. It became a Champlain Oil Company service station shortly later. (Champlain was owned by Charles-Emile Trudeau, the father of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau).
Ottawa artist Andrew King drew the public’s attention to the unique building in September 2014 and noted that the property had been purchased by developer Main + Main.
City council in September 2015 voted to give the building heritage protection, since it’s a rare example of a 1930s service station located on an important road that connected rural communities with Ottawa. The gas station is a symbol of the growing vehicle ownership in the early 20th century, city planners argued.
Main + Main wanted to turn the property into a drive-thru café, but Leiper and other community leaders opposed the idea because they thought a drive-thru would negatively impact walkability and worsen traffic congestion at a busy intersection.
It’s a tricky property for a complementary development to the heritage building since the heritage building is at the back of the land.
David Jeanes, president of Heritage Ottawa, said the advocacy organization hasn’t heard from Trinity about the company’s idea for the property, but he noted that moving any part of a heritage building is usually a “pretty extreme” move.
“It’s a difficult site for development, but on the other hand, it was designated (as heritage) for good reason,” Jeanes said.
jwilling@postmedia.com
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https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ff-island-park
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