Basille Strip Mall - "Almonte Shopping Plaza"

Back to Development top level

Originally John Levi and Wilson Basille are planning a new strip mall across from the YIG grocery store mall (Stoneridge Mall).

IMPORTANT: This is really three separate developments:

Note that the site plan above is hopelessly out of date, but it's the best we've got.

Some time later, Wilson Basille took sole ownership of the project, John Levi did the Home Hardware store, and the Tim Hortons was a separate project.

Our concerns center around the strip mall itself.

February 13 2007

On Feb 6th Council outright rejected the expansion.

BUT....

The developer is *back* on the agenda for the upcoming Tues Feb 13th Council meeting. 7:30pm

Why?

Well, we don't know. Please feel free to attend to find out!

A note from the MMRA president to the MMRA Yahoo group...

Councillors, staff and the many people in the public gallery at last week's Planning committee meeting were unanimous in their disdain for having had their time utterly wasted by Mall developer Wilson Basille.

Neither he nor his rep showed up at the meeting where his 2 zoning amendments had been given centre stage for over an hour!

Seems that Doug Grant, Mr. Basille's planner, has requested delegation status to address Council next Tuesday, Feb 13. (Council Agenda items G.1 and J, on the Town's website).

Kudos to Councillors and staff for the patience to put up with this nonsense.

Hopefully folks will again take the effort to attend Tuesday's Council meeting to hear what message is being delivered this week.

February 6 2007

A new council - a new decision?

If at first you don't suceed, try and try again...

Feb 6th 2007 Public Meeting asking for:

PUBLIC MEETING - Shopping Plaza expansion

(details at the Town website, http://www.mississippimills.ca/ - but there's no direct url to this post - look under Building & Planning)

TAKE NOTICE that a Public Meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 6, 2007 at 7:00 p.m., in the Town of Mississippi Mills Council Chambers, 3131 Old Perth Road, ALMONTE, Ontario in order to consider an application to amend the Town of Mississippi Mills Zoning By-law as it applies to lands described as Part Lot 16, Con. 10, 430 Ottawa Street, Town of Mississippi Mills, commonly know as the Almonte Town Centre.

This proposed by-law amendment is intended to modify the ‘C4-2 - Shopping Centre Exemption 2’ zoning on the property in order to replace Section 19.3.2 and 19.3.3 as follows:

‘ establish a maximum gross leasable floor area of 6,350 m2 ’ presently the limit is 4,644 m2, exclusive of any common mall area such as covered walkway; ‘

establish a minimum front yard setback of 12.45 metres ’ presently only the clock town is permitted 12.45 metres ’ the balance is required to meet the 15 metre setback ‘

permit individual commercial units of 185.5 m2, except that a maximum of three commercial units may have a minimum gross leasable floor area of 139. 4 m2 and that kiosks within the common mall area are exempt from any minimum gross leasable floor area requirement ’ presently the term used is minimum gross floor area and no kiosks are recognized as being permitted; and,

recognize kiosks in the calculation of gross leasable floor area and the minimum parking requirement, both of which shall be calculated on the basis of the smallest square/rectangular area which fully contains each kiosk, plus the abutting 1.2 m of common mall area

The applicant has indicated that this amendment is intended to allow the shopping centre to expand by some combination of (1) restoring the southeast corner which was previously demolished, (2) adding second floor office space, (3) converting mall floor area to gross leasable floor area by adding it to the commercial units, and (4) adding a free standing unit to the site. The applicant further states that it is ultimately the intent to maximize the development potential of the shopping centre property which will produce a maximum floor space index (FSI) ranging between 0.25 (no common mall) and 0.29 (full mall and no kiosks) which is well below the maximum permitted FSI of 0.45. Development will proceed on full municipal services.

August 2005

The mall was built oversized, and....

The non-compliances are outlined in a Jun 27 2005 MMRA letter to council here.

The Aug 2nd MMRA position paper can be found here., indicating that the offending sections of the mall should be removed. Presented at a public meeting of coucnil.

