If there is an over-supply of hotel room in Guelph, the land now occupied by the Best Western Royal Brock could well be put to better use. But the proposed Student Residence would not be a better use, since student housing is also in over-supply, and this surplus would be made much worse by adding 1400 more rooms to the inventory. Our next-door neighbour, who has been phoning around, tells us that 4oo vacant rooms are currently listed as available off campus for student occupation. Many of these belong to elder citizens who rent our rooms as part of their retirement planning.
The citizens who are in favour of the plan believe it would solve the problems created by troublesome students in other parts of the city. This is a rash conjecture, since many students will prefer the cheaper and less constricted accommodations available along the city’s bus-routes and cycle lanes, or nearer to the bars. What is more, the proposed building, even if not fully occupied, would create new problems—not only traffic problems. Housing up to 1400 students in an enclosed space is bound to create problems related to drugs, sex, theft, sickness and bed-bugs (a plague in Toronto residences at the present time). The city police should have their say in this matter.
No less important than the above consideration is the aesthetic aspect of the proposal. The Abode building would unbalance a major cross-road where at present there are three fine buildings, the Delta Hotel, the Ontario Building, and the Bovey Building. How would this entry to the city look if overtowered by a sixteen-story student residence? The Council should think long and hard about this aspect of the proposal to avoid another ‘momentous error’ like the reconstruction of St. George’s Square (U. Kilhanki in The Mercury). If the Abode building is put up, Guelph will be stuck with it for sixty years at least.
If the time should come when the University feels the need for more student accommodation to be provided, it should be built on land owned by the University, e.g., in the open area that now encloses the Field Hockey Pitch. But no such need is likely to be felt in the foreseeable future.
One purpose of zoning laws is to protect property-owners and tax=payers from the spoiling of their neighbourhoods by the building of incongruous structures. The Abode building(s), if constructed, would spoil what is at present one of the best residential areas in Guelph, and would substantially reduce the value of properties far beyond its own huge shadow. The developer from Mississauga hopes to make money out of this project, and perhaps the City of Guelph hopes to increase property-tax revenue by permitting it. But such financial considerations will not, one hopes, be allowed to prevail in a matter of such importance for the future of Guelph. NB