OOS residents Stacie Bergwerff and Mats Lindeberg felt strongly enough about the 71 Hopewell redevelopment proposal that they wrote a Comments letter directly to the City of Ottawa Planning Department
In their letter, Bergwerff and Lindeberg compare the developer's plan to the City's design guidelines, citing many instances where the redevelopment contravenes them. One of their main concerns is that "the 'face' of this property will now be three off-putting garage doors" in a neighbourhood known for its friendly front porches. The guidelines also state that "a garage should not dominate any façade facing a street". Instead, it should provide a streetscape "emphasizing the ground floor and street façade of buildings with principal entries, windows, porches, balconies and key internal uses at street level". You can read the complete letter here.
The City of Ottawa design guidelines can be found here.
To learn more about local activities regarding OOS development issues contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or volunteer on the OSWatch committee. OSWatch is the planning and development committee of OSCA. It reviews all proposals for changes in zoning and minor variances, site control plans, and other development issues that are subject to community comment, and provides advice or comments to city planners when necessary. The Committee meets on the first Tuesday of every month at the Firehall ("Ladies Parlour" of Southminster United Church during renovations) at 7:30 p.m., or more frequently if required. Any member of OSCA can join the committee and participate in its meetings.