20 University Ave E | 25 fl | Proposed

[Watdot]

20 University Avenue East

20 University Inc.

Zone Change Proposal

[ijmorlan]

URL to the brief is no good - some sort of temporary URL that has expired.

[SF22]

Page 64 of the council agenda has a one-page summary: https://events.waterloo.ca/meetings/Deta...ba011b11ab

Looks like the minutes of that meeting haven't been posted yet with any determination that was made. But there is a page on the Engage Waterloo website about this site specifically.

That said, feels like a no-brainer to replace the existing auto shop with some residential and commercial space! Text from the Engage Waterloo page:

Application to amend zoning for 20 University Ave E
Changes to the Zoning Bylaw for this location are required before a permit can be issued. This means that they submit an application that is reviewed by city planners and other agencies plus city council before anything can be built.

20 University Inc. is proposing a 25-storey, mixed-use building comprised of 260 bedrooms (260 dwelling units) and 647 square m of ground floor commercial space.

Zoning bylaw changes requested include:
Removing the holding (H) symbol from the subject property
Reducing the minimum street line setback requirement from 5.0 m to 4.5 m
Increasing the maximum permitted horizontal tower dimension from 40.0 m to 43.0 m
Changing the bicycling parking space requirements to allow for stacked bicycle parking;
Increasing the maximum driveway width from 7.0 metres to 10.0 metres;
Reducing the minimum required residential parking rate from 1 space per units to 0.6 spaces per unit
Allowing geothermal wells.
View the documents submitted by the development company under supporting documents on this page for more details and drawings.

Building height, units, housing types
Tallest tower: 25 storeys
Number of units: 260
Number of bedrooms: 260
Housing types: apartments

Non-residential floor space
Commercial space: 647 square m

Parking
Parking: 203
Bicycle parking: 165 (stacked, secure parking room)

You can provide feedback to the planning department, and it will be shared with the council, or ask a question to learn more about this application.
Images are provided by the applicant and may not reflect the final design approved by the planning division.

[timc]

This looks like it belongs in Northdale. It's plain, boring, and is filled with one-bedroom units.

Can't we do better?

[ac3r]

It's all the same area. Northdale, King North, University East. Everything north of Bridgeport has been turned into an ugly student ghetto. I wouldn't even waste the effort building a nice looking tower anywhere around these areas because you'd just have all this junk nearby. Let it work with itself to contain it from the rest of the city, I think. Besides, no reputable developer would likely consider building here anyway, they'd opt for something closer to uptown.

[Bjays93]

The university area builds keep getting worse ugh.

Also waterloo is going to regret their tabletop skyline in 30 years, but alas no lets kill the city now for our arbitrary 25 story height limit.

[jeffster]

The university area builds keep getting worse ugh.

Also waterloo is going to regret their tabletop skyline in 30 years, but alas no lets kill the city now for our arbitrary 25 story height limit.

Is there a 25 floor limit? If so, is it related to it being students housing?

I used to work in Waterloo and in that area up to 2014, and that whole area looks nothing like it used to. Ghetto is appropriate for that area. But, it still looks impressive if you angle yourself correctly.

[ac3r]

I don't know if there is a specific rule (been ages since I've done work in that city) but there is certainly a tradition of this limit. Of course developers can apply to have larger building projects (that big Drewlo one is proposing some of the buildings be as high as 28 floors), but most don't bother since it's easier to get approval if you don't do this. It's one reason why Waterloo has so many buildings with huge rectangular footprints: if they can only build up to a certain point, they try to make sure the building contains as much square meters per floor as possible.

There's nothing wrong about doing that IMO. There are cities all around the world where building height rarely exceeds a certain height. Washington, DC for example has fairly strict rules that nothing may exceed 130 feet (90 in residential areas). European cities are heavily dominated by 4-8 floor buildings. You can achieve high density even without skyscrapers all over the place. It is just super irrelevant in Waterloo. I mean somewhere like Montréal where they don't allow any buildings to be higher than Mont Royal makes sense symbolically, but here...? There's no real reason other than some arbitrary "it's to preserve the skyline and urban experience on the ground" argument. Okay yeah open spaces are nice - I'd rather see the sky than buildings - but this isn't Manhattan or Chongqing.

[Spokes]

It's just such a shame because there is/was clearly a huge demand for housing, so just think of the massive missed opportunity to completely reshape and rebuild a major part of the city in the right way. But now it's IMO ruined.

I think as soon as they decided to make it a mono culture of students, it was toast. Make apartment buildings, not student buildings. When I went to school in Ottawa that was a major difference that I noticed. We didn't find apartments in student buildings, we found them in apartments. Obviously some had more students in them based on proximity to campus, but none were exclusively students. Other than being on campus of course.

[nms]

Since this got a nudge from the General Universities thread, and there is now a hole in the ground, are there any updates on what the final product will look like?

[ZEBuilder]

City staff haven't come to a conclusion on the ZBA/OPA yet and it's well over the legal time frame in the planning act, so it wouldn't be surprising if this ends up going to the OLT like half of Waterloo's projects.

[ac3r]

I'll bet you a beer it goes to the OLT, I mean, it's Waterloo we're talking about...haha.