Britannia Heights area residents are crying foul over another local rezoning application seeking to add more units to a duplex.

City staff are currently considering a request from the owner of 931 Pinecrest Rd. to convert the property's zoning to a designation which would allow a fourplex.

Henry Sweich, president of the Queensway Terrace North Community Association, said last week that the neighbourhood has had its fill of such developments.

Not only did the association unsuccessfully oppose a duplex to triplex rezoning on Ivanhoe Ave., but it is also supporting neighbouring west end associations facing their own intensification issues.

"The community is getting clobbered on this," he said.

In a letter to city staff, Mr. Sweich says two parking spaces on site will not be sufficient, and wonders where visitors will park.

The area was down-zoned to limit dew development to single and semi-detached homes in 1998, he adds, given the increasing density of the area.

City staff failed to put up a public notification sign on the property, Mr. Sweich added, and have waived the original March 1 cutoff date for public comment.

Pinecrest Rd. resident Geoffrey Sharpe agreed that the neighbourhood has more than its share of intensified duplexes, several operating illegally.

He has watched several of these cases and said that, even where the city has gone so far as to issue notices of violation, officials have not followed through with fines or other enforcement.

"We cannot trust the City of Ottawa to protect the integrity of its residential neighbourhoods," he said.

City planner Doug Bridgewater said the property is currently zoned R2, which allows detached homes or duplexes.    Were it a seniors' residence, he added, up to eight tenants would be permissible.

Still, the city's public circulation on the application notes that the current building is "a two storey, fourplex residential building with three front yard parking spaces."

A city spokesperson said privacy legislation prevents officials from confirming where violation notices have been issued.

Comments on the application can be made by phone to 580-2424, ext. 13387 or by e-mail to: douglas.bridgewater@ottawa.ca.