90 Hunter Street East - 17-storey proposal

Petition

Before the zoning by-law amendment was approved in August, Peterborough City Council was presented with the following petition of over 700 signatures from residents across all wards of the city:

We, the undersigned residents of East City and the City of Peterborough, express our serious concerns regarding the proposed 17-storey mixed-use development at the Mark Street United Church site. While we support appropriate development and increased housing options in our community, we believe this proposal contradicts numerous provisions in Peterborough’s Official Plan and Central Area Urban Design Guidelines. Allowing the proposal as-is creates an unacceptable precedent for anticipated future development on Hunter St East. We petition the City Council to require modifications to the proposal before approving the application for rezoning.

Key Concerns:

  1. Circumvention of Community Benefits
    • There has been no public consultation for the 17-storey modification from the originally proposed 10-storey development. The June 2024 public meeting presented information but did not take formal feedback from the community
    • The developer appears to be rushing this proposal to avoid the upcoming Community Planning Permit System, which could provide the City with community facilities, services, and matters in exchange for height beyond 10 storeys
    • This approach deprives the community of benefits, including but not restricted to affordable housing, green space, and other amenities that could otherwise be included when considering the approval for a building of this scale under the CPP By-law
    • The community should not lose these benefits due to timing

2. Heritage and Adequate Transitions to Residential Properties

  • The Official Plan defines compatible development as “development that enhances the character of the surrounding community without causing any undue, adverse impacts on adjacent properties” (OP Section 4.1.2)
  • The unprecedented height would dramatically alter the character of Hunter Street East, identified in guidelines as “the main street of East City”
  • The Heritage Impact Assessment states that “the height and scale of a 17-storey building is a significant departure from the low-rise character of the adjacent church,” and evaluates that the adverse impacts of the 17-storey building will create “changes to the setting of an historic building, such that it is significantly modified.” It continues that the introduction of a contrasting built form that creates a profound change in setting is not even contemplated within the densification policy in similar neighbourhoods in Toronto
  • The northwestern portion of the lot borders residential properties on three sides and requires appropriate transitions, setbacks, and stepbacks as per bylaw, the Urban Design Guidelines, and recommended by City Staff, that this proposal fails to provide

3. Climate Impact

  • Official Plan Section 5.7 has the intent to support “reduced greenhouse gas emissions,” and specifically “Developing strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve resiliency” (5.7.b.iii), “Promoting zero or low carbon and energy efficient built forms” (5.7.c.v) and “The promotion of innovative residential and public building designs that contribute to low carbon design, energy use reduction” (5.7.d.iii)
  • This proposal is in direct conflict with these provisions of the Plan as buildings higher than 10 stories have significantly higher embodied carbon and operational carbon emissions than buildings in the 4-10 storey height range. Taller buildings require more structural material—especially carbon-intensive materials like concrete and steel—to support greater mass and withstand wind loads and can use 76% more electricity for HVAC, pumping and elevators
  • The Centre for the Sustainable Built Environment at University of Toronto’s study on optimal building height concluded: “On average, multi-unit missing middle (4-10 storey) buildings have lower embodied GHG per bedroom than single-family and mid/high-rise buildings… and could reduce future embodied residential emissions…by 46.7%
  • A paper in the journal Nature (2021) determined that “A shift from high-density low-rise (HDLR) to high-density high-rise (HDHR) increases life cycle GHG emissions by up to 140% for the same population size”
  • Studies for the cities of Halifax and Victoria reached similar conclusions
  • Should the city decide to contradict its Plan and allow this development, it should only do so after requiring the proponent to complete a whole life carbon analysis of the project and demonstrate that its climate impact is no greater than a 10 story reference building of the same construction and energy efficiency

Our Request:

We, the undersigned, request that City Council:

  1. Reject the current 17-storey proposal as incongruous with the Official Plan and Urban Design Guidelines
  2. Require the developer to modify the proposal to:
    • Reduce the overall height to a maximum of 10 storeys, or, include community benefits such as affordable housing units and public green space for any height granted over 10 storeys
    • Respect the 45-degree angular plane recommendation from adjacent residential properties, or, include adequate setbacks, stepbacks, landscape buffering, and transitions to neighbouring properties
  3. Ensure transparent public consultation before approval of any revised proposal