Windsor approves 178-unit Howard Avenue development as sewer nears capacity

An architectural rendering of one of the proposed townhomes that is expected to be built on Howard Avenue between Cabana and Holburn. (Source: Architectural Design Associates)

Windsor city council has approved a 178-unit residential development on Howard Avenue, despite concerns that it and another planned housing project would push a nearby sanitary sewer to about 90 per cent of its current capacity.

The development is planned for 3771, 3783 and 3793 Howard Ave., about a four-minute drive south of Devonshire Mall.

It would include four townhome buildings containing 16 units near Howard Avenue and two six-storey apartment buildings with a combined 162 units farther back on the property.

The proposal also includes 220 parking spaces, 12 bicycle parking spaces and a single vehicle entrance from Howard Avenue.

Much of council’s discussion to approve the zoning changes required for the project centred on whether infrastructure along the rapidly developing Howard Avenue corridor can keep pace with new housing.

The existing sanitary sewer has a capacity of about 36 litres per second and currently carries flows of roughly 18 litres per second, according to the city report.

Once this development and another proposed near Howard Avenue and Holburn Street are built, their combined flows are expected to bring the total to about 34 litres per second — a little more than 90 per cent of the pipe’s existing limit.

David Simpson, Windsor’s city engineer and commissioner of infrastructure services, said the city is aware of an approximately 400-metre section of undersized sewer and has a plan to replace it.

“We recognize the bottleneck and we’ve got a very good gameplan to address that,” Simpson said.

The city is expected to consider advancing about $650,000 for design work this year.

Construction is estimated at approximately $1.7 million and could be completed next year, but that funding would still need council approval through the budget process.

Simpson said that even if all currently committed developments came online immediately, the sewer would approach — but not exceed — about 90 per cent of its capacity.

The Howard Avenue project is expected to take three to four years to reach full buildout, according to Fortis Group, giving the city time to complete the sewer work before all the new units are occupied.

Simpson said replacing the undersized section with a larger pipe would not merely accommodate the two developments already under discussion.

“The moment you increase the hydraulic size of that pipe to almost 450 millimetres in diameter, then you’re opening up a ton of long-term capacity upstream,” Simpson said.

The two six-storey buildings are expected to be positioned perpendicular to Howard Avenue, so balconies would not directly face homes on Inglewood Avenue.

Asked whether the project could proceed with buildings shorter than six storeys, Max De Angelis, president of Fortis Group, said the height was tied to its financial viability.

“At the end of the day, it’s a question of economics,” De Angelis said.

The project must still go through site plan control, where detailed servicing, stormwater management, accessible parking, landscaping and design requirements will be finalized before construction can begin.