Infill Housing #15

Now it's on to # 65. Infill truly is like a cancer on this block. This house will also be destroyed and replaced by yet another set of doubles.

Here's an example of the cowboy mentality of some of these builders. One morning last month, an excavator appeared on the front lawn of this house. You can see the marks on the lawn.

Thankfully, a neighbour ran across the street to confront  the operator and ask what he thought he was doing. Of course he replied that he was about to tear the house down. She informed him that the hydro and gas were not yet dis-connected. Also, the contents of the house were still inside. It took some convincing, but he finally turned off his machine. What if she hadn't stopped him?!

And so, once the utilities are really and truly shut off and the proper permits issued, this house too will bite the dust.  Will the two trees also go? On just that one side of our block we will have lost five of our original houses.

And so we anticipate summer. After this long winter, it would be nice to think of spending some time relaxing on our front verandah. However, there will be a steady parade of trucks, noise, dust and dirt as we deal with three infill projects on our block at one time.

Happy Holidays indeed!

Infill Housing #14

Many residents are saddened when they learn that #77 is slated for demolition. The front of this place has so many unique features and we recently learned that it's on the city's heritage list. It turns out that heritage status offers little protection, other than the requirement that owners provide sixty days notice before demolition.

It sold for $905 000 so that's how much a property is worth here now, regardless of the building on site. It's only worth that much because the city will allow developers to build a double on this size (fifty foot) of lot, in our zone. That's what is planned here. Will either of the families who build, still live there in three years time? Time will tell.

We don't have a chance of saving this lovely dwelling but I still hope that the tree out front may survive. The two Japanese lilacs closer to the house will no doubt go. The tree near the sidewalk is an Amur Maple. It's a city tree with a circumference of 246 centimetres so that qualifies it as a distincintive tree.

It will be some kind of miracle if it survives. From recent tree news in Ottawa, it seems that if a building permit is issued and the tree is in the way of service hook ups like water and gas, then the tree goes. The city's tree conservation bylaws are rarely enforced.

Disregard for trees seems to be a characteristic of all developers. This tree at 77 is not only under possible destruction from its current owners but has also faced attacks from the builders at 79. When they were hooking up their hydro, the hydro company simply hacked away at branches that came anywhere near the new house.

March 25

When I complained, the young man had the nerve to tell me that it would probably help the tree. I reported the incident to the city forestry office and they sent out a forestry inspector. In early April I learned that the forestry inspector arranged to have the maple pruned, to address some of the damaged branches from the hydro connection. They noted that the tree was in good condition for its size and age.

April 10

Next came this lovely machine, to do the gas hook up. All our residential streets now feature these cuts across them, at the sites of all the new builds. Anyhow the operator of this machine also took a few good whacks at the tree branches until I told him to stop. He reluctantly re-positioned his machine.

In early May I had the opportunity to speak to the developer at #79 and I voiced my concern about the manner in which his workers were treating the tree at 77. There was no apology. Instead he told me that the tree was coming down, that the arborist working for the new owners had told him the tree was dead anyhow. At that point, I told him to look at the tree which was full of buds. It is definitely not dead.

June 4

If this tree lives,  it will shield us from the doubles he is building. It will enhance the look of whatever happens at 77. However, I'm not counting on that. Chances are, we'll be looking at two sets of doubles with not one living thing in front of them.  We didn't buy in this area so that we could look at a street that resembles a brand new suburb!

Infill Housing #13

Forgive my lack of updates. Of course, the site at #79 looks a lot different now. Over these past few months I have heard about a few specific problems, related to this build, but I am reluctant to publish them. Instead I will provide a photo update.

March 14

With the walls up, the roof trusses were dropped into place.

Even in winter, you can appreciate why we are hoping that the tree in front of #77 survives. With just a little snow on its branches, it provides a lovely visual screen.

March 25

So by this point we knew what the final size of this project would be. A city inspector checked the height. It complies with the height restriction  for our area, which is 11 metres.

Of course, there has been a steady parade of trucks of one kind or another.

Apri 10

How many of these road cuts will our block have, as infills are built up and down the street?

April 21

With the roof on and windows installed, work has shifted to the inside of these structures.
Too bad they don't match. If they were both going to be a more traditional design, like the right side,  that would be easier on the eyes.

Pot Shop Re-visited

So, I'll reverse my opinion once again. On May 14th  I wrote that the local plot shop was not causing any big traffic problems along Wellington Street. If anyone from Warren Avenue ever read that version of events, they would be furious. The potshop (Superette) is at the corner of Wellington and Warren.

Last week I attended the AGM of our local community association. The meeting was fairly calm until many residents of Warren Avenue voiced their concerns about their new situation. Those poor people. Warren Avenue is only one block long, a dead end street. Until the past two months, it was probably one of the best blocks to live on, in this neighbourhood. Kids played out on the street on this quiet block. No more! Parents are now afraid to allow their children near the street because of the constant stream of cars who, in spite of the dead end sign, come looking for parking on Warren. Because it's a dead end,  they then have to turn around, when there is no parking available. People who have lived on this block for years, said that it's now a living hell. Besides the traffic and parking woes, they've also encountered extremely rude behaviour, with some people urinating on their lawns.

I felt badly for them at the meeting. They are desperate for someone to help them. There doesn't seem to be any easy solution to their problems. What a terrible transformation for them.