amenities. The availability of various housing types would prevent urban sprawl and allow people to live in the same community at any stage of their life.
The subject property is located in close proximity to the University of Windsor and the long established Sandwich Town neighbourhood along Sandwich Street. Bradley Park is within a Block of the subject property and in relatively close proximity to the Sandwich Town main street, which provides a variety of services including access to open space along the river, a community center and a library. A convenience store is also located two blocks south of the subject property at the corner of Sandwich Street and Prince Road. The subject property has access to full municipal services, an arterial road and transit. The adaptive re-use of the existing building stock facilitates the use of existing infrastructure through intensification.
Regarding parking the applicant will provide six parking spaces at the rear of the building. Site Plan Control will be required.
The property is zoned Commercial District 2.1 (CD 2.1) in Zoning Bylaw 8600.
As per Section 15.2.1 Permitted Uses dwelling units are permitted in a combined use building with other uses such as offices, retail, restaurant, etc.
The requested amendment will allow for a parking area at the rear of the site and provide a type of flexible zoning where the ground residential units are permitted as an additional permitted use. If demand for neighbourhood retail changes in the future the owner can still convert the first floor residential units back to a commercial use.
Section 1.2 of the Planning Justification Report (see Appendix I) submitted with the application states that parking for the commercial use was located on Sandwich and South Streets. Section 24.6 (Table 24.20.5.1) requires Multiple Dwellings containing a minimum of five dwelling units to provide 1.25 spaces for each dwelling unit. Permitting residential units on the first floor will allow the applicant to accommodate six dwelling units in the existing building. As part of the zoning amendment, only one space will be required per dwelling unit.
When considering that the first floor commercial units have remained vacant for several years, todays challenges related to traditional retail, and that convenience retail and the Sandwich commercial main street is within walking distance, it is my professional opinion that permitting dwelling units on the first floor are an appropriate re-use of this vacant commercial space.
SITE PLAN
The requirement for six parking spaces triggers Site Plan review. As part of the Site Plan, elevation drawings will be required to ensure that the first floor storefronts can not only accommodate dwelling units but also be able to be converted back if the applicant wishes to convert the units to retail storefronts in the future. Through Site Plan Review staff will request that large storefront windows and glazing are retained or replaced with new similar windows and brick will be removed from the unit on the left and replaced with new storefront windows.