Appeal of contentious Stratford townhouse development fails to sway Ontario Land Tribunal

Concerned residents opposed to a high-density development on Ontario Street approved by Stratford city councilors 15 months ago have lost an appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal.

After hearing from stakeholders Oct. 31, the tribunal – an independent body that adjudicates land use planning matters in Ontario – ruled in favor of city planners and the project’s developers, Chancery Development Limited.

The tribunal outlined its decision in a document publicly released on Friday.

The development “promotes efficient development of underutilized lands, intensifies uses within the settlement area, is supported by public transit, contributes to the range of housing options, and in particular is a built form that respects the heritage character of the surrounding area,” the court wrote.

Chancery’s pair of three-and-a-half storey townhouses – now slated to replace two turn-of-the-century homes and a long-abandoned former restaurant not far from the city’s downtown core – also contribute to intensification targets set by the city , the tribunal added, and further a general push in Ontario to build more housing.

Residents near the Ontario Street development represented by the Festival Area Ratepayers Association first raised concerns about the project in early 2021 when Chancery was proposing a four-storey, 34-unit building between Trow Avenue and Queen Street.

Since the area was designated for low- and medium-density uses, Chancery needed city councilors to increase building height and density limits, as well as rezone the land to a site-specific designation city planners also supported.

At the time, local planners argued the official plan and bylaw amendments fell within provincial guidelines and were consistent with the city’s strategic priorities, which include intensification and housing mix targets.

Residents pushed back, however, raising concerns about the development’s fit in the neighborhood – a heritage area in Stratford’s official plan. Opponents pointed specifically to the project’s height and the impact it would have on shadows, traffic and parking.

They later created a website dedicated to the project and even submitted to city hall a neighbourhood-backed intensification option drawn up by a local architect.

Chancery and its planning consultants eventually came back to council with an amended pitch for a dual townhouse concept that reduced the total height of the development from 17.5 to 14 metres, reduced the total number of units from 34 to 30, and saved from demolition an existing structure at 380 Ontario St. originally included in its plans.

A majority of councilors gave the amended plans a thumbs up in November 2021.

“Change is always difficult, and there’s definitely benefits and drawbacks to this development,” Jo-Dee Burbach, one of the seven councilors who voted to push the controversial project forward, said at the time. “I do think for Stratford as a whole, as a community, that this development will be beneficial.”

The Festival Area Ratepayers Association appealed the matter to the Ontario Land Tribunal, but the concerns it raised were not “sustainable given the evidence offered in support of the proposed development,” the tribunal wrote in its decision.

The 30 new units are expected to bring in nearly $320,000 in development charges and despite the removal of a commercial building and two single detached homes, Chancery’s townhouses are expected to increase taxation revenues, city staff have said.

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