Developers using ‘minor variance’ argument to justify taller buildings, residents’ groups say
A group of residents in a midtown Toronto neighbourhood is vowing to take their fight against a developer to the city’s ombudsman.
The Leaside Residents Association and the Broadway Area Residents Association had been working with city staff and the Gupta Group on a proposed residential tower to be built over a row of five lots on Bayview Avenue just north of the new Leaside stop on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT route.
But in June, about three months after a deal had been struck with Gupta for a 22-storey tower, the developer went to the city’s committee of adjustment and applied for a “minor variance” that would add five storeys to the project. The committee agreed to let Gupta add three more, for a total height of 25 storeys.
“We were shocked,” said Geoff Kettel, co-president of the Leaside Residents Association.
The three additional storeys would mean another 33 units, Kettel said. If those were built on a single lot, it would amount to a six-storey building.
“Does that sound minor?” he said.
The two resident associations say it’s a strategy they’ve been seeing more of in the past year: Developers are using the city’s committee of adjustment to argue for increased heights, long after a deal has been reached.
Leaside residents say higher tower project left them blindsided – cbc.ca, August 5, 2024
Listen to more: John Oakley’s interview with Geoff Kettel Toronto 640, August 6, 2024.
Photo: 1837 Bayview site just prior to tree removal, July 2024, © Geoff Kettel, all rights reserved.
