My wife and I are Ward 6 residents and we are writing this letter to voice our opinion on the development at 146 Downey Road since neither of us will be able to attend this council meeting in person.
To start off with, we are in favour of some development on this site. It is unreasonable to expect that no further development be allowed. However based on our reading of the proposals, we have concern over both the proposed density and height. We have the following five concerns to ask that the development be consistent with the neighbouring community, i.e. lower density and height.
1. Walkable City and Increased Traffic
As longtime residents of Guelph, we all know that Guelph is one of the best places to live. This comment has been reflected in many council meetings as well and various awards back this up (smartest city, safest city, one of best places to live). One of the underlying reasons of what makes Guelph such a great place to live is the walkability of the city.
I remember with such fondness that my family was able to get along without having a car – groceries, schools, and places to work were all within walking distance. However in recent years, much of the new development has made Guelph less of a walkable city – to the point where one is starting to need a car to go everywhere. This fact is especially true in the Downey section of Ward 6 where there is very little in the way of amenities close by.
As far as we understand, one of the stated goals of council has been to reverse this declining walkability trend with the local nodes/centres. While we do not oppose development of 146 Downey Road, we believe that a balance should be made to minimize the population density in this neighborhood for the following reasons:
A. Increased car traffic since the Downey neighbourhood does not have many amenities – this is counter to the goals to minimze traffic
B. Increased risk to school children due to heightened traffic – most children walk to Kortright Hills in this neighboorhood. This car traffic will be further heightened with the Hanlon Creek Business Park and the changing of Laird Road.
2. Schooling Capacity
With a potential high density development being proposed, one of our concerns is the schooling density for our neighbourhood. Kortright Hills Public School is already over capacity requiring portables. As higher density development is added, further strains to the local school system are likely to be added. As a result, we believe that children would either need to be bused to other schools to solve this population issue or that more portables would need to be added reducing the children’s play areas and green space. It should be noted that portables are undesirable given the documented mold and air quality issues.
As a result, we ask that Council please consider schooling capacity in any decision regarding 146 Downey especially with respect to density. We believe that children should be given the opportunity to walk to their neighbourhood schools, as it promotes a healthier lifestyle and also makes Guelph such a desirable place to live.
3. Consistency with Neighbourhood
Another concern with the proposed development is that it be consistent and in line with the character of the neighboorhood. When I was taking classes in both University and High School, one of the premises of architecture was to place new developments that are consistent with the existing neighbourhood. This principle would not be followed if anything greater than a two story structure is planned; there has been mention of four to eight stories for an apartment complex and this would not be architecturally consistent with the Downey Road neighbourhood. So from a neighbourhood consistency perspective we ask that council please limit the height on any structures for the 146 Downey development. It should be noted that there are numerous two story condos/townhomes throughout Guelph and a development similar to this would be both in line with the neighbourhood and consistent with the character of the City.
4. Residential to Business Tax Ratio
We have concerns about the high residential to business tax proportion that is currently seen in the City of Guelph. We would ask that the City pushes the focus away from increased residential density and towards more business properties and development. While we understand that the current econmic climate is hard for business, increasing the residential tax base to increase revenue is seen as a short term fix. This short term fix has a longer term effect of keeping the City’s tax ratio unbalanced and also has the potential to make this City more of a commuter bedroom community and less of a place where we work, live, and play.
5. Water Supply
One of the ongoing concerns of Guelph is the Water supply and Waste water treatment capacity. Every year we as citizens of Guelph are presented with watering restrictions. We are currently in a Code Yellow situation for one of the wettest summers in past history. Yet Guelph remains one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. The juxtaposition of these two contradictions leads the normal citizen of Guelph to believe that either there isn’t an issue with our water supply OR that the city is ignoring the severity of the water supply situation.
From this perspective, we therefore ask that the city please limit density of development being planned for 146 Downey as part of a broader strategy to keep the city population in line with our available water supply or provide us some explanation for our current planned growth rates against our available water supply.DF