The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal has shot down a Homestead Landholding development slated to be built in Kingston’s east end.
The seven-storey residential unit was first proposed in 2013 and was meant to bring 95 units and over 260 parking spaces to the old Rideau Marina site in Kingston’s east end.
On Monday, Global News obtained a copy of the LPAT ruling that denied Homestead’s request to the city, and its eventual appeal to the LPAT, to amend Kingston’s Official Plan and a particular zoning bylaw.
The zoning bylaw in question is a holdover from before amalgamation that, according to the city, “regulates the use of lands and the character, location and use of buildings and structures” in what was the former Township of Pittsburgh, now the city’s east end.
The property, at 48 Point St. Mark Dr., is zoned as a marina, and it was the city’s position that the property could only be used as such since the lot does not abut or have direct access to Point St. Mark Drive.
The plans for the development show the building is set farther back on the property, and that a driveway connects the property with Point St. Mark.
The city also said the building would be “too tall and too long and would not maintain views of the shoreline and would affect views of the river from residential properties to the east of the side.”
“The city contended that the proposal would not maintain the heritage characteristics of the area,” the tribunal decision read.
The property sits along the Cataraqui River, which itself is part of the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the city’s Official Plan, “all development individually or collectively overlooking the Rideau Canal must have regard for their visual impact on the UNESCO World Heritage Designation.”
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In the end, the tribunal sided with the city on both counts.
The tribunal concluded the property was zoned to be a marina, as the city argued, but it did not want to preclude any other kind of development on the property in the future.
The LPAT decision noted that the marina property at one point was granted zoning rights for a hotel, a restaurant and convenience store, therefore the LPAT concluded that a residential property with the level of traffic associated with such an operation would be appropriate in the future.
The tribunal also said that the “high density” design of the building was not compatible with the low density surrounding neighbourhood, and therefore did not comply with the city’s Official Plan. The LPAT added that the design of the building did not adhere to the Official Plan’s heritage designation required of buildings that are built on the Rideau Canal’s shoreline.
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