A1 Developments Inc. v. Toronto (City), 2023 CanLII 106640

Ontario Land Tribunal

Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire

ISSUE DATE: November 07, 2023

CASE NO(S).: OLT-23-000610

PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 22(7) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended

Applicant and Appellant: A1 Developments Inc.

Subject: Request to amend the Official Plan – Failure to adopt the requested amendment

Description: To permit two new Buildings containing two Mixed Use towers of 45 and 33-storeys in height atop one shared one-and-seven-storey podium

Reference Number: 22 193284 NNY 18 OZ

Property Address: 5318-5334 Yonge Street and 11 Churchill Avenue

Municipality/UT: Toronto/Toronto

OLT Case No.: OLT-23-000610

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-23-000610

OLT Case Name: A1 Developments Inc. v. Toronto (City)

PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 34(11) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended

Applicant and Appellant: A1 Developments Inc.

Subject: Application to amend the Zoning By-law – Refusal or neglect to make a decision

Description: To permit two new Buildings containing two Mixed Use towers of 45 and 33-storeys in height atop one shared one-and-seven-storey podium

Reference Number: 22 193284 NNY 18 OZ

Property Address: 5318-5334 Yonge Street and 11 Churchill Avenue

Municipality/UT: Toronto/Toronto

OLT Case No.: OLT-23-000611

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-23-000610

PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 114(15) of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 11, Sched. A

Appellant: A1 Developments Inc.

Subject: Site Plan

Description: To permit two new buildings containing two mixed use towers of 45 and 33-storeys in height atop one shared one-and-seven-storey podium

Reference Number: 22 193283 NNY 18 SA

Property Address: 5318-5334 Yonge Street and 11 Churchill Avenue

Municipality/UT: Toronto/Toronto

OLT Case No.: OLT-23-000612

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-23-000610

Heard: October 19, 2023 by Video Hearing

APPEARANCES:

Parties

Counsel

A1 Developments Inc

Jason Park Sarah Kagan

City of Toronto

Stephen Gardiner Uttra Gautam

5336 IND PROPERTIES INC

Mandy Ng

MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY CARMINE TUCCI ON OCTOBER 19, 2023 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL

INTRODUCTION

1The matter before the Ontario Land Tribunal (the “Tribunal”), was with respect to the appeals of the non-decision of the City of Toronto (the “City”) regarding Applications to amend the Official Plan (“OP”), Zoning By-law and are seeking Site plan approval.

2The purpose of this first Case Management Conference was to organize the Hearing of these appeals.

3A1 Developments Inc. submitted Applications on August 17, 2022, for an Official Plan Amendment (“OPA”), Zoning By-law Amendment (“ZBA”) and Site Plan Approval (“SPA”) with respect to the lands municipally known as 5318-5334 Yonge Street and 11 Churchill Avenue (“Subject Property”), under Planning Application No. 22 193284 NNY 18 OZ and No. 22 193283 NNY 18 SA (collectively referred to herein as, the “Applications”).

4The City deemed the Applications complete as of December 2, 2022. Since August of 2022, the Site boundary has expanded to include the parcel to the immediate south, currently occupied by a one-storey retail space and surface parking at the rear, municipally known as 5318 Yonge Street. On April 19, 2023, the Applicant filed revised materials which includes the additional land and responded to the first circulation of comments received from City Staff and external agencies.

5The Site is currently designated Mixed-Use Areas through the City OP and the North York Centre Secondary Plan.

6The ZBA Application seeks to rezone the Site from General Commercial Zone to a Multiple-Family Dwellings Sixth Density Zone, with Site specific exceptions to provide zoning standards relating to the Building height, density, parking, and additional zoning regulations, as necessary, to permit the proposed redevelopment. Also, other required zoning standards may be identified through the planning process.

7Under the Resubmission, the lands are expanded to include 5318 Yonge Street. This increases the Site area from 3,686.55 square metres (“m²”) to 4,219.15 m². The revised proposal seeks to redevelop the Site by demolishing the existing buildings, and constructing two new Buildings containing two Mixed-Use towers of 45 and 33-storeys in height atop one shared one and-seven-storey podium (the “Revised Development Proposal”). The total height of the 45-storey Tower (“Tower A”), excluding a 6.5 metre (“m”) mechanical penthouse is 145.09 m. The total height of the 33-storey Tower (“Tower B”), excluding a 6.5 m mechanical penthouse is 109.06 m.

8A total of 862 residential units are proposed, which consists of 14 studio dwelling units, 528 one-bedroom units, 231 two-bedroom units and 89 three-bedroom units.

