Sandy Hill residents sound off over crowded student houses after latest charges

Sandy Hill residents are worried about the persistent problem of overcrowded student housing after a police officer was injured during a call at a loud house party on Henderson Avenue last Tuesday.

"You have to be tolerant to live in Sandy Hill but when we do complain, it's because it's bad," said Ken Clavette, who lives on Henderson.

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Two teen girls and a young woman were charged with assaulting a police officer after the Nov. 29 incident. An 18-year-old man has also been charged with firearms and drug offences. Police seized a rifle, a shotgun and ammunition from the party as well as drugs, including large quantities of cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms.

Clavette has lived in the neighbourhood for more than 30 years. He said some measures have been effective in curbing noise in the area, but developers are turning old houses into crowded, multi-unit dwellings with more than a dozen students living in a building.

As long as that continues, he said, so will the noise and disturbances.

"They have to get a control on the kind of infill they're putting up," Clavette said. "Five bedrooms a floor in an apartment? Nobody other than students is ever going to live there."

He said the problem isn't just students but the number of students in a building and how they use it. 

"You can have five family homes and then one house turns into a bunk house or a party house and that's where the problems are."

Joanne Barrette also lives in the neighbourhood and wants to see some action from the city.

"Maybe stop permitting to destroy nice, beautiful houses to build ... those dorms where they pile up students," she said.

Landlord evicting problem tenant, councillor says

Coun. Mathieu Fleury said the city, the Action Sandy Hill community association and the University of Ottawa are active in trying to make sure students and residents can live side-by-side in the neighbourhood. He said what happened on Henderson Avenue is a separate issue.

"It's not related to the student population, it's related to criminal activity in one unit," he said.

Fleury has spoken to the landlord who has begun the eviction process for the tenant in that unit.

"That's what we want to see is active landlords that are, hopefully, proactive, but in a case like this able to respond quickly."

Fleury said the city is open to amending the noise bylaw and zoning rules, but it will not be a quick or easy process. The city amended its zoning bylaws for the area as recently as 2012.

"We want to get to the core of the issue which is the number of bedrooms that is permitted within those ... buildings," he said.