Opponents upset by decision to approve pair of Kingston, Ont. high-rises

Editor’s note: This story has been changed to reflect that the Frontenac Heritage Foundation will not be appealing the North Block project. 

It won’t be long before the landscape of downtown Kingston changes again.

Last week the Ontario Land Tribunal gave the green light to two high-rise apartment buildings on an area of lower Queen Street known as the “North Block.”

Kingston’s mayor believes it will bring much-needed housing to the downtown.

“If we don’t get more housing built in the core of the city, then I think the downtown will be at risk,” Kingston Mayor, Bryan Paterson said. “Options for people to live in the downtown as well as in other parts of the city, I think that’s exactly the sort of thing we need.”

But not everyone shares that mindset.

Shirley Bailey is with the Frontenac Heritage Foundation, one of the groups involved in a six-year battle against the development.

“People are looking at Queen as not being the main drag for getting in and out of the downtown, but it’s where the city appears to want to locate high-density,” Bailey said.

Bailey believes the height of the buildings takes away from the heritage character that downtown Kingston is known for.

“The foundation has been around for nearly 50 years. And we’re going to continue to campaign for good development, compatible, human-scale development in the downtown,” Bailey said.

The group was successful in bringing the height down for a new building project going up just blocks away.

Preliminary demolition has already begun at the site of the Crown Condo following a 6 year-fight that ended with a nine-story compromise.