Pair of tower rezoning proposals heading to public hearing

CBC

4 days ago

Two rezoning applications for highrise buildings that could add more housing near the University of Alberta and in the Rossdale neighbourhood are heading to a public hearing at city hall on Monday.
A 27-storey apartment building planned for the Windsor Park neighbourhood is heading to a public hearing at city hall on Monday.
The proposed tower, called the Windsor Heights apartment building, would feature a large four-storey base and contain 285 residential units, 250 underground parking stalls, and up to 24,000 square feet of retail space.
That project is being spearheaded by the Edmonton-based development company Westrich Pacific.
Abdul Abbasi is vice-president external with the University of Alberta Students' Union.
He said having a new building near the U of A would alleviate student housing concerns.
"Affordable housing is a big issue that we hear from students, and we have been having conversations with the city on that," Abbasi told CBC.
"Our campus food bank usage has increased by over 600 per cent over the last five years, and the biggest reason has been rent increase."
The building would offer units with two and three bedrooms which Abbasi said can help with affordability given the rental vacancy in some neighbourhoods like Garneau is as low as one per cent.
"When you have two and three bedroom housing, students can share that … let's say $2,400 or $2,000 and share that within themselves, and the cost comes down. But at the same time, if students are not using it, it can also be used as family housing."
During an open house in July, some residents voiced concern over the height of the building.
Abbasi said the student union is hoping to continue conversations with the surrounding community leagues to approach the issue of affordable housing collaboratively.
U of A urban planning expert Neal LaMontagne said concerns around building height can be addressed with more information being provided to residents.
"With the individual project, it's really hard to say, well, it's going to have this big effect, right? They're all only individual projects. It's how they all add up that matters," LaMontagne said.
"Overall, the more supply we have, of course, the better that is for general affordability. Highrises get a lot of efficiency out of the site, but they're also a little more expensive to build."
Rossdale tower
In Rossdale, Dub Architects plans to put a residential and commercial building on land that houses the old Rossdale Brewery. The development could reach 17 storeys, with a maximum of 490 dwellings.
"We have thought, rather than build a 10-storey building that's conventional, we'd like to do something interesting, because it's such a prominent site," architect Gene Dub told CBC, noting adjustments like setting the site back 90 metres after hearing concerns from residents on the risks of flooding due to being on a lower lying part of the city.
"We have a building that's a series of sloped terraces, so that it's three stories at one end and 17 stories at the other end, averaging 10 stories. We think it's warranted to go through the expense to have an extraordinary design on such a nice site."
Rossdale community league president Uzair Ahmed said there has been a preference for an older design of the project.
"It was medium density, and the style and the heritage of it, and just ... looked a lot better in my opinion."