KITCHENER — The city's planning committee will consider an ambitious proposal to build four highrise condo towers as well as commercial space on the site of the Howard Johnson hotel on Weber Street.

City planners are recommending that councillors approve the zoning change application to allow the development, saying it meets the city's goals for high-quality, mixed-use, more intense development on a major road.

"The site is ripe for redevelopment and we've got a proposal that meets our policies and I think will add a different type of housing to that particular area, as well as get that mixed use that we're looking for," said Andrew Pinnell, a planner with the city.

The proposal includes two 12-storey towers and two 15-storey towers on the site at 1333 Weber St. E. The four towers would provide 544 condo apartments, 585 underground parking spots and more than 14,000 square feet of commercial space.

The 1.43-hectare (3.5-acre) site, which sits on Weber between a Beer Store and Hiway Zehrs, is now occupied by the four-storey hotel and is owned by Pamata Hospitality Inc., which has applied for the zoning changes.

Pamata has previous experience with multiple residential development in the Toronto area, said Kristen Barisdale, a planner acting for the company.

But even if city councillors approve the zoning change application, it will be years before any development takes place.

The application is to change the zoning from the current commercial zoning, which doesn't allow residential development, to mixed use, in keeping with the city's new official plan.

The city planning department is recommending approval, but is also calling for several holding provisions that would prevent any development from happening until several conditions are met:

• The most important of these conditions is upgrades to the sanitary services in the area. The city recently upgraded the sanitary pumping station at Freeport that services the area, but the force mains that will take the sewage underneath Highway 8 and on to the Kitchener sewage treatment plant in Doon have yet to be built, and the development freeze for the area could be in place until at least 2019, and possibly 2025, said Linda Cooper, manager of development engineering in Kitchener.

• As well, the developer must carry out detailed noise studies for each phase of the development, to ensure the people living in the highrises won't be subjected to excessive noise from nearby Highway 8 or surrounding businesses.

• The developer must also submit a report on the site's condition to ensure there is no contamination because chemicals such as chlorine are now stored on the site to treat the hotel pool and hot tub, said Rob Horne, Waterloo Region's planning commissioner.

The site is currently underused and the building is dated, Pinnell said, with lots of surface parking. The new plans fit nicely with the city's plans for more intense development along major roads and the light rail transit, he said.

"It's on a major transit route and a major arterial road" where the city wants to encourage denser development, Pinnell said. It's not particularly close to the planned light rail route, with the nearest station about two kilometres away.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

"The way they've proposed to do it is very much in line with the best scenario we can get for mixed-use sites," Pinnell said, with commercial uses at street level in the two buildings facing Weber. The zoning would allow things such as a bank, shops, or doctor's office there.

The proposed development includes design principles such as setback towers, underground parking and higher quality building materials, Pinnell said.