1198 Fischer Hallman Rd | 14 & 22 | Proposed

[cherrypark]

Being opposed to this while approving the tower at the corner boggles the mind.

[sluismcfc]

Being opposed to this while approving the tower at the corner boggles the mind.

The tower at the corner is a total anomaly. It required no public process other than a parking variance. It has legacy Convenience Commercial zoning with no height restrictions, no max FSR, no setbacks related to height. I'll be shocked if it ever gets built.

[ZEBuilder]

Being opposed to this while approving the tower at the corner boggles the mind.

Staff is not opposed to it it is solely Singh. He's opposed to it because its too close to the existing low rise yet he had no issues approving similarly tall buildings in the city close to existing low rise development. He supported Lancaster on the Grand with no problem which is across the street from low rise just like this so it's definitely a case of him wanting to appease his constituents. I truly hope Activa comes back to the next council meeting without changing anything because the development had support of staff. In the meeting you could tell staff was quite taken aback by the opposition considering they supported the development in its current form. Singh is also one of the people who consistently supports Davey's desire for more density so its surely peculiar to see.

One of Singh's suggestions to make the development "fit in" better is to decrease the 14 floor building to 8 floors, and add the removed floors onto the 22 floor building so it would then be 28 floors, I personally wouldn't mind that kind of height, but the rest of the neighbourhood would through a fit and a half. The only potentially nice thing is if that sets the height precedent for the Fischer Hallman corridor since a lot of it is zoned similarly to this property.

[cherrypark]

Being opposed to this while approving the tower at the corner boggles the mind.

The tower at the corner is a total anomaly. It required no public process other than a parking variance. It has legacy Convenience Commercial zoning with no height restrictions, no max FSR, no setbacks related to height. I'll be shocked if it ever gets built.

Ah, that's my ignorance. I assumed it as being reviewed for height/FSR as well. Regardless, I would rather see more 14 story towers in more places than relying on the extra tall condos in areas like this that need to grow into some mid-scale development with time.

[ZEBuilder]

This went back to council tonight, Councillor Singh was definitely hoping for changes to be made but Activa did not make any changes to the design, some of the issues that Singh had were related to the set up of phase 1 which is already site plan approved so it cannot be changed. Regardless of Councillor Singh's overall dislike in the project he did ultimately support it. So it has now been approved without any changes.

Ultimately I hope this starts to set the precedent for height outside of the core, while 22 floors obviously isn't suitable everywhere 14 certainly is more realistic. I also hope that this might be the new precedent along Fischer Hallman since much of the corridor in the Rosenburg Secondary Plan is zoned identical or very similar.

[neonjoe]

This was approved.
https://archive.li/9e7Su

[ZEBuilder]

Last spring they cleared all the trees on the site, They got the demolition permits for the existing structures last week, this weekend as I passed by there was equipment on site so demolition works should be completed rather quick. If I recall what was said in the planning meeting they wanted to start earth works and servicing for the townhome portion of the site this spring, so there might be some more action soon.

[ZEBuilder]

There has now been substantial earth works on this site now. Soon after the Kieswetter mobilized their demolition equipment VanRooyen Earthmoving mobilized theirs. So over the past three weeks they've stripped all the topsoil, they have a giant pile left to be removed from the site (large pile on the left in the image), all the existing fill that was on the site has been used up so they have been trucking the rest of the fill in from another location. Now they only have to fill section along Bleams and most of the area fronting Fischer-Hallman

On most days they have had 3 machines operating (a bulldozer, a roller and an excavator), the past week or so they have also had 2 rock trucks and a second bulldozer on site. There is also a few other people on site who are supervisors/engineers who come and go throughout the day.

Presumably once they are done all the grading works Activa will move ahead with site servicing works for the townhomes so they can start selling them for construction next year.

   

[cherrypark]

Dump truck traffic coming out of there has been a major disruption cycling by on the daily. Drivers absolutely cannot seem to stop on a stop line, even with 10'+ of visual clearance... Can't wait unit this phase is wrapped.

[ZEBuilder]

Dump truck traffic coming out of there has been a major disruption cycling by on the daily. Drivers absolutely cannot seem to stop on a stop line, even with 10'+ of visual clearance... Can't wait unit this phase is wrapped.

At least you haven't seen the case where the dump truck pulls out and blocks northbound Fischer-Hallman traffic as it waits for a gap in southbound. As insane as it sounds that happens multiple times a day.

This phase shouldn't be going on for much longer,  in terms of grading they only have the storm water pond left and another foot or two along Fischer-Hallman. They've been having about 150-250 trucks a day coming into there so it really shouldn't be that much longer. They still have to build some retaining walls after the grading but that shouldn't involve anywhere near as many dump trucks.

The one issue thats gonna be a problem for this site for awhile is the dust. The entire site is sand (the fill they're trucking in is sandy as well) so when its windy like today its just a dust cloud,  it was bad enough that people in the neighborhood were driving by, stopping and then finding people on site to complain to.

[nms]

What's the point of removing all the top soil?

[ZEBuilder]

What's the point of removing all the top soil?

Topsoil isn't adequate to use as a structural fill material due to the organic nature of it. As the organic matter decomposes it results in settlement, when a foundation is built on topsoil or any inadequate fill for that matter the structure will sink. Hence topsoil is removed so grading activities can occur on the native soil, if there is not enough native soil to properly grade the site, like this site, clean fill is brought in which is the native soil from another location which still has the desired properties. Once the structures are complete the topsoil is then brought back onto the site.