(formerly Leaside Property-Owners' Association)
City Council recently approved the zoning bylaw amendment (subject to some conditions) and the Ontario Land Tribunal gave an interim decision on the developer’s appeal, for a 35-storey tower over the Leaside station with a podium extending south on the two adjoining properties.
35 storeys? How did we get there?
The LRA has provided site specific comments in its previous correspondence, however we reiterate the more important of those in this submission to make it reasonably comprehensive:
I hope 2024 is off to a great start for you and your families. The Ward 15 – Don Valley West team is hitting the ground running here at City Hall.
Earlier this month, City staff tabled their proposed $17 billion 2024 Operating Budget and $49.8 billion 2024-2033 Capital Budget and Plan. You can find more information on the City’s website, including the January 10 Budget Committee Launch Presentation.
Facing a persistently sluggish market for office buildings, one developer has pivoted his original plan to construct an environmentally leading-edge mass-timber building in Toronto to instead build lab and research space – without the wood.
The application to build a 34-storey mixed-use building at 1840 Eglinton with 377 units has been appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal. The hearing date has not yet been set. The LRA has written a response to the appeal report from the City of Toronto, and is a registered participant at the OLT.
In last February’s Leaside Life we described the influx of tall building applications at and within 500 metres of the intersection of Bayview north of Eglinton, and Eglinton west of Bayview. Guess we can blame the coming of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Well, no, at least not completely.
This whole Ponzi scheme of multiple applications, each new one more audacious than the last, is the result of the province’s overriding (in 2019) the Yonge-Eglinton Secondary Plan (YESP) approved by City Council (in 2018) with specific land use changes to increase density beyond what the City approved – and without any public consultation. Then Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, in making the changes, specifically referenced Bayview and said it was “…missing a whole lot of density.”
The proposal for 589-595 Eglinton Ave. E. is for a 35-storey residential building with 442 units and ground floor retail fronting on Eglinton, just east of Bayview.
The LRA has submitted a letter in response to the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment Application – Appeal Report, citing concerns with many aspects of the proposal.
As November comes to a close, I am sending my best wishes to families across Ward 15 for a wonderful holiday season. To celebrate, the City’s annual Cavalcade of Lights event will run from now until January 7 on Nathan Phillips Square, transforming City Hall into a winter wonderland. The full schedule of events is available at the City website.
Leaside is a residential and industrial/business community in Toronto….Up to now the Business Park has been protected though Official Plan policies and zoning bylaws, and Ontario Municipal Board decisions that have respected the Employment Lands boundaries and policies therein. However the Provincial proposal to consolidate two major planning documents in Ontario A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (Growth Plan), 2020 and the Provincial Policy Statement, 2020 appears to endanger this.
The Toronto Star reports that Premier Doug Ford is scrapping planned changes to municipal boundaries in another major policy flip-flop related to the $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap scandal now under criminal investigation by the RCMP. Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra announced Monday at Queen’s Park that the embattled Progressive Conservatives were moving to “reset” relations with cities and towns.