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Few fans of Randall condos at public hearing By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF 5 · Wednesday, November 25, 2009 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Area residents blasted two developments proposed for the Randall Street area, during Monday night's Planning and Development Council meeting, calling them completely inappropriate and out of character with the surrounding area. The developers, Melrose Investments Inc., and Rosehaven Homes Limited, are asking council to alter the zoning at the southwest corner of Allan and Randall Streets to permit the construction of an 11-storey condominium development, which would comprise 44 luxury residential units and feature five levels of underground parking. The same developers are also asking that zoning be altered on the lands bounded by Reynolds Street, Randall Street and Church Street to permit the construction of a six-storey, mixed-use building containing 36 dwelling units Eleven-storey condominium plan at southwest corner of Allan and Randall streets. on three floors with a ground floor retail component and two floors devoted to office space. This development, which would also feature underground parking, would be designed in an L shape with the six-storey component along Reynolds and Randall streets and a three-storey component on Church Street. Melrose Investments Inc. representative Cliff Korman said the area is appropriate for the proposed development. "When we started this project, we took a look at the buildings in the neighbourhood to see what the context in the surrounding area was," said Korman. "As you can see from these slides we saw at least 10 apartment buildings in the immediate neighbourhood and they ranged anywhere from seven to 12-storeys." Numerous residents disagreed with this statement with Joseph Sarnecki of the Oakville Lakeside Residents' Association calling on council to enforce the four-storey height restriction that is in place at the Allan and Randall Street area. "We should not let the poor decisions of the past, that unfortunately allowed for the development of multistorey apartments at Allan and Lakeshore, influence further development," said Sarnecki. "Recently we've seen a deluge of applications coming before council and every one of them seeks to amend all the bylaws, none are compliant with the bylaws and it seems the developers are taking an attitude that it is their right to purchase what they want to purchase and then move forward and bulldoze their way into getting what they want for personal and financial gains." Area resident John Canham also spoke before council, stressing he is not against development, but against inappropriate development. Canham even noted that the 11-storey development could be fine if it was situated in midtown. The Randall Street area, however, is not midtown, he noted. "It's clear that this building is far too big for this small piece of property. It towers over the other residences, it will certainly generate a heck of a lot more traffic than Allan and Randall are capable of handling, it will certainly reduce the amount of sunshine that the residences enjoy," said Canham. "We're not talking about midtown, we're talking about a very old, established, stable, historical neighbourhood." Russ Buckland, whose office is located across the street from the proposed sixstorey development, asked council to exercise some common sense. "How do these develop- ments fit into the purpose of downtown Oakville," asked Buckland. "We have retail space along Oakville. You see it vacant. You hear people complaining about the rents and now we're going to have a whole new section of retail. We see offices empty and now we're going to have more offices. We're going to have traffic for three floors of underground, two floors of parking, two or three floors of condos. Randall only goes west, Church only goes east, so how are we going to move these cars around?" Town staff will now decide whether to recommend the developments to council, which will make a decision at a later date. Wag-a-Way F Fall Clean Up Special p p Pet Grooming i Brush Out Hair Cut Manicure & Pedicure Ears Cleaned Bath with Premium Shampoo Hydro Massage Conditioning Treatment Blow Dry Cologne Complimentary Bandanna or Bow Handle with Tender Loving Care $ 10 off $ 15 off WHEN YOU PURCHASE A $100 GIFT CARD e lan d Av e 2136 Trafalgar Rd. www.wagaway.com m Iro 905 845-0526 Dove Spa Oakville 355 Iroquois Shore Road Oakville, Ontario L6H 1M3 905 339 0772 qu ois Sh or Le igh Rd Tr af ar alg Rd QEW