Church Wellesley Update
News from the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association
|
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.  |
