I am writing in regards to the proposed new developments on the former Co-Operator’s daycare property. As you know, there are plans to erect a condominium tower of as much as 18-storeys on this lot, creating what has been described as a “gateway to downtown”. Far from being a gateway, I believe that a building of this size will form a barrier to downtown, both visually and physically. It will block sight lines to the core, especially to the Church of Our Lady, a defining feature of the Guelph skyline, and is out of character with the human-scaled architecture of downtown.
Wishing to get a better sense of the impact of such a development, I built a digital model. I based my model on a structure of 180 feet in height on the daycare property, with a building footprint of 106 x 130 feet. While this may not be the exact dimensions of the actual building, the intention was not to be precise but rather to model the impact of the structure on the skyline.
Newspaper articles about the project have quoted city staff and others as stating that the slope of the land will minimize the visual effect of the building height. My model places the new building at the lowest elevation of the property. Indeed, the impact is less than if the building were sited on higher ground, but as you will see from the images I have attached, the impact is significant. Each image is rendered from the perspective of a person 5’8″ from the ground using the actual topography of the downtown area.
I am not against higher density development in downtown Guelph. I believe that increasing residential density in the core is the best way to bring life back to the city center, but there are better ways to increase density than this. Few buildings in the downtown core or even at its periphery are more than four or five storeys. It is that very human scale that gives most of downtown Guelph a pleasant, walkable atmosphere. Spreading density across the core rather than placing it in a single location would produce a similar overall population density but would better maintain the character of the city center. Guelph needs more development like the new residences on the former Stuart Lumber yard or like the Matrix building at the corner of Woolwich and Eramosa, and fewer like the Cardigan Street apartments or the Park Mall.
The city should not be lured into accepting inappropriate development simply for the sake of increasing density on a single parcel of land. Guelph is growing fast, but that shouldn’t mean that the decisions guiding its growth should be hasty. Surely a developer could profitably build on the site in question at a smaller scale. Although it is tempting to embrace any new residential development, it is important that the character of downtown Guelph be preserved.
I hope that you will find the attached images useful. I trust that you will give appropriate consideration to this issue.RD
