Church planning for development near future LRT station

First Unitarian Church finds itself caughtin two trends: the faltering finances of churches and the boom to build around light rail stations.

So, with anew LRT station to be built just steps away from its Cleary Avenue property, it is laying the groundworkto open itssite for development and smooth out any future financial bumps.

"We don't want to mess it up. It's just too valuable a property to do something we regret later, and we're in no rush," said Blair Erskine,who has attendedthe church since it opened in 1965 and now leadsa committee looking at what to do with the site.

The church sits on two-and-a-half hectares between the Ottawa River and Richmond Road, and has a seniors' residence,child-care centre and memorial garden also on the property.

We don't want to mess it up. It's just too valuable a property to do something we regret later.- Blair Erskine, First Unitarian planning committee chair

The newCleary Station will be just around the cornerwhen Stage 2 of LRTopens in the west, and several neighbouring parcels on Richmond Road are already slated for high-rises.

Congregationwants affordable housing

The congregationhad opposed the initial plan to have the LRT tunnel cut through itsproperty, and the revised route travels through an existing strip mall thatis now nearly empty.

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"We don't want to mess up," says Blair Erskine of the First Unitarian Church, who is leading a committee that is looking into making long-term development plans for the property.

Now the 300-member congregation has hiredplanningconsultancy Fotennand held a meeting in May to let neighbours weigh in.

First Unitarian isn't yet in thefinancial bindof other churches that have turned to development, Erskine said, but the first priority willbe income to make sure the church can survive long-term.

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At this early stage, the other thing the congregation agrees on is that any development must include affordable housing.

"It's crucial. The congregation has made it clear that they want that in whatever development is settled on," Erskine said.

Neighbouring community associations have also suggested the area could use a community or health centre, which FirstUnitarian would like to pursue.

"I have mixed emotions," said Susan Miller, who lives nearby and is also a church member. She cares that First Unitarian remains viable, but is also concerned for the residents of Unitarian House, and whether the existing 35-year-old seniors' residence remains a part of the plan.

Erskine said the development would happen in phases and everything is on the table.

The plan will leave open the possibility that50 yearsfrom now the church building itself might be redeveloped, he added.

"Eventually we're going to have to develop,for one reason or another, and the sooner we get a handle on it the better," Erksine said.