Since I am the owner of a house on Evergreen Drive and there are 14 houses on this street and their concerned owners just like me, we all are directly effected by this development project in a negative way. The homeowners of the neighbouring streets, such as Monticello, Mayfield, Colborn, Stone and Old Stone Court share our fears and concerns.
1. Our first concern is that the integrity, safety and stability of our neighbourhood with historic roots, cottage-like atmosphere and low density residential homes will be shuttered by the two overpowering high density residential buildings right at our doorstep. The proposed high rises with this amount of people (of up to 1500!), in this case students, who will be jammed in the buildings, will be an insult to the privacy of the residents our established community. The approved city Official Plan and the Zoning By-law of this area allows for the LOW density residential homes and commercial development, where the beautiful Best Western building, already renovated and improved, could be converted, if required, to a medical centre, for example, or government offices, given the proximity of the ministries.
1. The outside development company, Abode Varsity Living, is planning to destroy half of the historic trademark evergreens on the property and this would be a turn backwards and not forward, given the fact that the city and the Province are going green and are on the right path of preserving the green areas in municipalities.1. The University of Guelph management, namely the Vice-President of finance and administration, Nancy Sullivan, does not seem to agree with the need of the additional overpopulated student residences in the city of Guelph. The U of G provides residences on campus to the first year students and tries to accommodate the rest, should they request to stay in the existing student housing. However practice and statistics show that students prefer more quiet and private surrounding in order to keep up with the studies. Such atmosphere is provided by private rentals, which are controlled by the owners of the houses, where the students are not concentrated in one area, which allows for mischief and loud, sometimes violent, emotion spills. The students abide the rules of civilized living within Guelph homes and successfully continue with their studies. Since the enrollment at U of G is falling rather than rising, the University does not see the need in the additional student housing, especially of this dimension.
1. There is no guarantee that this is going to be an strictly student housing, especially given the fact it has nothing to do with the U of G network.
1. The sunlight penetration will be affected with this development and become non existent on Evergreen Drive. The shadows from the buildings will cover all the houses, vegetable gardens and swimming pools on the adjacent street. These changes are not welcome with the homeowners of this area!
1. The outside developer would not understand and care for our city the way we, the residents of this city do. Their goal is to place a lot of people in a small piece of land, which will create revenue for their pockets. We, the taxpayers and permanent residents of Guelph, will be negatively affected by the high density buildings in this area, especially by the condensed student residences, which have no positive precedence and only the history of a negative outcome for the neighbourhood, for the students themselves and for the community as a whole. Since the students have no consequences of misbehavior with the University on the off campus housing, these buildings will become a chaos haven. The well taxed value of our homes will drop drastically and quality of our living will deteriorate.
1. The increased traffic density will be a concern as well. The concentration of vehicles in a small enclosed corner of a very busy highway – highway 6 (Gordon St.) and Stone Road, which is also extremely populated with car and bicycle traffic.
1. The noise from the air-conditioning units, heating devices and the crowds of excited students will also affect the quiet neighbourhood of residents who have lived here for over 40 years with the expectation of safety and stability. A lot of homeowners have done extensive renovations and additions to their houses and large lots allow for swimming pools and backyard gardens. The high density residencies will undermine the excellent reputation of our establishment.
1. If the developer wants to build high rises, there are other sites in the city of Guelph (for this purpose and within a walking distance to the U of G), which could be explored and which already have tall buildings in place. Thus, the new development will not interfere with architectural balance of the well established neighbourhood.
1. The most important points are: we actively support the city of Guelph position on “maintaining the stability and character of the built forms in an existing established neighbourhood” and “minimizing potential conflicts between various housing forms” (as stipulated in the Zoning and Planning Act). The student high rises will present an obvious conflict into the area and will not make Guelph a better place to live. AL