Greenbank Road

3201 GREENBANK ROAD PLANNING RATIONALE SITE PLAN CONTROL 30.06.2016 PREPARED FOR: Choice Properties REIT 22 St. Clair Avenue East Toronto, ON M4T 2S5 PREPARED BY: FOTENN Consultants Inc. 223 McLeod Street Ottawa, ON K2P 0Z8 PLANNING RATIONALE 30.06.2016 PLANNING RATIONALE 223 McLeod Street Ottawa, ON K2P 0Z8 613.730.5709 fotenn.com INTRODUCTION This Planning Rationale was prepared by FOTENN Consultants Inc. on behalf of Choice Properties REIT (the “Owner”) in support of a Site Plan Control application for the property municipally known as 3201 Greenbank Road. The purpose of the following document is to assess the appropriateness of the proposed retirement home in the context of the surrounding community and the applicable policy and regulatory framework. SUBJECT PROPERTY AND SURROUNDING AREA THE SITE The site is municipally known as 3201 Greenbank Road (referred to herein as ‘the site’) and is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Greenbank Road and Marketplace Avenue. It is the location of a large-format retail food oriented to the north, facing toward Marketplace Avenue but set back to the rear of the site relative to that street. The overall land holdings at the site have approximately 195m of frontage along Greenbank Road and 195m of frontage along Marketplace Avenue. The total site area is 4.58ha, or 45,800m2. Figure 1: Context map PLANNINGDESIGNLANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE SURROUNDING AREA The site is at the southeast corner of intersection of Greenbank Road and Marketplace Avenue in Barrhaven (Figure 1). The area surrounding the site is a major shopping centre consisting of large stand-alone retail uses and smaller multi-tenant structures for smaller retail uses, restaurants and services. This area is recognized in the pertinent Secondary Plan as the Strandherd Retail District. The surrounding uses can be described as follows: North: North of the subject property, across Marketplace Avenue, is a shopping centre built around a central surface parking courtyard. While most buildings are inward-facing on the site, the building abutting Marketplace Ave. has storefronts with active entrances facing the street (Figure 2). Beyond this shopping centre are Strandherd Drive and the residential areas to the north of Strandherd. East: The east boundary of subject property abuts the OC Transpo Transitway and Marketplace Station. Beyond the Transitway is more large-format retail, restaurants, a movie theatre and surface parking associated with these uses. Behind the shopping centre, there is a recently developed townhouse development accessed from Longfields Drive. South: The south half of the subject property is occupied by a large-format retail food store. The lands to the south, behind the store, are mostly vacant save for a small pocket of single-detached housing and a high school in the area defined by the crossing of Greenbank Road and Jockvale Road. West: West of the subject property, across Greenbank Road, is the shopping centre called Barrhaven Town Centre. Large retail uses are positioned at the south, or rearward part of the site, with smaller outparcel buildings at the north end of the property near Strandherd Drive. Figure 2: Context north of site PLANNING RATIONALE 3201 GREENBANK ROAD CHOICE PROPERTIES 2 Figure 3: Context east of site Figure 4: Context south of site PLANNING RATIONALE 3201 GREENBANK ROAD CHOICE PROPERTIES 3 Figure 5: Context west of site TRANSPORTATION NETWORK Transit & Active Transportation The site is located on the Transitway and is adjacent to Marketplace Station, which provides rapid transit access to the rest of the city. Regular OC Transpo bus routes providing connections at this station include routes 99, 173, 175, 176, 177, and 186 (Figure 6). Both Greenbank Road and Strandherd Road are identified as on-road cycling routes in the primary urban cycling network, under Schedule C of the Official Plan. Road Network The site is well served by the existing road network (Figure 7). Greenbank Road and Strandherd Road, which intersect to the northwest of the proposed development, are both arterials. Longfields Drive to the east is also designated arterial. The shopping centre is served internally by Marketplace and Riocan Avenues, which are collector roads. Highway 416 is located approximately 3.5km west of the site and is accessible via Strandherd Drive. PLANNING RATIONALE 3201 GREENBANK ROAD CHOICE PROPERTIES 4 Figure 6: OC Transpo Map Figure 7: Road Network, Schedule E of Official Plan PLANNING RATIONALE 3201 GREENBANK ROAD CHOICE PROPERTIES 5 PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT Choice Properties REIT is proposing to construct a number of one (1) storey retail buildings at 3201 Greenbank Road: 2 / 426m for restaurant use, with one tenant (Building B) 2 / 696m for retail and restaurant use, with four tenants (Building C) 2 / 451m for retail and restaurant use, with two tenants (Building D) The proposed additional uses are to be located at the north end of the site and oriented toward Marketplace Avenue. All buildings are one storey tall, with flat roof heights of approximately 