The existing buildings on the 9.7-acre site are mostly used for warehousing as well as being the interim hub for The SEED and the Children’s Foundation’s Keep Kids Fed program. Over the years, the site has provided temporary space for community agencies including the St. Joseph’s Health Centre Day Clinic, the annual Adopt-A-Family program, and the Friends of the Guelph Public Library annual book sale.
Illustrations and descriptions of the proposed Development Concept presented on November 19th, 2024 can be found in the presentation and information panels available here. The concept includes approximately 750 residential units and community amenities in buildings varying in height from 2 to 24 storeys, with the tallest building located in the centre if the site, well over 100 metres from existing homes, with lower buildings at the edges of the site. The existing historic factory building will be restored, and the building will be adapted for housing, with the potential for two floors to be added.
Buildings will be set within a public realm that makes up 44% of the site and includes a new neighbourhood park, a gathering place in front of the factory building, multi-purpose open space on either side of the rail corridor, and tree-lined connections through the site for pedestrians and cyclists.
Plant No. 2 is covered by the City’s Downtown Secondary Plan, which was originally adopted in 2012 with the intent of promoting significant residential and employment growth Downtown in ways that are compatible with historic buildings and established neighbourhoods. Along with residential uses, some small-scale commercial uses are also permitted. In addition, the plan calls for a public park adjacent to Sacred Heart School and the introduction of new streets or other connections through the site for pedestrians, cyclists and potentially vehicles.
The Plant No. 2 site is controlled in the Official Plan by two measures: Floor Space Index (FSI) and Height. FSI is the amount of floor space that is permitted to be built as a ratio based on the size of the property.
The maximum density currently permitted on the site is 1.2 FSI, i.e., 1.2 times the site area. The proposed Development Concept has a density of 2.0 times FSI, which is the same as the Metalworks development on Arthur Street.
The permitted heights on the property currently range from 2 to 4 storeys near the edges and 4 to 10 storeys in the centre. The draft Development Concept shows 2 to 6 storeys near the edges stepping up to 24 storeys in the centre.
The proposed changes to the current Official Plan height and density limits are needed to overcome the costs of redeveloping the site and making investments in the project to achieve the enhanced public realm and create land costs for the new buildings that meet market expectations per square foot. The current permitted density of 1.2 FSI would not result in enough project floorspace to handle these costs.
The land costs for the project need to account for things like building demolition and retention, major infrastructure renewal, public park construction and dedication, brownfield site remediation, constructing new streets and local infrastructure, as well as planning approvals.
In addition, the proposed density supports the City’s intensification goals for Downtown and its broader housing objectives.
To optimize the site for both public open space and private development, and recover the significant cost of remediating the land, realigning municipal services and conserving the historic factory building, a certain density of housing is required. The planning and design team explored several approaches to accommodating the target density before recommending density be concentrated in the heart of the site. This built form approach achieves the following:
The intention is for development to maintain and reinforce the social diversity of the Ward. The vision is to achieve a mix of apartments and townhouse forms and a variety of dwelling sizes to meet the needs of all household types and sizes, including families with children and seniors seeking to age within their community. As noted above, the first step is to get the site repositioned with appropriate capacity to enable a mix of housing to happen.
Future habitable buildings need to be set back at least 15 metres from the Guelph Junction Railway property for safety reasons. However, given the low frequency and low speeds of trains using the railway, the setbacks create an opportunity for landscaped open space that will be an amenity for residents of the site and the larger community. In addition, the redevelopment will plan for the extension of the City’s multi-use trail further into the neighbourhood.
Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments (ESA) have been undertaken for the properties which have confirmed that while the sites don’t have major issues, the whole of the properties will need mitigation and risk-mitigation measures. This is typical of older industrial properties and particularly for properties in The Ward area of Guelph. Finalization of the studies and mitigation measures will be coordinated with the emerging development plan and submitted for approval as the project progresses. The sites will need to achieve Record of Site Condition (RSC) prior to building projects commencing.
There is an old three-storey concrete structure contained within the existing factory – you can see it best from Huron Street. This was originally built and extended during the 1910s and 1920s by the Partridge Rubber Co., though it had many other tenants over the years. This feature is the part of the existing site which will be retained and adaptively reused within the new development. This presents the opportunity to bring back a part of the Ward’s industrial history and act as a unique anchor to the project.
Redevelopment of the site creates the opportunity, currently being discussed with the Wellington Catholic District School Board and the City, to design the park to complement and seamlessly connect to the school grounds, resulting in a larger shared space that benefits Sacred Heart students and Ward residents. There are three options for configuring the park and school grounds, as shown in the materials presented on November 19th, and these will continue to be explored amongst the partners involved.
The development will be designed to encourage walking and cycling, and it’s expected many people will choose to live on the site because of its integration with the Ward and its proximity to Downtown and Guelph Central Station. Redevelopment will result in some additional traffic, but removing the existing industrial operations will also reduce the flow of large transport trucks and other commercial vehicles in the neighbourhood.
While Elizabeth Street is called out as an ‘Arterial’ road in the City’s transportation plan, all of the other abutting streets – Duke, Alice and Huron – are identified as ‘Local’. The main access point to the north parcel will be from Elizabeth Street.
To best distribute the impacts of future vehicular traffic to and from the south parcel, the main access to the south parcel is proposed off Huron Street, which is the better-connected local street, providing direct access to Elizabeth Street and York Road (via Ontario Street). A secondary access, including emergency vehicle access, will also be provided on Duke Street. Only pedestrians and cyclists will be able to directly access the site from Alice Street.
A detailed transportation impact study will be required with development applications for the site and made available to the public.
The City’s Official Plan shows a “potential future road” from Duke to Elizabeth crossing the tracks. Guelph Junction Railway, however, has informed us that new road crossings are not available in the corridor, except with the closure of another crossing. Instead, the proposed Development Concept shows an active transportation crossing mid-block.
The proximity of the site to Downtown and Guelph Central Station is expected to reduce the demand for parking significantly from what would be typical in developments much farther from Downtown. Nevertheless, at this stage, one resident parking spot for each unit, plus one visitor spot for every 10 units (a 1.1 space per unit ratio) and ample indoor bike parking are proposed. This is more parking than the previous City minimum requirement for Downtown (0.85 spaces per unit) which has now been completely eliminated by the Province.
In addition to the structured parking within the development, by opening up the site and renewing adjacent streets, we can create more on-street and surface parking than currently exists. At this stage, we estimate there will be about 40 new surface spaces, most of them intended for visitors.
If you were not able to attend the second community open house on November 19th, or if you have further comments, please review the materials presented and complete the online survey.
A third open house will take place in the new year where a draft Urban Design Master Plan will be presented for feedback. You can also submit questions and comments anytime to plant2@wooddevelopment.ca.
Once planning applications have been submitted, you will have additional opportunities to share your views with City staff and Council.
The project is advancing along the following timeline:
Planning Approvals – 2025-2026
Detailed design and permitting – 2026
Site Preparation – 2027-2028
New Buildings Start – 2028