Category: Sherwood Forest

Great Near Campus Neighbourhoods OMB Hearing

The city was successful at the Ontario Municipal Board. The Great Near Campus Neighbourhood policies are now in force and effect. This means that new construction in the core of the area including stacked townhouses, semis, duplexes and four-plexes in our area may only have a maximum of three bedrooms per unit (i.e., a duplex could have 3 bedrooms in each unit for a total of 6). More intense uses will be directed to transportation nodes and corridors. Other parts of the policy dictate how much parking and pavement can be on the site as well as how large the bedrooms are in relation to the floor space. Overall, this is seen as a positive for our area.

You can get the background and reports on the policies at http://www.london.ca/d.aspx?s=/Planning/studentstrategy.htm

Updated map of rental housing

An updated map of non-owner-occupied rental housing in Sherwood Forest/Orchard Park is now available. This map is to the best of our knowledge based on City of London license information.

Information from AGM

Thanks to all who came out for the ratepayers’ Annual General Meeting on Wednesday night. Great turnout – approximately 175 people.

Here are a number of items from the meeting:

  • Heather Chapman from the City of London’s Municipal Law Enforcement Services gave a presentation.
  • A general concern of the neighborhood is the increasing number of houses rented to students, and the potential impact on the neighborhood. Here is a map of houses in Orchard Park/Sherwood Forest currently rented to students. If you have updates or additions for the map, contact Sandy Levin.
  • Updates on the widening of Sarnia Road, Medway Valley, and a rezoning request for a property on Sarnia Rd.
  • Update from the Steering Committee regarding the Sherwood Forest School Site.

Following the update on the school site, a survey was distributed to get a sense of the community’s preferences regarding future directions. If you were not able to attend the meeting and wish to submit a survey, please complete the form and send to Sandy Levin, 59 Longbow Rd (or email to Sandy at s.levin@sympatico.ca ).

Student housing in Orchard Park/Sherwood Forest

The ratepayers are continuing to compile a list of addresses where the homes are rented out and not occupied by the owners.   The list goes to the rental licensing area of city hall which will check to see if there is a license for this use.  While it is currently a legal use, there are limits. 

If you would like to have a location reviewed, you can either the city’s call Residential Rental Units Licensing enquiries at 519-930-3515, or you can contact Sandy Levin with the address and he will  submit the information.  At least 5% of the homes in the area are being used as rentals.