Qualicum community opposes height of proposed Brigil development on Baseline

Ottawa’s west end could soon rise skyward, but the development plans are meeting some local resistance. 

Brigil Developments has been modifying its plan for three sky-high towers at 2946 Baseline Road, near the Queensway Carleton Hospital. For some locals, though, the project still raises concerns.

While initial plans saw the tallest of the buildings at 32-storeys, an updated version now has it listed at 30 storeys. Also slightly down is the number of new units — 871 instead of 878. 

Brigil has also committed to including more balconies and creating an improved green space, and has reconfigured the layout that staggers the towers instead of joining them in an L-shape.

But it is still drawing criticism from the Qualicum-Graham Park neighbourhood located across from the site. 

Andrew Bailes lives a few hundred metres from Baseline Road and said the proposed height is just too much. Up until recently, the maximum height allowed was eight storeys; almost all the homes in the neighbourhood are bungalows or two-storey residences. 

“A lot of people have moved to this area of town because it's away from downtown and it's away from these types of high rises,” said Bailes. “We don't see why we should have to when the maximum zoning right now is much less.”

“There is nothing that's 30 storeys until you get to Preston Street if you're going downtown, and Preston Street as the crow flies, is three-quarters of the way to downtown from here,” he continued. “This, meanwhile, is a suburban neighbourhood.”

This is not the first time the Qualicum community has put up this fight; two Brigil towers have been built next door in recent years, but they each stand at 14 storeys.

The file goes back over a decade, with Brigil first proposing a four-tower development for the site in 2011. Over the next few years revisions were made, and in 2014, Ottawa’s planning and housing committee approved three buildings at 10, 13 and 16 storeys for the site. 

The plans were supported by then-College Ward Coun. Rick Chiarelli, who said the community "achieved significant gains” by reducing the number of units and adding more parking. 

In 2023, zoning regulations required one parking spot for each residential unit, or a total of 700 spaces for the three proposed buildings. Brigil’s plan called for just 232 residential parking spaces, or one for every three units.

The developer argued parking space requirements created  “significant environmental, economic, and social harms” that would drive up costs for the development and its future tenants. 

That parking debate has resurfaced. 

“They are planning less than half a parking spot per resident. There's no way you can live here without a car; rapid transit won't happen for years from now,” said Bailes. “The buses are not great by a long stretch. You can't do anything here by walking. And what that means is overflow parking is going to be on our roads.”

The closest grocery stores to the proposed development can be found at either College Square or Bells Corners. Besides that, the only other closest shopping destinations are Pinecrest Mall — a 35-minute walk — or Bayshore Shopping Centre, which is a 40-minute walk across busy lanes of traffic. 

A Dollarama, pharmacy, and Indian restaurant are currently part of a strip mall that would be torn down to make way for the development. While there is some ground-floor retail space in the existing Brigil building, the anchor space has been left vacant for the last three years. 

Bailes said they were promised a grocery store would go in there, but that there has been no interest due to the lack of parking. 

Local councillor agrees with transit concerns 

College Ward Coun. Laine Johnson called it a “fairly unique development” and said she understands the residents’ concerns around transit.

“This building is proposed along the Baseline Rapid Transit corridor, and that leg of it is not in the priority network under the new Transportation Master Plan, so probably won't see action before 2046,” Johnson told the Lookout. 

“It's one of the challenges that cities have where you get development changes from density that help to build the infrastructure that supports that density,” the councillor added. “So it ends up being this chicken-or-egg situation with a lot of the ways that cities have to fund.”

To try and help move things along, Johnson said she plans on raising those concerns with transit services staff. There are also some bus stop improvements planned for that stretch of Baseline that Johnson said she hopes can become a bigger priority. 

When it comes to the height of the buildings, Johnson said she believes it will be passed by council because if the issue were ever brought before the Ontario Land Tribunal in the future, the OLT would say it is an excellent site for such density. Part of the reason why the City has recently updated its Official Plan is to better align with provincial regulations that support developers. 

Still, Bailes said he knows of at least 50 people who have written to the city opposing the project. For example, a neighbourhood Facebook group of residents against the towers has also climbed to over 180 members in 10 days. 

There have also been door-to-door canvasses by local residents, which have not resulted in a single person saying they are in favour of the development, said Bailes.

“We understand that this is a site that's going to be developed. We just want Brigil to put in an application that looks more sensible,” he said. “The application fundamentally breaks some basic rules of planning.”

Comments on the project have now closed, and the application will go to the planning and housing committee and then to council by the end of the year.