The Working Group on Graywood Development's proposal for a 15-storey midrise at 506-516 Church Street (Crews / Tangos), met for a second time on January 18. 

The group, of which CWNA is a member, is discussing the proposal and site plan from the economic and cultural perspective of the Church Wellesley Village, with the aim of preserving and protecting the historical significance, character and culture of the Village. 

According the group's Terms of Reference, it "will review the Zoning Application, which involves the review of the building’s height, massing, setbacks, angular plane, cultural and heritage conservation, and land use designations. The Working Group will also review the Site Plan application, when submitted, which involves the review  of features such as the building design and materials, site access and servicing, lighting and safety, waste storage, parking, loading and landscaping."

The first Working Group meeting was held on December 1. The January 18 meeting followed up on several aspects of the proposal that had been brought up at the December meeting, notably the relationship of the building to the streetscape and feel of the Village.  Graywood proposes that the Crews / Tangos building be partially preserved to a depth of 5 metres.  A bar / restaurant space remains a part of the plan.  

​Graywood will now take away comments from the second Working Group meeting and resubmit a revised plan to the City in March.   A community consultation, open to the public,  will be scheduled to follow the resubmission. 

On February 2, City Council approved the final report on a revitalized downtown Yonge Street, dubbed YongeTOmorrow.

YongeTOmorrow proposes a full and flexible redesign of the street from Queen Street north to College Street, where sidewalks will be expanded, vehicle lanes modified, restaurant patios extended and street furniture and streetscape elements added.

The Yonge TOmorrow Environmental Study Report (ESR) will now be finalized and submitted to the Ontario Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks and will be subject to a 30-day public review period. Following provincial approval, the project will then develop a detailed design along with construction phasing and schedules.  Construction is expected to start in 2023. 

Looking further forward, the redesign of Yonge Street north between College Street and Davenport Road, as well as the redesign of Church Street are one step closer. 

See the final report here. 

The fate of 2 Carlton Street, which was first proposed for re-development in 2016, will soon be determined. 

The proposal calls for a 73-storey tower replacing the heritage listed mid-century modern 18-storey office tower that currently stands there. The City opposed the application and it was appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT, formerly the OMB) by the developer, Northam Realty Advisors (Carlton Tower Limited). 

During the development application process, two Working Group meetings focussing on the site plan were held with affected parties, including the CWNA; a third meeting is to be scheduled. 

On January 4, 2021, the City received a settlement offer from the developer. A case management conference/settlement hearing has been scheduled at the LPAT for March 18, 2021.

The Working Group, struck by Councillor Wong-Tam, regarding Graywood Development's proposal for a 15-storey midrise at 506-516 Church Street, met for a second time on January 18.

The group, of which CWNA is a member, is discussing the development proposal and site plan from the economic and cultural perspective of the Church Wellesley Village, with the aim of preserving and protecting the historical significance, character and culture of the Village. 

According the group's Terms of Reference, it "will review the Zoning Application, which involves the review of the building’s height, massing, setbacks, angular plane, cultural and heritage conservation, and land use designations. The Working Group will also review the Site Plan application, when submitted, which involves the review  of features such as the building design and materials, site access and servicing, lighting and safety, waste storage, parking, loading and landscaping."

The first Working Group meeting was held on Dec. 1 and allowed for participants to share opinions with the developer on various aspects of the proposal.  CWNA subsequently submitted a number of recommendations.

The Working Group meetings are separate and apart from broader public consultations, which will be held later this year.  We will keep you posted as the Working Group continues its discussions.

In October 2019, PlazaCorp proposed a 45-storey condominium tower at 20 to 26 Maitland Street, where the former Catholic Children's Aid building and a Victorian house (since demolished) stood. 

In March 2020, before the City had made a decision, PlazaCorp appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT). The LPAT hearing is scheduled for April 15, 2021. The City Solicitor and City Planning staff will attend the hearing to oppose the proposal. 

 A community consultation meeting has not yet been held, due in part to limitations imposed by Covid-19, but one will be held  prior to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal hearing.  In the meantime, City Planning and Legal staff prepare their case for a more appropriate building on the site.  

City Reports and Supporting Documents

Toronto Staff Preliminary Report (Dec. 11, 2019)

Toronto Staff Request for Direction Report (Sept. 21, 2020) 

City Council Decision on Direction Report (Oct. 27, 2020)

​LPAT Hearing Order (Oct. 28, 2020)

Development Application Information Centre - supporting documentation including architectural plans and shadow study.

