Kingston councillors and residents discussed two development applications at a community meeting: a proposal to redesignate 92 Napier Street from open space to residential use for up to three single-family homes, and a proposal for a six-storey, 80-unit apartment building at 115-117 King Street West. No decision was made on either application at the meeting, which was held to gather public and committee feedback before formal recommendations return later.

Topics Discussed

1. 92 Napier Street: open space to residential conversion

The application for 92 Napier Street seeks an Official Plan amendment and zoning bylaw amendment to change the former south lawn of the Kingston Lawn Bowling Club from open space to residential use. The site is about 1,849 square metres with 40 metres of frontage on Napier Street and is currently zoned Open Space 2, with a requested change to Urban Residential 5.

Applicant representative Alicia Aykroyd of Fotenn Planning and Design said the site is “currently designated open space in the city's official plan,” but “it's not currently being used for such purpose.” She said the amendments being sought were “really just to facilitate residential use.”

2. Community response and concerns at 92 Napier Street

Residents focused on how the site changed hands and what kind of housing could be built there. A speaker from the Sunnyside neighbourhood said residents organized to stop an earlier proposal and bought the property themselves: “We rallied the troops and had three very generous couples in the neighbourhood that donated, invested substantial amount of money to buy it back from the previous developers,” with six other couples joining as investors. The speaker said the hope now is “to sell two or three lots” with covenants so they would be “family-style dwellings,” adding, “It's not going to be a profit-driven venture.”

Councillor Glenn said preserving the land as open space would have been preferable. “If this could have stayed open space, that would have been the ultimate,” he said. “If it could have been like some type of recreational or park space would have been the, you know, the goal.”

3. 115-117 King Street West: six-storey apartment proposal

A second application concerns 115-117 King Street West, where the applicant is seeking amendments to change the land use from institutional to residential and rezone the site to permit an apartment building. The proposal is for a six-storey building with up to 80 residential units at King Street West and Lower University Avenue, near Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Queen’s University.

The applicant said the building would contain 80 units: “nine studios, 39 one bedrooms and 32 two bedrooms.” The proposal includes a parking ratio of “about 0.25” and “full one-to-one bike parking ratio,” mostly in secure indoor bike rooms.

Planning staff said the proposal met policy tests. “In our opinion, the application satisfies the various policy tests,” staff told councillors, citing stepbacks and setbacks intended “to minimize shadowing impacts and overlook.”

4. Opposition and concerns about 115-117 King Street West

Queen’s University objected to the land use change. Lee Magrath of Queen’s said “the fundamental question that this application poses is related to land use change and compatibility.” He said the proposal would convert land designated institutional to residential and “fundamentally undermines the stability of institutional end uses,” while potentially restricting future academic growth and jeopardizing research initiatives.

Residents also raised concerns about parking and traffic. Dr. Fitzpatrick said the proposed parking supply was “approximately one third of the norm for such a development” and argued that many medical students do have cars. He said the area is “so traffic congested currently” and that neighbours are already “constantly besieged with cars parking across our driveway because there is no other place to park.”

Another resident said, “I just don't think that our part of King Street can support the number of apartments that are being proposed,” adding that even a three-storey building would strain available parking.

5. Design, shadow, trees and accessibility at 115-117 King Street West

Councillors and residents questioned the building’s height, appearance from the street and water, tree removal and landscaping. Councillor Loc said, “I just feel that six stories is too tall for this location,” adding that the report did not include a concept diagram showing “what it looks like from the water or what it looks like from King Street.”

One speaker also raised the loss of trees and reduced landscaping, noting “all the trees are going to be cut down” and asking whether there was room for replacement planting because “you are taking down 22 or 23 trees on this site.”

The applicant said it was still open to changes. A representative said, “We're open to speaking with Queens to see kind of what options there might be to help mitigate or address the concerns that they may have about that site.” On sustainability, the developer said its buildings typically target “at least 40 percent better than the national building code.”

Motions

• Approval of minutes from previous meetings (2026-07 and 2026-08) — passed
• 92 Napier Street community meeting item — no decision made; application remains under review
• 115-117 King Street West community meeting item — no decision made; application remains under review

Attendees

• Councillor Glenn
• Councillor Loc
• Other councillors present were not identified in the provided notes