A large housing development will be moving forward following city approval.
Windsor city council met Monday with one report looking for final approval to rezone a parcel of land on the west side of Howard Avenue, just north of Cabana Road.
The proposed development includes four townhouses with a total of 16 units and two apartment buildings with a total of 162 units, along with 220 parking spaces.
While there were minor concerns from nearby residents, such as the height of the apartments and it aligning with the neighbourhood characteristics, the main concern expressed was the capacity of the sanitary sewer along Howard Avenue.
Following the recent approval of a six-storey apartment across the street, that development and this development would bring the sewer capacity to 90 per cent once both projects are complete.
During the meeting, administration stated the city is aware of a 400-metre section of sewer near these developments that would be replaced. The city is expected to consider precommitting $650,000 for design work this year, with a report going to council in July.
David Simpson, Windsor’s Commissioner of Infrastructure Services, says construction is estimated at approximately $1.7 million and could be completed next year.
“We feel by taking the precommitment approach now for the design, get that work done this year, get the budget for the construction funding as part of the 2027 budget, we’d be well ahead of any potential long-term bottleneck given that the lion’s share of these developments won’t be coming online for two, three, four years.”
Ward 9 city councillor Kieran McKenzie says he has mixed feelings but is hopeful the needed short-term upgrades can be done.
“I told the city engineer, ‘I’m taking you at your word’, and that we’re already seeing some pieces come together with respect to that project in the detailed design from funding that’s available this year. So by the time we get to somewhere around this time next year, that project should already be very close to, if not already, shovels in the ground.”
McKenzie says he was pleased to hear that part of Howard would be upgraded.
“As long as we are making sincere commitments to addressing those issues in the corridor because there’s no other place in the city right now where we are seeing a as compressed area that level of intensification. What we don’t have through that corridor through the stretch where we’re seeing that intensification are infrastructure investments that have happened along the same time frame.”
The city recently applied for the Development Charge Reduction Program, which is an $8.8-billion Canada-Ontario partnership providing municipalities with funding for housing-enabling infrastructure.
Howard Avenue was one of many projects included in the city’s application for the funding.
The development is expected to take upwards of four years to complete fully.