The City will host a second online public consultation regarding the revitalization of  George Hislop and Norman Jewison Parks and Alexander Street Parkette on February 17. [register]

The first (online) public consultation took place on November 5.  At the February 17 meeting City staff will present the preferred concept plans, informed by the community feedback in November and stakeholder meetings in November and February. 

A master plan for the three connected parks parallel to Yonge Street (George Hislop, Norman Jewison and James Canning Gardens) was completed in 2017 and James Canning Gardens is now being renovated in line with that plan.

Alexander Street Parkette, which was not included in the 2017 master plan, has been added to the scope of the project. 

According to the City's Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division, the consultation process will "refresh and build on engagement completed to date for the linear parks, and provide opportunities for additional input during the design process."

"George Hislop Park will also have an integrated public art/design element that celebrates LGBTQ2S+ history, leadership, excellence and resilience - a new feature that was not identified in the master plan."
 
The consultations, held between late 2020 and early 2021, include: 

• online stakeholder (Community Resource Group) review meetings  (CWNA is a participant) 
• online public information meetings
• physically distant interviews with vulnerable communities / park users
• public feedback via email, phone, mail and  online survey.  

George Hislop Park is currently closed and will be the first of the three parks to be rebuilt. Parks & Foresty's most optimistic estimate for George Hislop is a start date of mid-2021 with completion in late 2021 or summer 2022.  The other parks will follow.  

Ongoing updates are being posted on the City's web page, Yonge Street Linear Park Improvements.  Register for the public consultation here. 

On January 11, the final report on the downtown Yonge Street redesign, dubbed YongeTOmorrow, was adopted by City Council's Infrastructure and Environment Committee. It will be considered by City Council on February 2. 

The Committee also requested a supplementary report be attached for City Council that clarifies the timelines, requirements and recommendations of the Environmental Assessment; summarizes next steps for the detailed design, operations planning and construction; and describes next steps for consultation and engagement with street businesses and other stakeholders.

​ YongeTOmorrow proposes a full and flexible redesign of the street from Queen Street north to College Street, where sidewalks will be expanded, vehicle lanes modified, restaurant patios extended and street furniture and streetscape elements added.

The plan would change the way the street functions from day to night. During the day, the street would be prioritized for people walking, cycling and experiencing the street, while still providing for vehicle traffic through a combination of pedestrian priority zones, one-way and two-way driving access. Overnight all blocks would have two-way driving access to support TTC night bus service, deliveries, and general traffic.

ONE Properties seems to expect other sites and land uses to respond to its proposal and suffer its impacts, rather than responding appropriately to its planned surroundings, Piel said in summarizing the city's position. "The proposed development should fit within the existing planned context, not the other way around," he said. 

However David Bronskill, lawyer for ONE Properties, told the tribunal that the area is designated by the provincial government for denser development because it is close to major transit, particularly Wellesley subway station.   

"Whether or not the lands are designated as apartment neighbourhoods or mixed use areas in my respectful submission is irrelevant to that consideration, to that overarching consideration of intensification," he said in his final arguments. 

In June 2019, the Doug Ford Conservative government imposed changes to Toronto's urban plans to allow vastly taller and denser development than previously considered.  The same month, the province passed Bill 108, which weakened 13 existing laws regulating the development industry. 

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, whose Toronto Centre ward includes the Church-Wellesley area, and two other city councillors accused the province of throwing out careful planning "in favour of a few well-connected developers."

City officials complained they had not been consulted, but this was denied by Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark. “We indicated that we would be intensifying around major transit station areas," The Toronto Star reported him as saying. 

Bronskill told the tribunal that intensification is "an overarching policy imperative" that should inform consideration of all issues in this case. "Much of the city's evidence in opposition has been based on a failure to apply provincial policy in a meaningful way," he said. 

But Piel countered that the proposal undermines city policies that have been approved by the provincial government. These policies are aimed at protecting the Wellesley / Wood  area, which is reserved for "apartment neighbourhoods," and the main street character of the Church St. Village, he said.

The tribunal has not heard any evidence that the city is not meeting its required intensification targets, Piel said. "It's also well established that the provincial objective of intensification is not an objective to be pursued at all costs."

The province has left it to municipalities to determine where to designate urban growth centres, Piel said. Moreover, significant intensification has already been approved next to Wellesley subway station, he said. 

"The city can accommodate intensification to satisfy provincial policy without every site in the downtown being the target of significant intensification which has no regard to site and area specific characteristics," Piel said.

"The proposed development does not even partially meet tall building guidelines and exceeds the maximum requirement for floor plate size without any justification" 

The tower would  impact privacy in the surrounding neighbourhood and cast unacceptable shadows on Barbara Hall Park, according to Piel.

