Road restrictions could be in the works for an Oval-area development after complaints about high traffic and congestion in the area.
But the delay in solving the traffic issues could also bring with it a reprieve on affordable housing.
Richmond city council granted first reading to Landa Oval Development, which is building a hotel and a condo building between River Road and Elmbridge Way, next to the T+T Supermarket and the Ora complex.
Questions and concerns about congestion in the lane from area residents at a November public hearing, however, prompted city council to send the plan back to city staff to figure out how to ease the traffic issues.
The development was originally required to pass first reading by Nov. 15, 2022, and be fully adopted by city council by Nov. 15, 2023 in order to fall under the old housing rules that required 10 per cent affordable rental units. Anything approved after these dates was supposed to have 15 per cent affordable rentals.
The plan met the first-reading deadline.
However, city staff is now recommending extending the final adoption deadline to April 15, 2024 as the developer and city staff sort out the traffic issues.
The plan is to widen the laneway by 1.5 metres.
Now, however, city staff are suggesting changes, including restricting the size of trucks and hotel shuttles using the laneway.
Furthermore, hotel pickup and dropoff could be moved from the lane, a controlled gate installed, and a new road to the west of the development could become the primary entrance for residents, visitors and commercial use.
The Ora condo building records about 30,000 entries per month into their complex via the current laneway. The traffic is compounded by trucks also using it, something city staff said should be done elsewhere.
Several Ora residents spoke at the November public hearing about their concerns of even more traffic in the laneway once the 356 residential units and 189-room hotel are built.
City staff noted many of the service vehicles for the Ora complex – like the garbage trucks – aren’t supposed to be accessing the laneway, rather they should be using their own site.
The laneway changes are on the agenda for next week’s planning meeting.
