After reviewing the proposal for the 716 Gordon Street development, we strongly object to consideration being given for this development. The following points are some of the issues that we have considered.
1. For at least the past 5 years, there has been a surplus of off-campus student housing in the City of Guelph (verified by off-campus housing, University of Guelph). In late 2010, the University of Guelph was quoted by the Guelph Mercury newspaper that there was no need for this development since there was not an off campus housing shortage. In addition, the Richmond Properties housing on Edinburgh Road does not have 100% occupancy, which adds to the current housing surplus. Brenda Whiteside from the University of Guelph has indicated that there is no plan to increase student enrolment at the university for at least the next 5 years. Given the current surplus supply of student housing, the City of Guelph should have no valid reason to justify this development on a ‘need’ basis.
2. The City has indicated that part of it’s planning strategy is to disperse student housing in the City. The purpose of the recent 100 meters separation distance by-law was to prevent or discourage alleged “neighborhood intensification” The proposed development does not fit with the City’s stated planning strategy for shared rental housing. On this basis, the project should not be considered.
3. The Developer is requesting 10 relief variances from present zoning requirements including, relief from parking space requirements, side & rear yard distances, height requirements and unit density per hectare. In some cases the variances requested exceed the current maximun standards by at least 100%!!. In addition the proposal is to have 5-bedroom apartments adjacent to each other. Local landlords who provide student housing are currently faced with minimum distance separations of 100m for lodging houses and the recently passed by-law would extend this minimum distance separation to other forms of rental accommodation. I am aware of local student landlords who were not allowed to add one room because an additional parking spot was not available. Recently, we were denied a request for minimum distance separation for a lodging house, to provide the same service that the developer wants to provide at 716 Gordon Street. To grant any of these requested variances would be discriminatory to other local investors who have been denied variances for the purpose of providing similar services as the propsed development
4. In Waterloo, in a comparable building by the same developer, rent for a 3 bedroom unit is $625/bedroom and 4-5 bedrooms at $595/bedroom plus utilities. This is approximately 40-50% higher than the current cost of student rental housing in Guelph. This factor alone, would serve to increase the cost of University education. I doubt that this is a noble objective of the City of Guelph.
These are some of the factors that support our decision to totally object to any consideration for the proposed development. GC