John Dance
The Regional Group and its EQ Homes are proud of how they have executed their 2015 plan for Greystone Village and, at the end of August, Josh Kardish, Vice President of EQ Homes, invited Old Ottawa East Community Association (OOECA) planning committee members to tour the site with him and review progress. The tour was taken in the context of Regional’s planned presentation to the community this fall on how it proposes to complete the development, particularly what they are proposing to the east of the Deschâtelets Building.
To date, about 233 dwelling units are completed, another 420 are or about to be under construction and 305 are in the planning phase, for a total of 958, not including the 140 units in the Greystone Village Retirement residence and possible units above the recently-approved school in Deschâtelets.
In late August, OOE community association members reviewed progress on Greystone Village with the Reginal Group/EQ Homes team. Photo by John Dance
Eight OOECA members and four members of the Regional /EQ team walked along the naturalized shoreline of Greystone Village and then along various streets to review how the village’s development compared to what was originally approved.
Kardish highlighted how, according to plan, what’s been built compares favourably to what exists in other new developments in Ottawa. Specifically, he cited how all garages – with the exception of those on Clegg Street – are in the back of the houses so that the streetscapes are not dominated by garage doors, driveways and parked cars.
Similarly, he showed that Regional was able to plant many more trees – and trees with the potential of being much larger – than what is found in comparable developments in Ottawa.
Greystone Village has a variety of building forms ranging from detached singles to large condominiums. Photo by James Ramsey/Skytography
He explained that they located the hydro wires under the sidewalk “which allows more elements to fit within the streetscape. This may sound simple, but there are significant barriers that keep this from being common practice. The entire boulevard and planting beds have a continuous soil depth of 0.6 meters. A minimum 10 cubic metres of topsoil is provided for each tree to improve their long-term health.”
Another key point of differentiation from a “standard” development is Greystone’s varying the forms and design of housing, ranging from detached singles to large condominiums at the top of the nine-storey towers just east of Saint Paul University.
The naturalized shoreline of Greystone Village is a key feature of the development , now at the halfway point. Photo by James Ramsey/Skytography
Kardish also stressed the “green” features of what has been built, including a naturalized fence behind the houses that face Springhurst Avenue backyards, various storm-water management initiatives and the naturalized shoreline. In an article in The Mainstreeter last year, Rebecca Aird, past-chair of Sustainable Living Old Ottawa East, thoroughly analyzed the development’s environmental and community impacts versus what was originally proposed through SLOE’s “Deep Green” initiative.
The future of the naturalized shoreline is not clear. Currently, Regional owns the 30-metre strip, although both public walking and cycling routes go through it as well as a massive City sewer underneath. Regional pays annual taxes of about $15,000 on the strip and would like to donate it to the City, the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority or some other non-profit to ensure the ongoing stewardship of this land. Thus far, no party has shown an interest in assuming ownership or stewardship.