Planning policies dictate that development within the Church St. Character Area must minimize shadow impacts and must allow no new net shadow on Barbara Hall Park between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on March 21 and Sept.  21. 
​
But the development would increase shadows on the park by 434 per cent at 4:18 p.m. on March 21 and 328 per cent at the same time on Sept. 21. 

"To the city's knowledge the tribunal has not previously determined that a 434 per cent increase of shadow on a park by a single developer satisfies the meaning of 'minimize'," Piel said. 

But Bronskill questioned Piel's use of "horrific sounding percentages." 
There is "no evidence that a passing shadow that might linger for between 26 and 55 minutes on any one portion of a park will diminish the use of this downtown park," he said.

"The location, design and orientation of the tower, in my respectful submission, minimizes shadow impacts on surrounding parks and neighborhoods," he told the tribunal.

In any event, the shadow policy does not apply to buildings outside the Church St. Character Area, where the proposed tower portion of the development is located, he said. 

He challenged the city's assertion that the proposed tower must have a minimum separation distance of 12.5 metres from the property line, a policy designed  to achieve 25 metres distances between tall buildings. The guideline does not apply because the development will abut, at most, mid-rise buildings, he said. He called the city's approach "mathematical dogma, based on an inaccurate and inappropriate approach to the tall building guidelines."

As for blocking sky views, "it is insufficient to say that the proposal is visible from Church St. That is not a test in policy," Bronskill said. 

Bronskill added that Wellesley St. is a high street identified as appropriate for tall buildings of up to 35 stories.  There are big towers to the west and east on Wellesley, including a 39-storey building just east of Jarvis St., and a recently approved 35-storey development close to Yonge St.  A 28-storey building,  now under construction at 81 Wellesley St. E., is an almost identical distance east of Church St. as the proposed tower would be to the west. 

"The proposed development achieves an appropriate balance among the applicable planning objectives, including transit-supportive intensification, increased housing supply, heritage conservation and built form impacts," Bronskill said. 

The portion of the development on Church St. "largely conforms" to the Site and Area Specific Policy, he added.  
​
Peter Smith, a witness for the developer,  testified that the city has not seriously engaged with ONE Properties to try to arrive at a resolution.  The developer has significantly reduced the size of the proposal from 43 to 36 storeys and the density from 18 to 11.8 FSI (floor space index), Smith told the panel. 

"The key policy considerations are that the site is identified as an urban growth centre in the growth plan, part of the downtown in the Official Plan first; secondly, is located within approximately 160 meters walking distance of the subway station and is therefore within a major transit station area," Smith testified.

The proposed tower has a setback from the north property line of 5.5 metres from the 6th to 20th floors and 7.5 metres from the 21st to 36th floors, short of the required 12.5 metres, Joseph Luk, a senior City urban designer, wrote in an affidavit. 

The development represents poor urban design and clashes with the Church-Wellesley area which is one of Toronto's most significant intersections and home to the LGBTQ2 + community, Luk testified. 

"In my opinion, the proposed development will cause irreversible negative impacts on the surroundings"

On March 27, two Cresford Developments condo projects in the neighbourhood (and a third one in Yorkville) were placed in receivership at the request of lenders, who alleged financial mismanagement. 

The Clover at 599 Yonge Street, between Dundonald and Gloucester (since renamed The Gloucester on Yonge) was partially completed. In June 2020 Concord Pacific took over the project and re-started construction. Concord Pacific is also responsible for completing the rebuild of the park adjacent to The Clover, James Canning Gardens.

The other local project under receivership is Halo, at the southwest corner of  Yonge and Grosvenor (notable for the preserved historic clock tower). This project was still a hole in the ground at the time of the receivership, but QuadReal Property Group took over the project in October and construction resumed.      

As a part of the receivership process, it is possible that those who purchased condo units pre-construction will have the sale cancelled and deposits refunded.

The receivership documents are available on the Price Waterhouse Cooper website. 

Councillor Wong-Tam has struck a community-based Working Group which will meet regarding Graywood Development's proposal for a 15-storey midrise at 506-516 Church Street (home to Boutique Bar, Crews & Tangos, and a parking lot that is used for the Central Stage at the Pride Festival).
 
According to the councillor's office, the Working Group will meet before any Zoning By-law and Official Plan Amendments can be brought to City Council for approval. The group, of which CWNA is a member, will discuss the development proposal and site plan from the economic and cultural perspective of the Church Wellesley Village, with the aim of preserving and protecting the historical significance, character and culture of the Village. 

The Working Group meetings are separate and apart from broader community consultations, which will be held in 2021. The first Working Group meeting was held on Dec. 1; we'll have details soon. ​