More wrangling between the town and with the developer counter offerering. The MMRA position paper in October 2005 can be found here.

Historical Information:

Index of the historical information:

Official Meetings

Mall Size

Site Plan

Market Impact Study #2

Market Impact Study #1

Traffic Issues

Asthetics

Other Issues

Official Meetings

 July 29th 2003 - Public Info meeting for Ramsay OP amendment.

Meeting The Notice is here.

Here is what the Town Planner presented! Fascinating! Here is the Town Planner's recommendation:

RECOMMENDATION
That the Planning and Economic Development Committee not accept the Market Demand Report and not recommend Council’s adoption of the Official Plan Amendment for the shopping plaza located on Part Lot 16, Concession 10, Ramsay Ward, Town of Mississippi Mills and that prior to further consideration of this proposal that the applicant be required to produce the following information to be reviewed by staff and relevant committees:
1. that the developer provide detailed written confirmation of the size of the units to be located in the shopping plaza
2. that the developer clarify the types of uses to be located in the shopping plaza, and specifically clarify whether a grocery store is to be included in the project
3. that the developer provide a detailed inventory of the size of the units available within the Almonte downtown core.

Not exactly a glowing review.

March 25 2003 - this was the "informal" public meeting.

April 17 2003 - This was the formal public meeting. The town planner presented a report on the town's current position. The MMRA presented their position paper on the mall. The independant marketing company review of developer's market Analysis can be seen here.

At this meeting, a motion was passed to delay acceptance of the proposal pending an acceptable market Analysis being performed by the developer.

Mall Size

 The Original proposed size of the mall was 47,000 square ft.

The size has increased suddenly in March from 47,000 ft. squared to 61,600 ft. squared. Subsequently, the final size has been pegged at 4180 m2 (45,000 sq. ft.2)

The Ramsey Official Plan only permits mall sizes of up to about 10,000 sq. ft - hence the Ramsay OP amendment required.

The Ramsey OP amendment now in process see the Official Meetings above. Two items of note here:

1) the mall has has now been reduced to 43,000 ft sq.

2) The Ramsey OP amendment is tied to an acceptable Market Impact Study.

WHAT WAS FINALLY PASSED?

A 47,000 ft sq mall. If you read the public meeting notices and the market impact study , they all refer to a 43,000 q. ft mall ????

Site Plan

 Map of the Mall Site Plan

This site plan is hopelessly out of date.

This is an old site plan and is constantly changing. The plan above is for the 47K sq. ft. version of the mall. Currently, the mall location is now in the middle, with the hardware store being furthest from the town center.

There are at least 14 stores. However 3 of them are2 stories .There are no plans for stores on the 2nd story, but rather an atrium effect.

The developer stated (when asked on March 26 ) that they looked at fronting the mall on the street and putting the parking behind, but it was claimed to be not "feasible" by the developer.

  • We think that it could be done, and would be highly preferable to the typical "sea of cars" out front look.

The entrance locations off Ottawa St. have not yet been fully determined.

  • The developer would not commit to having the main entrance directly across from the existing mall entrance.

Market Impact Study #2

 Read the MMAH decision of Nov 25 2003 regarding the Ramsay Official Plan Ammendment (ROPA1). Sounds like the MMAH is side stepping it's responsibility to ensure that the down town core is protected, as required by the Provincial Policy Statement.

The developer, John Levi, to the Town, tabled a revised market impact Study (MIS2) on June 24 at the P&E Committee Meeting.

At the meeting, Councillors pointed out the many inconsistencies and inadequacies of the report. However, with minimal discussion, the committee accepted the tabling of the report.

There is a general concern among residents that the strip mall will have an adverse effect on the downtown core in Almonte.

Yet, there was almost no discussion on this subject at Council. Unfortunate, because the main reason for requiring the MIS in the first place was to evaluate the strip mall’s effect on the downtown core—and the Almonte OP requires it.

