Evolving port in a storm
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ANDREW WALLACE/TORONTO STAR
Mississauga Councillor Carmen Corbasson, says it won’t set a precedent for more highrises in the area. Port Credit
Residents of the former town in south Mississauga want to retain a village feel through a post-industrial evolution that includes intensification.
Homeowners' groups at odds over tower and how best to deal with intensification in south Mississauga
March 01, 2008
Mike Funston
STAFF REPORTER
The approval of a 22-storey condominium tower to be built close to the Mississauga waterfront in Port Credit has residents' groups divided and has sparked fears it could lead to a highrise jungle along Lakeshore Rd.
"This could very well set a precedent for highrise buildings on the north side of Lakeshore going both east and west (of Hurontario St.)," says Ian Smith, president of the Town of Port Credit Association, a 100-household group formed to oppose the condo project called North Shore.
"There are certainly a number of sites along Lakeshore, in terms of the price of land and location, that are ideal for redevelopment and where taller buildings could be accommodated."
His group opposes the project on the grounds that it's "an intrusion into the village-like setting" of Port Credit, with its trendy shopping district and picturesque harbour. Once an independent municipality, it joined Streetsville and the Town of Mississauga to become the City of Mississauga in 1974.
Any redevelopment along Lakeshore should be lowrise upscale commercial or residential, Smith says.
The dispute may be a precursor to other situations in the GTA where established communities with predominantly lowrise and single-family housing may be forced to evolve because of provincial intensification policies. Such policies are aimed at taking better advantage of existing infrastructure, especially within walking distance of major public transit hubs, in an effort to curb suburban sprawl.
The Port Credit Village Ratepayers Association, with about 150-member households, wants to protect the neighbourhood character, too.
But it raised eyebrows in the community by supporting the project, at the northeast corner of Hurontario St. and Lakeshore Rd. E., although it has solid reasons for doing so, says director John David.
The site was limited by a previous Ontario Municipal Board decision to a 10-storey height.
However, that would have occupied most of the land and created a walled effect along Lakeshore and had a more detrimental impact on neighbouring residents, David says.
Instead, the group felt that a taller but narrower building would open up more space and be a better alternative.
"It was a win for us from that perspective and we're also getting a $1-million contribution from the developer for a neighbouring park."
David adds: "We think it will be a good project for Port Credit. It's a strategic corner, a transit hub with a GO station nearby. It will bring more people to the centre of the village and be good for the businesses here as well as community amenities."
The high density can be justified because it is a major transit node and there are no other sites like it in the vicinity, he says, therefore it isn't likely to set a precedent for more such highrises. There is already an apartment building of about 20 storeys, dating back about 40 years, on the opposite side of Hurontario.
The 214-unit project has attracted a flood of buyers, gobbling up condos ranging from $280,000 to $1.5 million, for a choice location near the waterfront, says developer Frank Giannone, of the FRAM/Slokker Group. The company will also build an adjacent seven-storey, 150-unit seniors' apartment building.
The project should be constructed within the next two years.
"We're bringing high-quality architecture that will frame Hurontario St. (combined with the existing highrise) as the entry point to Port Credit," Giannone says, insisting the project "will enhance the atmosphere of a pedestrian-friendly village."
Mississauga Council approved the application last summer after it had been held up for a year while city officials looked for ways to preserve the historic Gray House on site. It was once home to the founders of St. Lawrence Starch Company that was on the south side of Lakeshore, east of Hurontario.
The plant was closed in 1991 and eventually redeveloped by FRAM/Slokker for townhouses, lowrise condos, retail and office use.
The proposal to save the vacant 2 1/2 storey Edwardian-style house, built in 1910, involved using it as a new location for the Port Credit Library and incorporating it into the condo development with towers 22-and 16-storeys high. But overwhelming citizen opposition to moving the library killed that plan and last March the house was legally demolished.
Dorothy Tomiuk, chair of a coalition of ratepayer and community groups that opposed the 22-storey tower, says all "built form" becomes a precedent and there is a threat that it could spark more highrise development along Lakeshore.
Other big developments are probably on the drawing board, she says.
"We're in for an active decade in terms of what's coming down the pipe. At all cost we want to preserve that Lakeshore corridor. If it becomes a canyon it won't be pedestrian-friendly ... and it will obscure the waterfront."
The coalition will "fight to maintain the village ambience that is the secret to Port Credit's success," Tomiuk says. "We're taking what we've learned and trying to be a positive force into the future. All is not lost by any means. One development isn't going to kill us. We'll survive this."
Known as VIVA (Village Inspired Vision Alliance), the coalition includes Credit Reserve Association, the Town of Port Credit Association, Port Credit Village Project, Friends of Old Port Credit Village, Mississauga South Historical Society, Mississauga Heritage Foundation, Walk and Bike for Life and liaises with Lakeview Ratepayers Association.
Councillor Carmen Corbasson, who represents the area, does not believe the project will set a precedent for further highrise development. While another developer has proposed a 21-storey condo near Dixie Rd. and Lakeshore, east of Port Credit, in Lakeview, Corbasson doesn't see it being approved just because the other project was.
"That site is not a major transit node. It's zoned for single-family residential at 6.9 units per acre. They (developers) are proposing 200 units per acre. It's like comparing grapes to watermelons (with the Port Credit site)," Corbasson says.
Mississauga has infill, intensification policies that would see only lowrise projects along Lakeshore, with one or two exceptions that might permit 10-storey buildings, she says.
On Lakeshore, the city wants street-level commercial uses (shops, restaurants) of two-to-three storeys in height with upper level apartments or condos, she says.
"It wouldn't be appropriate to go all the way along Lakeshore with highrises. I just don't see it happening. Developers could always do a land assembly and go to the OMB, which has to follow provincial intensification policy, but at the same time the developers have to demonstrate why it (highrise) would be a better use than what we have there today. I don't think they could do that."
In the Lakeview area between Cawthra Rd. and Dixie, residents would actually welcome some highrise development – in the right places, says Lakeview Ratepayers Association president Jim Tovey.
He'd like to see the industrial-commercial zone south of Lakeshore, which includes the former Lakeview coal-fired power plant, turned into mixed residential, commercial and park use to create something special for the waterfront. Residents are concerned the Lakeview site will be turned into a gas-fired power plant.
There's about 750 metres between Lakeshore and the waterfront, room to accommodate a highrise tower without obscuring the lake, he says.
"It could be right in the middle," adding that his community welcomes smart growth.
Putting some high-density projects in the industrial-commercial zone could take some of the pressure off development along Lakeshore in Port Credit, Tovey says.