9The Revised Development Proposal further includes:

• Tower A (East Building) and Tower B (West Building) will have a total Gross Floor Area of 58,094.55 m². Based on a gross lot area of 4,219.15 m², the total Floor Space Index is 13.8 times the lot area. Each Tower design has a floor plate size of approximately 750 m².
• A Rental Housing Demolition & Conversion Application has been made to address the demolition and replacement of the existing 17 rental apartment units on part of the Site.
• There are two residential lobbies proposed. The residential lobby entrance for Tower A (East Building) is located along Yonge Street on the ground floor. The residential lobby entrance for Tower B (West Building) is located along Canterbury Place on the P1 level, with an increased floor to ceiling height arising from grade changes. Also located on the P1 level is the mail room for Tower B, garbage rooms, mechanical rooms and vehicular parking.
• Retail space is located at the ground floor, fronting onto Yonge Street, Churchill Avenue and slightly wrapping around onto Canterbury Place at the northwest corner. Also located on the ground floor is the mail room for Tower A and mechanical equipment rooms and bicycle parking.
• Four (4) levels of underground parking, with a total of 193 parking spaces is proposed. This includes 130 parking spaces for residents, 52 parking spaces for residential visitors, nine publicly accessible short-term spaces and two car-share spaces. The four levels of underground parking are connected between the two Towers. Also, on levels P4, P3 and P2 are locker rooms.
• A total of 658 bicycle parking spaces are proposed, including 587 long-term (residential) bicycle parking spaces, 61 short-term (residential visitors) bicycle parking spaces, and ten publicly accessible short term bicycle parking spaces. Bicycle parking is located on the ground floor and second floor.
• Driveway access to the Building is provided from Canterbury Place at the southwest end of the Site. This driveway provides vehicular access to the ramp leading to four levels of below grade parking shared between Tower A and B, as well as the service areas on the south side of the Buildings for loading and garbage pick-up.
• All back of house operations are internally contained and screened from Canterbury Place, so that these activities are not visible from the public realm. The second floor of Towers A and B are entirely comprised of bicycle parking, and indoor and outdoor amenity space.
• A total of 1,379 m² of indoor amenity space is provided at the second floor with an additional 361 m² located on the eighth floor. The indoor amenity space is shared between Towers A and B, and the total indoor amenity space equates to a ratio of 2.0 m² per dwelling unit.
• A total of 1,207.71 m² of outdoor amenity space is provided at the second floor with an additional 518 m² located on the eighth floor. The majority of the outdoor amenity space is located between Towers A and B and is shared between the Buildings. The total outdoor amenity space equates to a ratio of 2.0 m² per dwelling unit.

10The Tribunal was informed that the Revised Development Proposal was submitted in response to the increase of the Site’s total land area, ensuring that with the additional land, the total area is used optimally and efficiently, and in response to comments received from City Staff.

11City Council failed to make a decision within the statutory timeframe.

12The Tribunal received an Affidavit of Service sworn by Frederic N. Cheng and is marked as Exhibit 1.

13The Tribunal was presented with two requests for status.

PARTY STATUS REQUESTS

145336 IND PROPERTIES INC. is the registered owner of the Property at 5336 Yonge Street. The Property is immediately adjacent to the Subject Property.

PARTICIPANT STATUS REQUESTS

15Yonge Corridor Condominium Association is an association representing more than 100 condominium building boards of directors along the Yonge Street Corridor.

16Counsel were canvassed, there were no objections.

17The Tribunal granted the requests.

18The Tribunal heard that the Parties are actively pursuing discussions to narrow their Issues List.

19The Tribunal heard that the Parties are seeking a Ten (10) day Hearing.

20The Tribunal hereby schedules a Merit Hearing of these appeals, commencing on Monday, September 16, 2024, at 10 a.m. Ten (10) days have been set aside.

21The Tribunal requested a finalized Procedural Order supporting the scheduled ten-day (10) hearing, be submitted to the Case Coordinator by Friday, December 15, 2023.

22On that date, Parties and Participants are asked to log into the Video Hearing at least 15 minutes before the start of the event to test their video and audio connections.

23The Merit Hearing is scheduled to proceed by Video Hearing as follows:

GoToMeeting: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/687587165

Access Code: 687-587-165

24Persons who experience technical difficulties accessing the GoToMeeting application or who only wish to listen to the event can connect to the event by calling into an audio-only telephone line: Toll-Free: 1-888-299-1889 Or + 1 (647)-497-9373. The Access Code is as indicated above.

25Parties and Participants are asked to access and set up the application well in advance of the event to avoid unnecessary delay. The desktop application can be downloaded at GoToMeeting or a web application is available: https://app.gotomeeting.com/home.html

26Individuals are directed to connect to the event on the assigned date at the correct time. It is the responsibility of the persons participating in the Hearing by video to ensure that they are properly connected to the event at the correct time. Questions prior to the Hearing event may be directed to the Tribunal’s Case Coordinator having carriage of this case.

27The Tribunal requests that the updated Procedural Order and Issues List be submitted to the Case Coordinator by Monday, December 15, 2023.

28There is no further notice.

29The Member is not seized.

“Carmine Tucci”

CARMINE TUCCI

MEMBER

Ontario Land Tribunal

Website: www.olt.gov.on.ca Telephone: 416-212-6349 Toll Free: 1-866-448-2248

The Conservation Review Board, the Environmental Review Tribunal, the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal and the Mining and Lands Tribunal are amalgamated and continued as the Ontario Land Tribunal (“Tribunal”). Any reference to the preceding tribunals or the former Ontario Municipal Board is deemed to be a reference to the Tribunal.