DALHOUSIE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

755 Somerset Street West, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6R1

13 January, 2015

Andrew McCreight, City of Ottawa

Planning and Growth Management Dept.

Re: Local Commercial Zoning By-Law Amendment Proposal

Dear Mr. McCreight,

The Dalhousie Community Association strongly objects to the details of the local commercial re-zoning proposed in
our neighbourhood for:

Rochester St. between Somerset and Gladstone

Southeast corner of Rochester & Elm
Southeast corner of Cooper and Percy

ROCHESTER ST
The proposal encourages convenient access to neighbourhood goods and services. But Rochester St does not
need commercial encouraged. One block west is Preston Traditional Mainstreet. Gladstone & Somerset are
Traditional Mainstreets too. One block east, Booth St. is also zoned commercial. These streets provide access to an
enormous variety of goods and services for the residential neighbourhood. There is also a huge concentration of
restaurants on Preston and Somerset. Further commercialization of this residential area is not needed, will be
disruptive of the stable low-rise residential neighbourhood, and may dilute the vitality of the nearby Traditional
Mainstreets.
About 15 years or so ago, a City planning study of Rochester, Booth and Lebreton concluded that there was too
much commercial on these 3 parallel adjacent streets. The degree of commercial use on Rochester and Lebreton
was therefore slightly curtailed. Booth St was left as the primary local commercial street. Specifically, restaurants
were removed as a permitted use on Rochester.
Restaurants and grocery stores are far and away the two most disruptive uses to our neighbourhood. Their
delivery trucks, garbage management and removal have been documented problems for decades. Lets keep these
two uses out of the middle of this residential area. We already have more than sufficient of both of these uses on
Somerset, Preston (and potentially Gladstone).

We have no objections to the proposed conditions of the Suffix c zoning with regard to:

underlying zoning governing,

commercial in ground floor and basement only,
commercial being in a residential building, (although the area of commercial use should not exceed the
residential)
max. 100m2 area, and
no commercial parking.

Except, we object to outdoor patios in a low-rise residential neighbourhood. No matter how constrained,
screened, regulated, its a disruption for residents in low-rise dwellings.

We do object to the proposed permitted non-residential uses of:

restaurants, and
retail food stores

SOUTHEAST CORNERS OF ROCHESTER & ELM AND OF COOPER & PERCY

For the same reasons as above, restaurants (and patios) and grocery stores should not be permitted in these low
rise neighbourhoods where these goods and services are readily available close by.

We suggest that a variant of Suffix c, be created to meet the circumstances of this neighbourhood.

Yours truly,

David Seaborn
Chair, Planning & Development Committee
Dalhousie Community Association

Cc: Councillor Catherine McKenney