Among the challenges our community is facing, housing remains one of the most significant. Supply is short across the entire city, and the downtown commercial core is especially fragile with fewer tourists this summer and fewer students returning this fall as a result of the pandemic. The need for housing in the core, to ensure sustainability in the downtown year round, has never been greater. I recognize this is a tough issue as we continue to balance the need for housing with protecting the heritage character of our wonderful city core.
This week the redesigned capitol condo proposal is coming to planning committee, and will then proceed to City Council for a decision early next month. The initial capitol condo proposed a 16 storey building but this version is smaller, coming in at only 12 storeys. Unlike the old version, the new proposal includes commercial space on Queen Street, and has a podium design so that the tallest part of the building is set back from both Princess Street and Queen Street. I believe concerns from our community about the first version led to design that is much better. At such a critical time for our beautiful downtown, I hope we’ll see this proposal move forward, to set a standard for development that is balanced and attractive, and that will help ensure we build a downtown that is sustainable year-round and well into the future.
*Note that this proposal passed at planning committee on September 17th and passed at council on October 6th and has now been appealed to the LPAT
You can view the proposal at: https://www.cityofkingston.ca/residents/city-calendar-events/-/calendar/QUmzuR567ExT/event/38499350
And you can watch council’s discussion on the proposal at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_T4waGw0rk