Over planner, mayor objections, Windsor council OKs waterfront apartments

'It's a nice-looking building,' says Windsor planner, but he opposes 46-unit apartment building on single-family home lot. City council OK'd the development.

A 46-unit apartment building proposed for prime waterfront property currently occupied by a single-family home has received the go-ahead from Windsor council — despite opposition from city planners and the mayor.

In a 7-3 vote, a council majority approved a zoning amendment to allow an apartment building at the corner of Riverside Drive West and Rankin Avenue, on a property that city policy otherwise limits development to four units.

“Today, it is not developer-versus-neighbours,” said Marko Agbaba, property owner and president of Agbaba Holdings Inc., claiming neighbourhood support. “In fact, today is developer, plus neighbours, versus bureaucracy, versus red tape.”

At three-and-a-half storeys (nearly 12 metres in height), Agbaba’s new building will be full of studio apartments targeted at University of Windsor graduate students.

Agbaba said a tenant would pay between $1,395 and $1,495 per month for a fully-furnished unit between 390 and 475 square feet (roughly 36 to 44 square metres) in size.

City staff urged council to deny Agbaba’s zoning request because of how the proposed development deviates from city policy, including: 46 living units instead of the lot maximum of four; 12 parking spaces instead of the 57 such a development would require; and 14 metres high — including mechanical equipment — instead of the maximum of nine metres.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s a nice-looking building,” city planner Neil Robertson told council, referring to architectural renderings that show a structure with large windows, and that mimics heritage features on surrounding homes.

With three pages of requests for “relief” — elements of the development that need council’s OK because they don’t comply with existing rules — Robertson said the proposal is “probably an over-intensification of the site.”

Robertson added that the city has no way to hold the developer to the exterior designs included in the proposal. That tool disappeared under changes to Ontario’s Planning Act put forward by the Doug Ford Progressive Conservatives to speed up housing construction.

Agbaba said that, if city council denied his zoning application, he would instead have the lot severed into four, and build enough townhouses with additional dwelling units — permitted under current zoning rules — to accommodate 48 residents. Such a plan would only require four parking spaces, he said: one for each townhouse.

“We are not sitting in front of you today asking you for more,” Agbaba said. “In fact, it is quite the opposite. We are offering you better.”

Voting in favour of a zoning change to permit the development were councillors Renaldo Agostino (Ward 3), Mark McKenzie (W4), Ed Sleiman (W5), Angelo Marignani (W7), Gary Kaschak (W8), Kieran McKenzie (W9), and Jim Morrison (W10).

Voting against it were Ward 1 Coun. Fred Francis, Ward 6 Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac, and Mayor Drew Dilkens.

After the meeting, Dilkens told reporters he thinks council should have a “more fulsome conversation” about development along Riverside Drive. He anticipates that more developers will purchase single-family homes on the city’s scenic arterial road to build apartments in the coming decades.

“I like the development that this gentleman came forward with,” the mayor said. “I hope that he builds exactly what he says he’s going to build — I just think that there was a more sensible way, a more orderly way, to move that type of request forward, after I heard from our city planner.”

The 1,247-square-metre lot sits in Ward 2, a west-end neighbourhood that has been without dedicated council representation since former councillor Fabio Costante stepped down in June to helm the Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation.

Gignac said that, although she loved the proposal, she couldn’t support it because staff advised against it.

“I count on administration. They are our experts, and they tell us what we have in place,” she said.

“As we get into building in this new era, I rely more and more on what they tell us.”

Agostino said he was in favour of the build because he felt the developer was assuming any risk associated with it.

“I put my faith in you,” he said, speaking to Agbaba, “because at the end of the day, this is your pocket. It’s going to cost you either way.

“We certainly need more density. We certainly need more places for people to live.”

Ratan Samuel, who owns two nearby rental properties but lives in Mississauga, spoke out against the proposal during a phone call to council from India. He called it “irresponsible development,” and said he fears parking from the new building would spill over onto his lots. He also expressed concern about students partying inside.

“I just anticipate that this could erode the peaceful and family-oriented character of Riverside Drive,” Samuel said.

In a written submission to council, a representative from the University of Windsor expressed support for the proposed apartment building, saying the school “strongly believes” the city would benefit from additional housing, “especially those that bring a level of diversity, accessibility and affordability” to post-secondary students who want to live near the university’s main campus.

“Being a comprehensive university with student populations from undergraduate to PhD, and drawing students from both locally and abroad, we have seen that students are demanding a wider variety of housing options, sizes and models that suit their particular needs,” wrote Gillian Heisz, the university’s vice-president of finance and operations.

Separately, the city clerk received five emails supporting the development — at least two of which from nearby residents — describing it as a much-needed “upgrade” and “refreshing revitalization” for the area.