Church Wellesley Update
News from the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association
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Join your federal candidates to discuss their views on local and Canada-wide issues. The debate will be moderated by Jane Taber, veteran journalist and VP of Corporate Affairs at NATIONAL. Submit your questions for the candidates in advance at Organizing@The519.org. The debate is co-sponsored by The 519, Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association, McGill Granby Village Residents' Association, Bay Cloverhill Community Association and Upper Jarvis Neighbourhood Association. Date: October 2 Time: 7 pm to 9 pm Place: 519 Community Centre  Some of the last low- and mid-rise buildings on Charles Street will be replaced by a 48 storey tower, including a 6-storey podium. The site is currently occupied by The Charlesview, a 9-storey rental building at 55 Charles Street East (containing 76 units), and the 3-storey rental building at 61-63 Charles Street East (containing 24 units). Tenants will be compensated for moving and are being offered replacement rental units on the second to sixth floors of the new building. The rest of the building will be condominium units. The original application asked for 55 storeys; this has been reduced to 48. The exterior design has also been made more interesting. In July, the City met with stakeholders, including the CWNA, to review the developer's site plan. Renters had concerns regarding the lack of parking spaces designated for the rental apartments. As Charles can be very congested, another recommendation was making the laneway side of the building more amenable to mail, deliveries, pick-ups and drop-offs by adding a back lobby. Another concern was the lack of any designated outdoor space for dog relief. The City will raise these concerns with the developer.  Priority Retail Streets are identified in the former City of Toronto Zoning By-law 438-86 and they require a minimum 60% of the frontage of development on designated streets to be dedicated to street related retail and service uses. Church Street is designated a Priority Retail Street.
The Downtown Plan updates and expands the number and locations of Priority Retail Streets to include areas that are a focus for growth within Downtown. City Planning is holding public consultation on the draft Zoning By-law amendment. Please come and provide your input into the by-law on: Date: August 22, 2019 Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Place: Toronto Reference Library,789 Yonge St., Rm B1 Date: August 26, 2019 Time: 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Place: Lillian H Smith Library, 239 College Street, Auditorium BC Date: August 30, 2019 Time: 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Place: Fort York Library, 190 Fort York Boulevard, Meeting Room Date: September 5, 2019 Time: 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Place: Metro Hall, 55 John Street, Room 310 Read more about Priority Retail Streets By-law, or contact Igor Dragovic at igor.dragovic@toronto.ca, 416-392-7215 for further information. The City of Toronto is conducting a review of rooming houses, and wants to hear from you.
Multi-tenant houses are currently permitted in the former City of Toronto and some parts of Etobicoke and York. The review will focus on options to improve the licensing and regulation of these houses, including the rooming house hearing process. It will not look at whether multi-tenant houses should be permitted in other areas of the city. Attend a public consultation on Thursday, August 22 from 6-8 p.m. at Metro Hall, Room 308/309 (55 John Street). You can also provide feedback to mlsfeedback@toronto.ca until August 31, 2019. All feedback will be used to inform a report going to the Planning and Housing Committee in the fall of 2019. To learn more, visit toronto.ca/roominghousereview. This site lies just outside the western edge of the Church Wellesley neighbourhood, and includes 10-16 Wellesley Street West, 5-7 St. Nicholas Street and 586 Yonge Street. In 2017, the developer, Fitzrovia Capital, proposed a 64-storey condo tower. City staff recommended refusal of the application. Fitzrovia appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT). Fitzrovia has since sold the land to Centrecourt Developments. In July 2019, Centrecourt resubmitted the proposal at 55 storeys. For comparison, Wellesley on the Park, now rising across the street at 11 Wellesley West, will top out at 60 storeys. There is an LPAT hearing scheduled for January, 2020.  Originally proposed as a 16-storey condo on the Beer Store property at 572 Church Street, the project has now been reduced to 12-storeys, according to a Local Planning Appeal Tribunal Settlement. The building will have a 44 degree angular plane rising from Church Street, so that it better relates to the low-rise buildings that characterize the Village, and contain 96 units. This 34-storey condo project was approved several years ago, but went into dormancy until late 2018, when the application was revived as a rental building with an updated design. The new building will replace the heritage buildings housing fly nightclub and Olympic Pizza, though the facades will be preserved. In June, the Design Review Panel -- which is comprised of private sector design professionals who provide independent advice to city staff -- panned the new design on numerous counts and voted to send it back to the developer for a rethink. [see Urban Toronto article for details.]  Downtown East Toronto is in the midst of an overdose and housing crisis and we can see the effect on our streets and public spaces. Last summer, a one year Downtown East Action Plan, initiated by Councillors Wong-Tam and Troisi, was adopted by Council. The Plan included 36 actions to address the areas of mental health, substance abuse, housing and homelessness, public safety, economic opportunities, and parks and public realm. On July 18, City Council approved a 5-Year Action Plan for the Downtown East that will build and expand upon the work of the 12-Month Action Plan that has been in effect since last year. The graphic below illustrates some of the immediate actions implemented by the one year plan that will be expanded upon with the 5 Year Plan. While the Plan alone will not fix the addiction epidemic, it does rally City resources to address the complex issues of addiction and homelessness.  You are invited to attend the City of Toronto's public consultations on the following topics:
1. Temporary Signs By-law Review July 22, 6 to 8 p.m. City Hall, Second Floor, Committee Room #3 More information: www.toronto.ca/signsreview 2. Property Standards and Building Maintenance July 24, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Metro Hall, Room 308/309 More information: www.toronto.ca/propertystandardsreview 3. Payday Loan Establishments July 25, 6 to 8 p.m. North York Civic Centre, Members Lounge More information: www.toronto.ca/paydayloanreview Feedback from these consultations will be used to inform reports to City Council expected at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020. |
