Osland thinks the city is ramming through a project that was essentially approved by a past council and isn’t considering the current landscape. He believes such a development should be closer to post-secondary institutions and the core area of uptown.

“It’s a large development, there’s no doubt about that,” Bodaly said.

“Really what I think was at play was the previous landowners was sitting on it until someone came with an offer that was appealing to them, and that happened in the middle of last year.”

No one from Lexington Park returned a call after the newspaper reached out Thursday.

Bodaly is hopeful of seeing the visual renderings soon and said Lexington Park is well known for many of its commercial developments throughout Waterloo. He said site plans call for three buildings to be built in three phases, with five total towers.

“These are what the developer has shared with me as their initial plans, but those could certainly change as there is an element of funding from their perspective and a host of other issues that will affect them in their build,” Bodaly wrote in an update to residents on his website earlier this year.

Bodaly says not all intensity can be in the core and that the apartments will add to the housing mix and make for a more sustainable community in the long term.

The development connects to public transportation and is within walking distance of local post-secondary institutions. It has the potential to boost numbers at Laurelwood Public School that have dwindled due to an aging population. It could also give empty nesters an option to downsize and stay in the community, he said.

A site alteration permit has been issued for the current work on the site that is just over 8.8 acres in size and across the street from a townhouse complex a 461 Columbia St W.

The city’s director of planning, Joel Cotter, said building permits can be applied for after site plan approval is secured. Once building permits are obtained, the timing of construction rests with the developer.

The developer could still request modifications to the site plan and corresponding building permits at any time during the development process, which would require subsequent municipal approval.

According to Cotter, both structured and surface parking is shown in the site plan.

As Bodaly understands, there would possibly be the need for underground parking as part of the third phase of the construction.

He said he doesn’t have any concerns about traffic at this time, but that it will need to be monitored. Columbia Street West was recently widened to accommodate extra volume.