Cambridge council amends by-law to permit affordable housing project in Galt

Cambridge city council voted on Tuesday night to amend a zoning bylaw to allow the construction of two low-rise apartment buildings in Galt, which would include affordable housing units.

Mike Campos, a senior planner with the city, outlined the project, saying two buildings would be built on Region of Waterloo-owned land on Lauris Avenue.

The land was the former site of a school and has been siting vacant since the school was demolished in 2009.

Campos said the plan would see the construction of a five-storey apartment building and three-storey apartment building that would contain a total of 104 dwelling units.

"The region intends the lands to be developed with a range of unit types, including studio units, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units with at least 30 per cent of the units being considered affordable," Campos told councillors.

Campos said the concept presented to council may not be the final design.

"The purpose of the applications is to establish a policy framework to permit this level of density ... so that a future request of proposal can be undertaken by the region to select a successful proponent who would finalize the design of the lands and take it to the next application review process," he said. 

He added that the amended by-law for the site would take the current requirement for low to medium density buildings of a maximum of 40 units per hectare to 112 units per hectare.

Coun. Scott Hamilton said he fully supports the project, saying the city needs housing and affordable housing more than ever.

"Having 30 per cent of these units as affordable units considering the cost of developing land, the cost of construction and the cost of materials, it's better than nothing," he said.

"We sometimes get proposals that frequently have nothing."

Hamilton added he would have preferred to see the affordable units be rent-geared-to-income, but ultimately, the city needs to be building more affordable housing "as soon as we can."

Coun. Mike Devine voted against the proposal. He shared concerns about the amendment that would allow 112 units per hectare on the site.

"Yes we need housing. Yes we need rentals. But we need to look at the whole community, so we need to be careful about where we're putting the density and how we're putting it there," he said.

Councillors voted 6-1 in favour of the project. Coun. Adam Cooper was not present.