By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
DUNNVILLE—Local residents spoke out against a planned three-storey condominium building in Dunnville during last week’s Council session.
The new building, slotted to be built at 205 South Cayuga St. E., has raised concerns including noise, parking, and suitability.
“In our experience, the types of comments we received here very much align with what we would expect in a small to mid-sized community being presented with a low-rise condominium building,” states Paul Bisanti, Manager of Development for Lanca Contracting. “Members of the community desire assurance that privacy can be maintained, that the built form of the development fits into the general fabric of the community, and that their enjoyment and free use of their own property is not impinged on.”
“It’s just too big for the neighbourhood,” says resident Cathy Girling, who presented Council with a document signed by 27 residents who do not want to see the condominium built.
Girling’s husband, Mark, runs Girling Auto Body and Collision, which would be located across the street from the new building. Primarily, he was concerned about how parking would be impacted for his customers, and also how noise from his shop would affect residents of the building. There are plans in place to install noise-mitigating walls and windows into the condo units.
“Perhaps the greatest concern was for parking…. With the new building, the on-street parking will be parallel parking, reducing the number of available spots,” explains Ward 6 Councillor Bernie Corbett. “There was a rumour that there would be no parking on the north side of South Cayuga. However, it was just a rumour.”
Debbie Templeton, president of a nearby condo complex, raised similar concerns. “Parking was always an issue there. There should be a parking study, and a peer review.”
Currently, the site plan for the building allots 1.5 parking spaces for each unit. This number of spaces meets the standard required, but residents are still concerned parking will spill onto the street.
“While we remain open minded to increasing the parking provided … we must consider the unintended negative consequences on all the other technical items that have to balance out,” said Bisanti. “Opportunities exist to refine the site plan.”
Beyond parking, residents feel the proposed building is too large and does not fit into their neighbourhood.
“A 30-unit, three-storey building would fit somewhere else, but not dropped in the middle of Dunnville,” says Templeton. “We’re not happy about it.”
“It’s too much building for that parcel of land. Everything that they want to do is deficient. So they have to ask for variances,” adds Girling.
Council had originally considered a group of townhouses for the space, but decided on a condominium building as it falls more in line with provincially-mandated standards for intensification.
“Municipalities have limited opportunities to comply with this provincial legislation,” explains Bisanti. “After this step, the next step is to make a formal Site Plan Approval application. This is a technical matter where the municipal staff heavily scrutinizes our engineering design of the site across many different disciplines.”
Templeton sums up the hopes of her neighbours: “When it’s not right, it’s not right. Make it right.”
