Article content continued

But in the way of the glitzy proposal is the old Kent brewery, a building listed on city hall’s heritage registry. Some Londoners who showed up to a public meeting urged council to save that 1883 building.

Kelley McKeating described the proposal as an unfortunate pattern in London.

“Most proposals for very tall, very large buildings seem to have to come at the expense of heritage buildings,” she said, adding residents in the neighbouring condos will face a “a mind-numbing loss of sunlight, of view, of privacy.”

AnnaMaria Valastro, a frequent city hall opponent, spoke at length about how politicians have failed to “protect” the North Talbot neighbourhood from development and students and claimed the York proposal would “kill” the area.

Politicians slapped down some of the vitriol that came from the public gallery, with Deputy Mayor Jesse Helmer calling a few of the public comments unhelpful.

“It does not matter where people are from. It doesn’t matter if it’s housing for students, for old people . . . the question is what kind of buildings can go where. We have to look at the planning issues involved, not the kind of people who will live in them,” he said.

Helmer said he’d like to see proposals like York’s plan come to fruition, but expressed some concern about the existing buildings on the block. “We have this interesting heritage building that’s going to have a giant tower dropped on top of it,” he said.

Ward 5 Coun. Maureen Cassidy, chair of the planning committee, added the density was “a little more than I expected.”

The site is zoned for 12 storeys, with room to approve taller buildings through bonus zoning, when a developer offers community benefits such as affordable units or public art in exchange for more height or density.

The proposal will come back to council for a future public participation meeting and zoning decision.

mstacey@postmedia.com

twitter.com/MeganatLFPress