Council and staff are reluctant to release this new study until it has been “fixed up” and Council has re-approved it. Council actually directed the town staff to help "fix it up" - our tax dollars at work! As of July 16th, the revised MIS2 report has not been released for public comment.

The MMRA questions this approach. How is the public to have meaningful input, if residents can’t comment until after decisions have been approved?

A public meeting on this issues is scheduled for July 29. The meeting notice is here.

Economic Impact Study #1

This study was performed by John Levi and reviewed by E Katmarian.

The economic study has been received by the town and has being reviewed by the town and by an independent marketing company: Corporate Research Group (CRG) of Ottawa. A copy of their report can be obtained here.

Their opinion is that the report was "rudimentary" and inadequate.

The MMRA Current Development Action Committee (CDAC) has reviewed this document, and the position paper can be seen here.

Both reports concluded that the Market Analysis as presented is not adequate.

Of greatest concern is the affect the strip mall would have on the Downtown Core (DTC).

It has been observed with that many stores of that size, it could well attract some of the big anchors from downtown.

  • We are already losing at least the IDA drug store, the Home Hardware, the Sports Store to the strip mall., and possibly the VS Options store.

Can you imagine the downtown core if the bank and post office moved out?

Of note is that the Stonebridge mall (Patrice's IGA mall) has had an empty retail space for years!

Traffic Issues

Transportation Impact Study

This report was done by National Capital Engineering Ltd. The conclusions of this report are basically:

  • There is no need to widen the road (Hwy 49).
  • There is no need of turning lanes.

Note that there are already defacto turning lanes on Ottawa St. because people drive around other cars that are turning, by using the unpaved shoulder of the road - just look at the pot holes in the gravel !

Of significance, the report was based on traffic observations for one hour on one day of the year. (Jan 20th 2003) .The weather on the date of the study is not mentioned – it was cold and blustery, with drifting snow, and a wind-chill factor of minus 35 degrees. Weather such as this likely plays havoc with normal traffic flows. As well, traffic from new proposed developments (e.g. White Tail Ridge, the new commercial development across the street) are not included in the traffic study.

Pedestrian / Bicycle Traffic Issues

Pedestrian and bicycle traffic have not been considered in the traffic study. In the overall mall site plan:

  • There are no plans for a cross-walk between malls.
  • There are no plans for side walks along Hwy 49.
  • There is no plan for side walks linking to the town.
  • There is no plan for side walks linking the mall to the Tim Horton's or the Home hardware
  • there are no walkways on the outside of the mall along the front perimeter of the mall

These issues should be part of the development conditions insisted on by the town and done by the developer, just like in residential development.

In short this is being planned in the "old style" auto-centric manner.

My Analysis (gny)

I find it very difficult to accept that turning across traffic twice to get into Tim H in the morning and back out again, is considered safe, and that it won't cause traffic problems.

Based on the information I have so far I think the traffic study is seriously flawed and is not acceptable. For the MMRA position paper that includes a look at the traffic report, see this link.

I have heard rumour from a reliable source that the consultants doing the traffic study have stated that they did not have enough time or information to perform a proper study.

Asthetics

On March 26th, the developer presented an elevation drawing of the two "wings".

  • There are 3 two story sections to the mall
  • it wasn't clear if the second stories would hold additional stores?
  • There are a total of 14 stores (3 of them 2 story)
  • the walkway between stores will be enclosed and is glass

People expressed concern about the gateway to Almonte being a blank cinder block wall (i.e. typical back of a strip mall look). This is the back of the "L wing" that runs perpendicular to the Hwy 49.

Steven Braithwaite stated that the blank wall could be used for artistic endeavours , something hi-tech - projected lasers?

What about doing the end store closest to the highway as a "3D" i.e. done to be approached from 3 sides? Since then, the developer has indicated that the end unit closest to the road would have a more 3-sided look with windows all around.

Other Issues

Roof water will be collected in underground cisterns

  • there will be a storm management pond - location TBD.