Pushback from neighbours isn’t uncommon when city council considers planning applications for infill developments that add density to existing neighbourhoods. However, at city hall on Tuesday, Coun. Susan Stevenson argued that there’s inequity about which neighbourhood groups seem to be successful in their opposition. “Whose residents and what neighbors we’re listening to and what ones we aren’t, this is an equity issue,” alleged Stevenson while council considered a planning application for 929 Cheapside St. in her ward. She suggested that there’s a growing perception that the concerns expressed by lower income neighbourhoods receive less consideration from Council. Earlier in the meeting council rejected a developer’s plan to increase the size of a mid-rise building planned for Fanshawe Park Road in the Stoneybrook neighbourhood. “This council is going to decide whether this is appropriate for Carling Heights, and whether the residents around this building should be taken into account as much as the ones on Richmond or on Fanshawe Park,” Stevenson asserted. Several councillors pushed back, suggesting an application to construct residential units inside a former-church on Richmond Street in the Old North neighbourhood had in fact been approved. Some others stated for the record that their opposition to the planning application on Cheapside Street was not related to Stevenson’s claim about the inequitable treatment of neighbourhoods. “I’m not supportive of what’s here, and it’s not because the councillor has highlighted a perceived equity issue,” explained Coun. Corrine Rahman. “I’m looking at it from the perspective of what’s in front of me (in the staff report).” Stevenson emphasized, “Londoners are concerned about the policies that this council has put in place that are raising intensification in their neighborhoods.” However, a majority of council supported the planning application at 929 Cheapside St. that will permit a six-storey apartment building containing 79 residential units. After the meeting, Mayor Josh Morgan rejected Stevenson’s claim, “No, that’s a baseless accusation, and it was answered quite clearly by staff. Each and every planning decision is made independently.” Morgan went on to explain, “There’s a number of factors (including), the provincial policy statements, the structure of the site, the zoning on the site, the servicing available to the site, the overland water flows. There are many things that go into each and every planning application. And so whereas you might see something approved in one street, it may not be approved on another, simply because of the context of the street.”
