Councillor calls for 'nuclear option' to halt Westboro triplexes

Coun. Jeff Leiper is asking Ottawa city council to consider a moratorium on new triplexes in a section of Westboro, a move that would delay an application by a builder who wants to erect two multi-unit buildingson a single lot on Edison Avenue.

The same builder, Falsetto Homes, is looking at a similar project on nearbyRoosevelt Avenue.

I think they're pushing the envelope.- Coun. Jeff Leiper

"I think they're pushing the envelope," said Leiper, who's running for re-election in Kitchissippi ward."I see it asoverintensification."

On Wednesday, Leiperwill ask council to consider a motion calling for an interim control bylaw essentially, a temporary moratorium on triplexes fromGolden Avenueeast to TweedsmuirAvenue, and Byron Avenue south to Dovercourt Avenue.

'Nuclear option'

"I realize this is the nuclear option," said Leiper, whose motion also askscity staff to study the impact of triplexes inWestboro.

Coun. Jan Harder, chair of the planning committee,has seconded Leiper's motion, an strong indication of support.

Leiper'sproposal prompted the city's committee of adjustment the arms-length tribunal considering the Falsetto Homes application to delay its decision until council votes.

Neighbours upset

People living in the area under consideration applaud the move.

"It shed a strong ray of sunshine on what seemed to be a kind of hopeless situation," said MaxFinkelstein, who lives next to the proposed site on Edison Avenue.

He said the development seemed to be a tipping point for the community, where many residents areconcerned about the changing face of a neighbourhood wheresingle-family homes were once the rule.

Eighty people showed up to a recent consultation held by the developer to discuss the Edison Avenue proposal.

"It's not just a couple of neighbours upset, it's a whole community that's upset," Finkelsteinsaid.

Too intense?

The city'sofficial plan is gearedtoward intensification in urban neighbourhoods, and the neighbourhood in question is zoned to allow triplexes, but Leipersaid many residents feel the pendulum has swung too far the other way.

"Replacing a single family home with six units potentially a fourth unit in each of those triplexes if the owner comes back for rezoning subsequently that seems to be a threshold too far," he said.

But for advocates of urban intensification,triplexes make desirable downtown neighbourhoods more accessible to homebuyers currently priced out of the single-familyhome market.

"This is forward-thinking," said Kate Whitfield, an urban plannerand lecturer at Carleton University.

"When cities have a chance to adopt progressive policies, we have to keep moving forward to get the kind of city we want," she said.