5.5m and parapets of up to 6.5m to promote enclosure of Marketplace Avenue. Regard was given to relating the new buildings to the street and encouraging more pedestrian-friendly conditions along Marketplace Avenue with increased enclosure of the street and increased definition of a block pattern within the shopping centre. Vehicular access to the site will be via two existing driveways from Marketplace Avenue (a 9-metre all-turns driveway and a 6.7-metre-wide right in/right out driveway), an existing right in/right out driveway from Greenbank Road, and another existing driveway access on the east side of the site. The northern extremity of the parking lot has been reconfigured to promote safer access to, and circulation through, the site for pedestrians and vehicles using the driveways from Marketplace Avenue. Landscaping upgrades will enhance pedestrian pathways across the site and add street trees at the entrances to the parking lot and along Marketplace Avenue. PLANNING RATIONALE 3201 GREENBANK ROAD CHOICE PROPERTIES 6 Figure 8: Site plan Figure 9: Site plan – detail PLANNING RATIONALE 3201 GREENBANK ROAD CHOICE PROPERTIES 7 Figure 10: Proposed Building B, northwest corner Figure 11: Proposed Building C, northeast corner Figure 12: Proposed Building D, northeast corner PLANNING RATIONALE 3201 GREENBANK ROAD CHOICE PROPERTIES 8 POLICY AND REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT CITY OF OTTAWA OFFICIAL PLAN 2003, AS AMENDED The City of Ottawa Official Plan is composed of eight sections, each addressing a different aspect of the planned function of the City as a whole. Section 2 of the Official Plan provides Strategic Directions for growth and development within the City. Ottawa’s population is projected to grow by up to 30 percent by 2031. The City plans to meet this growth challenge by managing it in ways that support liveable communities and healthy environments In other words, the City is striving to create ‘complete’ communities in which residents do not need to drive for everyday activities and where jobs, shopping, recreation and social activities lie within walking or cycling distance. More specifically, the Plan pursues strategic directions in four key areas, two of which are relevant to the proposal: 1. Managing Growth a. The City will manage growth by directing it to the urban area where services already exist or where they can be provided efficiently, including development on previously underutilized lots; b. Growth in the urban area will be directed to areas where it can be accommodated in compact and mixed-use development, and served with quality transit, walking and cycling facilities. 2. Creating Liveable Communities a. Growth will be managed in ways that create complete communities with a good balance of facilities and services to meet people’s everyday needs, including schools, community facilities, parks, a variety of housing and places to work and shop; b. The design of the city, the maintenance of greenspace and the high quality of life will enhance the attractiveness of the city for business development. c. Attention to design will help create attractive communities where buildings, open space, and transportation work well together; These strategic directions are developed further in the policies of Section 2.2 (Managing Growth) and 2.5 (Building Liveable Communities), as discussed below. LAND USE DESIGNATION The site is designated Mixed-Use Centre on Schedule B - Urban Policy Plan in the City of Ottawa Official Plan as shown in Figure 10. Per Section 3.6.2 of the Official Plan, this designation applies to areas that have been identified as strategic locations on the rapid- transit network and lie adjacent to major roads. They act as focal points of activity and constitute a critical element in the City's growth management strategy, being areas with high potential to achieve compact and mixed-use development. This Mixed-Use Centre is also labelled a Town Centre, meaning it has an employment target of 10,000 jobs rather than the 5,000 job target for most such lands. As stated in the Official Plan, applications in the Mixed-Use Centre designation will be evaluated according to the criteria of Section 2.5.1 – Compatibility and Community Design and Section 4.11 – Urban Design Compatibility. Further to these policies, the PLANNING RATIONALE 3201 GREENBANK ROAD CHOICE PROPERTIES 9 proposed development should enhance desirable established patterns and built form, evolving toward the achievement of the visions in the Community Design Plan and Secondary Plan. Figure 13: Official Plan Schedule B Managing Growth Section 2.2.2 of the Official Plan deals specifically with the management of growth within the urban area and recognizes that intensification is generally the most cost-effective pattern of development for the provision of municipal services, transit, and other infrastructure. In Policy 4 of Section 2.2.2, the Plan identifies target areas for intensification, focusing on major elements of the rapid transit network and including the Central Area, Mixed-Use Centres, Mainstreets, and Town Centres.

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