City of Ottawa’s planning and housing committee approves high-rise proposal near Experimental Farm

A City of Ottawa committee has given its thumbs up to a high-rise proposal near the Experimental Farm.

The City’s planning and housing committee approved the proposal, located at 1081 Carling Avenue, on Wednesday, Aug. 16.

The development near Carling Avenue and Parkdale Avenue would see an existing building and parking lots turn into two towers, one that is 16 storeys tall and the other 27 storeys tall.

It would also feature more than 350 residential apartments.

The proposal has faced opposition, including the issue of shadowing from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and its impacts on research done at the Experimental Farm.

“We need to have conditions that mimic normal field conditions across Canada, and that kind of disturbance, and basically the representativeness of the research land here, is going to really be a barrier for us to interpret the data for farmers across Canada,” explained Pascal Michel, the Director General for the Ontario-Quebec Region of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in an interview with CityNews Ottawa on August 16.

The developer, Taggart Realty Management, said the proposal meets all the guidelines within the City’s Official Plan, and the area councillor, Jeff Leiper agrees, even if he doesn’t “love the project.”

The councillor for Knoxdale-Merivale ward, who has an upcoming development proposal with similar shadowing concerns in his ward, tried to get colleagues to defer any decision.

“I’m weary of making these kinds of decisions without duly considering the risks.” said Sean Devine, while also pondering the future of the Central Experimental Farm, wondering if the federal government will even choose to hold onto the farm.

The debate at committee centered on climate research versus the lack of housing in Ottawa, and councillor Tim Tierney believes that council has to make swift decisions on increasing density.

“It’s great that we all are farmers suddenly and probably have coveralls out of the blue, but at the same time, we have been preaching as a council that we have a housing crisis….either we’re going to go ahead and start building, or not.”

The topic rises to Ottawa City Council on Aug. 23.