Transportation Overview

1223 Michael Street, Suite 100, Ottawa, Ontario K1J 7T2
Tel: 613.738.4160 ● Fax: 613.739.7105
www.delcan.com
February 24, 2014
OUR REF: TO1190TOZ00
BY EMAIL: [email protected]
University of Ottawa
Physical Resources Service
141 Louis-Pasteur Private
Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
Attention:
Mr. Ian Kennedy
Project Leader and Project Manager
Dear Sir:
RE: Henderson Avenue Student Residence Building
Transportation Overview
1.0
INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE OF WORK
The above-noted University of Ottawa proposed Student Residence building, located on a
vacant portion of a lot and fronting onto Henderson Avenue, is proposed to be a 4-storey
building containing 81 units and no on-site parking. The Site Plan is provided as Figure 1
and a “unit” is defined in the City’s Zoning By-Law 2008-250 as “a room, or a suite of
rooms, that constitutes a separate, independent residential occupancy, but which is not selfcontained and requires access to other parts of the building” (Section 54). As part of the
Site Plan Application, the City requires the appropriate type of transportation study. As the
proposed development will generate less than 75 vph, which is the City’s trigger for
requiring traffic analysis, we are advised that the City requires only a brief Transportation
Overview. As there is no traffic impact, the Overview would focus on the pedestrian, bicycle
and loading aspects of the Site Plan and the parking supply on the campus as a whole.
2.0
TRAFFIC AND PARKING ANALYSIS
As no parking is proposed on-site, the site’s traffic generation will be minimal. It will be
limited to resident drop-off/pick-ups, service and delivery vehicles, and visitors who will
park on-street if spaces are available. As the units will be fully-furnished, the movein/move-out requirements will be minimal. On a peak hour basis, site-generated traffic will
therefore be very low, likely see less than 10 vph, and as there is not site garage access, no
further traffic impact analysis is required.
With regard to parking, none is proposed. This is because of a combination of the
need/demand for student parking at on-campus residence buildings is very low, plus the
University currently has a surplus of parking supply within its boundaries.
Page 2
Figure 1: Site Plan
Page 3
Based on the recent Fall 2013 parking supply/demand study undertaken by Daniel Spence
of the University’s Parking and Sustainable Transportation department, of the total 2266
parking spaces available on the Downtown and Lees campuses (both on-street, surface and
in parking lots/garages) during the highest period of usage (11:00 a.m. to 3:00 pm. on a
weekday), the average utilization was at 83.3%. This meant that 16.7% of parking spaces
(422 spaces) were empty and available for use. As the campus is treated as one site for
parking supply/demand purposes, as per Zoning By-Law exception [784], any parking
demand associated by the proposed residence building can very clearly be accommodated
by the available surplus parking supply.
With regard to the adjacent on-street parking, it is located only on one side of Henderson
Avenue, with it switching sides at approximately mid-block. On the south half of the block
adjacent to the majority of the site, the parking (1 hour, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to
Friday) is on the west side of the street. On the north half of the block it switches over to
the east side. The transition is controlled by curb extensions with the concept of introducing
this “chicane” being part of the Sandy Hill Traffic Calming Plan. The total existing parking
supply on this one block of Henderson Avenue is approximately 17 spaces, comprised of 11
spaces on the west side and 6 spaces on the east side. The east side has fewer spaces
because of the number of driveways.
With the adjacent Advanced Research Complex (ARC) building and the proposed Student
Residence building having a shared loading driveway at the south end of the Residence
building, some on-street parking spaces will be lost. As it would also be desirable to have a
pick-up/drop-off area at the front door of the proposed Student Residence building, an
approximately 12 m long “15-min loading” zone would remove another 2 spaces, with the
result being 8 parking spaces being available (currently 11 spaces) along the west curb of
Henderson Avenue.
3.0
LOADING AND WASTE COLLECTION
Adjacent to the south end of the subject site, a 4.0 m wide paved lane connects Henderson
Avenue to the rear of both the proposed Residence building and the ARC building. Once
past the Student Residence building, the driveway widens to a 6.0 m wide loading area.
This loading area also connects to the ARC’s waste collection area which has its
access/egress through the ARC building to connect to Templeton Street. The Student
Residence building also has a rear door that is connected to the loading area and waste
collection area via an on-site sidewalk. This connection accommodates resident movements
to/from the building and the loading area as well as the movement of garbage from the
Student Residence building to the ARC’s waste pick-up area. This shared-use of the ARC’s
waste collection facility is possible as both buildings are owned by the University.
It is noteworthy that, as the backyard sidewalk extends to the loading area, a continuous
paved path to the municipal sidewalk along Henderson Avenue is provided. As such, the
Student Residence building’s front door and loading area also have good pedestrian linkage.
Page 4
We have also been advised by the project’s landscape architect that the existing municipal
sidewalk adjacent to the site is only approximately 1.5 m wide and that consideration is
been given to widening it to between 1.8 m and 2.0 m.
4.0
BICYCLE ACCOMMODATION
Indoor bicycle parking is proposed within a room located at the northeast corner of the
proposed building. A minimum of 25 bicycle parking spaces are proposed. As the Zoning
By-Law 2008-250 requirement is 0.25 spaces/unit, this requirement is exceeded.
5.0
FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the foregoing analysis, the findings, conclusions and recommendations of this
Transportation Overview follow:

As the proposed 81-unit Student Residence building is centrally located within the
campus and has no on-site parking, it will generate far less than 75 vph and
therefore requires no traffic analysis as per the City’s Transportation Impact
Assessment Guidelines;

There will be some resident and visitor parking demand associated with the proposed
building. On-street parking on Henderson Avenue is available, and overall within the
campus there is a significant amount of surplus available public parking during the
peak parking periods. The University’s recent Fall 2013 parking supply/demand data
indicates that during the weekday peak period, there are 422 unused parking spaces
available. During the rest of the day and on weekends, the campus’ parking space
availability increases significantly;

Review of the proposed loading and waste pick-up reveals that it is adequately
accommodated. In addition, the creation of a 10 m to 12 m long “15-min loading”
zone outside the building’s front door could provide a convenient pick-up/drop-off
area for the building;

The Zoning By-Law 2008-250 minimum requirements for bicycle parking is
exceeded; and

If possible, the existing 1.5 m sidewalk across the building frontage will be widened
to between 1.8 m and 2.0 m.
Based on the foregoing, the Site Plan for the proposed Henderson Avenue Student
Residence building is recommended from a transportation perspective.
Sincerely,
Ronald M. Jack, P.Eng.
Vice President Transportation
Manager Ottawa Operations

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