Building Better Futures: 30 Lauris Avenue, Cambridge

This project supports the Region of Waterloo's strategic focus areas:

Building Better Futures: 2,500 homes in 5 years

Welcome to 30 Lauris Avenue, Cambridge

In 2021, the Region of Waterloo established the Building Better Futures initiative, which sets a clear target for the Region to work alongside federal, provincial, non-profit and private sector partners towards the creation of 2,500 new affordable homes across the Region.

This strategy includes identifying vacant Regional lands for the purpose of developing affordable housing. To support this initiative, the Region of Waterloo will be seeking proposals for a land lease of 30 Lauris Avenue in Cambridge to develop mixed-income housing units.

What: The Region will be seeking proposals for a mixed-income housing development to support the creation of affordable homes at 30 Lauris Avenue, Cambridge.

When: A Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued to seek proposals from private and/or non-profits interested in developing the property. A timeline on development is to be determined.

Public Information Sessions

Planning - Statutory Public Meeting, City of Cambridge Council Chambers: Tuesday, August 8, 2023, 6:30PM

Public Meeting Notice

The agenda package for the meeting will be available here closer to the meeting date.

Past Public Information Sessions

Virtual Information Session: Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 7:00PM - 8:00PM

In-person Information Session (drop-in): Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 5:30PM - 7:30PM at The W, 20 Dickson Street Unit 101, Cambridge, Ontario

Virtual Information Session: Thursday, May 25, 2023, 7:00PM - 8:00PM

In-person Information Session (drop-in): Thursday, May 18, 2023, 5:30PM - 7:30PM at Alison Neighbourhood Community Centre, 127 Elgin Street North, Cambridge, Ontario

Planning Act Applications for the Site

Consent Applications B14/23, B15/23 and B16/23 - Sever three new residential lots

Status: Approved with conditions by the City of Cambridge on May 31, 2023.

Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment ORO3/23 - To assess opportunities for increased density on the property, allow for building typology to include apartments, rezone the lands from N1R4 to N1RM3 and align site-specific parking rates with supporting studies.

Status: Under review by the City of Cambridge

About the Site

This 0.93 Hectare (2.3 Acre) property has frontage on the west side of Lauris Avenue and the east side of Elgin Street North, in the City of Cambridge.

Our fact sheet contains up-to-date information about this property.

About the Request for Proposal Process

A public Request for Proposal (RFP) for the development of affordable housing units will be open to private and non-profit developers. A selection committee comprised of Regional staff from Planning, Development, and Legislative Services, Housing, Facilities, and Procurement will evaluate the submissions based on an established evaluation framework, which will include weighted measures, focused on, but not limited to:

• Regional Guidelines: Submission of specific deliverables that address things like built form, context-sensitivity, open space, amenity provisions, and leading-edge innovation in social and environmental sustainability;
• Number of Affordable Units: Percentage of affordable housing units above a minimum of 30% and depth of affordability (affordable is defined as rents at or below 80% of Median Market Rent);
• Duration of Affordability: Target a minimum 40-year duration of affordability. This could include innovative land-lease proposals or agreements and weighted ranking criteria;
• Fit: Integration into the community (e.g. through design excellence and use of high-quality materials);
• Accessibility: Accessibility features above minimum building code requirements, achieve VisAbility or universal design standards;
• Sustainability: Promote net-zero operational carbon targets;
• Community Benefit: Consider a community space and/or commercial service where specified through the RFP:
• Commit to providing a smoke-free building;
• Consider community benefit agreement through a commitment to provide training of skilled labour to apprentices and/or un/underemployed individuals, and/or to incorporate youth employment opportunities during construction;
• Consideration given to a submission that will pilot innovative partnership opportunities (e.g., special long-term land lease agreements, targeted tenure (ownership vs. rental accommodations), depth of affordability, specific community benefits); and
• Other criteria as established.

Background

• On May 11, 2021, the Affordable Housing Framework outlined the development of an innovative strategy to accelerate the development of affordable homes across Waterloo Region over the next five years (Report CSD-HOU-21-05/PDL-ECD-21-05). The strategy, Building Better Futures, encompasses strategic funding investments by the Region and a leveraging of federal and provincial grant programs to supplement these efforts in the creation of up to 2,500 new affordable homes along with our partners. The strategy also includes the use of lands surplus to the needs of the Region for the purposes of developing affordable housing, furthering efforts to achieve affordability for all.
• The RFP and disposition process presents an opportunity to target specific housing needs in Waterloo Region, and to incorporate the learnings from the Beechwood affordable housing project initiated in 2020. The Region is developing community profiles for each site to ensure projects are responsive to neighbourhood needs.

Questions? Feedback?

The Region of Waterloo will be hosting public information sessions for the community to ask questions about the property, the recent Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendment applications, and how this work will support housing affordability in our community.

Did you miss the past public information sessions? Not to worry, recordings of the virtual sessions are available in the videos tab on the right of this page and the presentation boards are available in the documents tab. Also, further public consultation regarding this project is scheduled for August 8, at City of Cambridge Council Chambers.

If you have any questions or feedback, please reach out to Ashley Graham, Senior Development Planner, Land Portfolio at ashgraham@regionofwaterloo.ca.

Input gathered from the community will be included in the RFPs to help inform submissions for development.

Past Reports:

• CSD-HOU-21-05/PDL-ECD-21-05
• PDL-LEG-21-39/CSD-HOU-21-17
• CSD-HOU-23-019