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Land Use Pressures Arise in UOIT's Wake Interim Development Prohibition While City Reassesses Zoning
November, 2007
By Kim Biggar
Located just 45 minutes east of Toronto, Oshawa is in the heartland of Ontario, well situated, according to the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce CEO and General Manager, Robert Malcolmson, for continued economic development.
Its harbour, its location in the busy Montreal-to-Windsor transportation corridor as the eastern gateway to the Greater Toronto Area, and its setting as home to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) are among the city's strengths listed by Malcolmson. In its annual survey published in September of this year, Canadian Business magazine ranked Oshawa ninth in the top places to do business in Canada, up from 23rd in 2006, and 34th in 2005.
UOIT's inclusion among Oshawa's assets is a reflection of the university's reputation for leading-edge research and development. In addition to drawing 4,300 students to Oshawa and employing almost 185 people, UOIT is a lure for high-tech businesses.
The Institute works with industry partners on collaborative research projects to solve problems and develop new products. Access to the expertise and skills of students and faculty at an educational facility such as UOIT attracts businesses to the facility's vicinity. Hence, the existence of research parks in areas near the University of Waterloo, the University of Manitoba and the University of Western Ontario, for example.
Founded in 2002, UOIT is young and expected to grow. The university's presence is driving change, and the City of Oshawa is assessing how it should respond.
HOUSING DEMAND CREATES BACKLASH
Residential areas near the school in Oshawa's north end have been profoundly affected, as investors have purchased many former single-family homes and transformed them into rental properties for students - some with as many as eight bedrooms. As university enrolment rises, the residential intensification in nearby neighbourhoods is also projected to increase.
A report from Oshawa's Development Services Department released in May 2007 notes that the City has received frequent complaints from area residents about wide-ranging concerns related to noise and property standards, traffic safety and parking, and lowering of property values. It states: "Many of the homes in the area are experiencing an intensification of use that has resulted in adverse impacts on the surrounding community. This increased intensification has created significant land use compatibility issues."
Following that report, City Council passed a one-year interim control by-law while planning staff conducts a land-use study and reviews zoning provisions in the area. The by-law prohibits certain types of residential development and renovations within the study area during the study process. A one-year extension is possible if more time is required to complete the study.
Oshawa Development Services staff is currently gathering information. In addition to identifying the land-use issues in the study area and reviewing the area's current policies, staff is looking at the policies of other municipalities, including Waterloo, Kingston and London, that have already dealt with issues related to off-campus student housing in the vicinities of their universities.
Paul Ralph, Oshawa's Manager of Development and Urban Design, says the next step in the study is to analyze all of the information in order to develop zoning options that can be presented to stakeholders - including area homeowners, students, landlords, the university, the city's Town and Gown Committee, and businesses - at public open houses. Incorporating feedback from stakeholders, the Development Services Department will, at the conclusion of the study, recommend changes, if they're deemed to be required, to the study area's zoning by-laws and the City's land-use plans.
The study team will look for rezoning opportunities in appropriate areas to allow for the building of townhouses and apartments for students where intensification can be accommodated. To help alleviate the off-campus student-housing problem, UOIT and Durham College (which shares the campus with UOIT) also recently announced plans to construct more student residences on the schools' campus. The new apartment-style residences will house 800 students by September 2009, increasing the total available on-campus housing spaces to more than 2,100.
BUSINESS CONCERNS
In a letter dated June 26, 2007, from the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce to Mayor John Gray and City Council, the Chamber expressed its opposition to the potential conversion of the Conlin Road Northwood employment/industrial lands near UOIT for residential purposes. However, these lands are not part of the residential area covered in the City's land-use study.
Noting that: "UOIT is making substantial progress on putting in place a research park that could include these lands," the Chamber also cited studies that have "identified the shrinking availability of serviced employment lands as a significant barrier and impediment to growth in Durham Region."
Malcolmson, speaking for the Chamber, calls the university a driver for Oshawa's continued economic health. A research park on lands near the university would, in the Chamber's view, be a "huge employer for Oshawa." Conversion of that land for residential use would "stifle this economic driver."
Consequently, the Chamber informed the City of Oshawa in its June 26th letter that it supports development by the Region of Durham and the City of Oshawa of a "short, medium and long-term plan to service employment lands," and requested that the City undertake "no conversion of land from current employment land use until such plans are completed and approved."
With strong, and potentially competing, needs for both residential and employment land use in areas near UOIT, the City is challenged to create a plan that will satisfy residents, businesses and the university. As the university draws more enrolment, and more people to live and work in its vicinity, the City needs a strategy to accommodate both an intensified population and an industrial research complex close to UOIT.
Kim Biggar is a freelance journalist based in Uxbridge, Ontario.
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