I am both the architect and part of the development team (partners are Gordon Kaiser and Naheel Suleman) for the project at 2 Neville Park, which has been covered by the media, including The Mirror, over the past year and a half since the original submission.
I am contacting you regarding some errors and inaccuracies in the recently published article. These errors are important to clarify, considering the visibility and interest in the proposal by the community.
The original submission in May 2007 was for a five-storey, sixteen-unit proposed luxury condominium building and one custom detached house on the site. This submission was taller than the height limit (by 5.4 metres). The proposal also required the removal of seven trees under the city's tree permit bylaw. After several meetings with the area councillor, local planning staff and the public, we asked for an abeyance in October 2007 to review and potentially revise the proposal in order to respond to comments and concerns raised by all involved, including those of height and size of the condominium building and the loss of trees.
We spent half a year completing revisions to the proposal from the ground up.
In March 2008, we resubmitted a proposal for a four-storey, 10-unit luxury condominium building with one custom detached house.
The proposed condominium building is one full storey lower, at 2.17 metres above the height limit, and less dense, with six fewer units. The new proposal now maintains three of the original seven trees requiring removal, including two mature red oaks that the building has been designed around to protect and preserve.
In addition, we are planting more than twice as many trees as we are removing. The building has also been made smaller and carefully articulated to blend in successfully with the environment. All the materials are natural, including stone, cedar/redwood and zinc. It will contain much more parking in an underground level than is required by the bylaw for both residents and visitors, ensuring no parking impacts on neighbouring streets.
Dermot J. Sweeny
Sweeny Sterling Finlayson and Co Architects Inc.