Shorter is better for Mary Street condo, argues urban design committee

May 4, 2023

A new condominium proposed for Mary Street should not exceed municipal height restrictions, says the town’s urban design committee.

The committee made 14 recommendations in total on the development, mostly on the height, traffic and landscaping of the planned building.

“It will stick out, it will look big, it will look massive,” said committee member Chrys Kaloudis.

None of the committee members disagreed with her observation.

The condominium proposal for 223-227 Mary St. was brought to council Feb. 14 and called for a building more than 60 feet high.

Kaloudis, an interior designer, says she’d like to see the condominium built outside the area of Old Town.

“I would hope, in some way, you could restructure the height by taking a serious look at every single millimetre that you can take out of the height of that building,” said committee member David Snelgrove.

One suggestion, made by committee member Mira Young, was for the builder to reduce the interior ceiling heights to make the condominium shorter.

In addition to recommending the developer build within the town’s height restrictions, the committee suggested alterations to the driveway.

Allan Killin, a committee member and architect, suggested a single access point to the driveway, rather than the U-shaped entrance currently in the plans.

He argued this would be safer.

Snelgrove suggested the developer could have a one-way driveway with an entrance and exit.

Pointing out that there are already several road-facing parking lots on Mary Street, Kaloudis suggested the developer could move the driveway to the other side of the building.

On the issue of landscaping, committee member Peter Neame said he’s worried about the trees that will be added along the back of the lot to give the adjacent homes some privacy.

“The vegetation you put in needs to be of sufficient size to actually provide some privacy for the neighbours,” he added.

Neame argued the proposed trees, “from day one,” should be tall enough to screen the view of the condo residents into the backyards of their neighbours.