There could be a whole lot less space on yet another Barrie apartment site.
Reid’s Heritage Homes is proposing adding 92 stacked townhouses to 101 Kozlov St., a site that already has a seven-storey, 129-unit apartment building.
And like an application last week that proposed to add a second building to a site where there’s been a long-standing apartment building, neighbours urged Barrie to reject the plan due to shadowing and loss of privacy.
“We were told the residential units would be originally low-cost housing. We see a lot of police activity and emergency services activity there and we’re concerned with what happens when they put more people in that area,” said David Hanslip, who lives across the street on Kozlov Street.
In March, a 50-year-old woman died in a shooting at 101 Kozlov St. Barrie Police have charged three men with first-degree murder.
Another neighbour questioned the standards of maintenance in the apartment building and asked the city such a landlord should be given permission to build more housing.
“Have you seen the conditions inside that building? It’s below any other I’ve seen in the city,” said Linda McKay-Hutt, who lives in the area.
She also raised a concern about parking, as the townhouses would reduce the parking areas as well as add more cars.
“The overflow will come to us,” she said.
Kozlov Street is also incredibly busy, said the Hanslips, a couple who live across the street.
“Coming out of my driveway is difficult enough as it is,” David Hanslip added. “We have a lot of children who play in that area and we’re concerned with the increase in traffic and (the reduction of) safety.”
Alyssa Hanslip added the four-way stop at Heather and Kozlov streets isn’t always respected, particularly by motorists on Kozlov.
“Since Hamner opened up, Kozlov has become a racetrack as people try to bypass Bayfield Street,” she said. “People already go through that stop sign. There are a number of fire and EMS calls (in response to collisions).”
By adding townhouses to the site, “just imagine how much more traffic there will be,” she said.
The 2.3-hectare (5.87-acre) site is just outside of one of Barrie’s intensification corridors – Bayfield Street.
It abuts some single-family homes along Livingstone Street, and those neighbours too were worried about not being able to enjoy their backyards if the stacked townhouses go up.
“People have pools in their yards and they didn’t feel units looking down on them was appropriate,” said Carlissa McLaren, the city planner managing the application.
For the stacked townhouses, the developer requires an exemption to the city’s height restrictions; the project needs a height of 12 metres, up from the city’s 10-metre limit.
The plan also needs some special exemptions, including reducing the number of parking spaces to 1.15 spaces per unit.
A staff report is expected on Sept. 4.
