Church Wellesley Update
News from the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association
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On November 10, Colliers Strategy and Consulting (on behalf of YI Developments Limited) submitted an application for a 57 storey tower at the southeast corner of Yonge and Isabella Streets (619-637 Yonge; 7-9 Isabella) that would bring 606 residential units to the site. The Yonge Street frontage would be retail space, with the residential entrance on Isabella Street, and servicing, parking and loading accessed via Gloucester Lane. The site is within the proposed Yonge Street Heritage Conservation District. However, a group of developers, including YI Developments, has appealed The Heritage Conservation District Plan to the Ontario Land Tribunal. The current development proposal calls for the demolition of the existing buildings. City staff released a Preliminary Report with recommendations in January. In August 2022, the Toronto Preservation Board recommended that City Council designate the existing buildings as Heritage Properties. Notice of a community consultation meeting held by the City will be sent to property owners within 120 metres of the property. You can be notified of the consultation by clicking the "Community Consultation" tab on the Development Application Information page for the proposal. For more information: Development Application Information Centre: https://tinyurl.com/57rvbt6s Urban Toronto: https://tinyurl.com/yckr9fd2   EXISTING BUILDINGS (HIGHLIGHTED) WOULD BE DEMOLISHED    The City of Toronto has completed a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment that evaluates improvements to the Yonge Street public right-of-way between Queen Street and College/Carlton Street. The project, known as Yonge TOmorrow, aims to increase pedestrian space and improve the way people move through and experience downtown Yonge Street. The Preferred Design Concept for Yonge Street, as documented in the Environmental Study Report (ESR), includes increasing sidewalk widths and providing other improvements to the public realm by reducing the existing four driving lanes cross-section to two lanes and introducing separated cycling facilities north of Gerrard Street to College Street. Yonge TOmorrow consultations commenced in 2018. By February 2021, the final report on YongeTOmorrow was adopted by City Council with an overwhelming majority of twenty-one to five in favour of the plan. The November 2021 environmental assessment is the next step to realizing the Yonge Street plan. Following provincial approval, the project will then develop a detailed design along with construction phasing and schedules. Construction has so far not been scheduled. Looking further forward, the redesign of Yonge Street north between College Street and Davenport Road, as well as the redesign of Church Street are another step closer. The environmental study report is available on the City's website. 
In September, 2021 KingSett Capital submitted a new development application for 475 Yonge Street, replacing the Courtyard Marriot Hotel, between Wood and Alexander Streets, with two separate towers of 78 and 75 storeys.
KingSett first acquired the property in 2015. In December 2017, City Council approved a development application in which KingSett proposed to build two connected towers of 58 and 48 storeys on the site. If built as proposed the new towers would be among the tallest buildings in Toronto -- looming over City Park Co-op and adding shadow as far east as Queen's Park Crescent; as far north as Wellesley Street; and as far west as Mutual Street. In pre-application documents, KingSett emphasized that the new application will provide more public parkland and privately-owned publicly accessible space than the 2017 application, since the podium between the two towers would be eliminated. KingSett Capital is a multi-billion dollar private equity real estate investment firm with a portfolio that includes much of downtown Yonge Street. The corporation has also assembled lands at the northeast corner of Church and Wellesley; and the northeast corner of Church and Maitland (see map). The decision to apply for 20 storeys more than was approved in 2017 is likely related to nearby approvals and applications for other very tall buildings on Yonge Street, including a 73 storey building immediately to the south, between Carlton and Wood, that was approved through a settlement agreement in April of this year. The application, including architectural plans and the shadow study can be found online at the City's Development Application Centre. City staff issued a preliminary report in December, 2021 which details numerous issues to be resolved, primarily due to the size and mass of the proposed towers. The Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association Development Committee met with the developer on January 13 to discuss the proposal. On March 2, the CWNA Development Committee also took part in the Working Group, hosted by Councillor Wong-Tam, to review the proposal and the City's preliminary report. The CWNA Development Committee will also be meeting with the City Planner assigned to the project. The developer has offered community space in one of the building podiums; the type, size and location of the community space is yet to be determined. An issue with the proposed design is that the much of the building at street level -- particularly beside the park and POP -- has no relationship to pedestrians or park users. Animation of these areas, preferably related to the community space, would be more desirable. A community consultation meeting date has not yet been announced, but you can make written comments now and request to be notified of the community consultation by following the Public Consultation link on the proposal's Development Application Centre page. 
Video by Koops65 shows aerial view of the proposed 78 and 75 storey towers. The approved 73 storey tower at 2 Carlton is to the south; the recently completed tower to the north is 52 storeys.
Are you looking for a unique opportunity to make an impact in the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood? Well, look no further! The Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association (CWNA) is looking for a leader like you to join our board of directors.
We are a non-profit, volunteer run organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of everyone who lives, works, and plays in our neighbourhood, bounded by Yonge Street east to Jarvis Street and Charles Street south to Carlton Street. The work of the CWNA is focused in the areas of:
You can learn more about CWNA by visiting our website which describes our work and includes minutes of monthly Board meetings. We are currently seeking applications for one open position on the CWNA Board. All candidates for the CWNA Board of Directors must live in our catchment area and be members in good standing. We encourage members of equity-deserving groups to apply so that our board may reflect the diversity of our neighbourhood and our community’s unique needs. We are particularly seeking someone who has knowledge and experience in any of the following areas: community outreach and engagement, urban development and planning, legal expertise. The CWNA Board normally meets once a month and board members are expected to attend these meetings regularly. In addition to the monthly board meeting, board members will be expected to sit on at least one committee and will be required to complete additional tasks between meetings, approximately 5-10 hours per month. The interested candidate will attend two monthly Board meetings (usually held at 10 am on the second Saturday of each month) before a decision is made on an appointment to the Board. The new board member will then stand for election at the next CWNA annual general meeting in November 2022. Contact us here. The CWNA Annual General Meeting took place on November 29, via Zoom webinar.
It was an opportunity to hear about important issues in our community, including Development, Community Safety, Placemaking (Parks and Public Spaces) and Heritage Conservation, and to welcome new Directors to the Board. There were four open positions on the Board of Directors and three candidates, so all candidates were elected by acclamation. The new directors are Jonathan Grimm and Ryan Carlsen; incumbent Connie Langille was re-elected. They join Donald Altman, Neil Gibb, Trevor Hennig Robert Packham and Tara Schorr. Here is a pdf of the AGM Slide Presentation. |