Ontario Land Tribunal
Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire
ISSUE DATE: December 23, 2024
CASE NO(S).: OLT-24-000742
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 22(7) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Applicant and Appellant: Forty-Six Spadina Ave. Limited and Capitol Buildings Properties Inc.
Subject: Request to amend the Official Plan – Failure to adopt the requested amendment
Description: To permit development of 30-storey mixed-use building with 550 residential units
Reference Number: 22 188521 STE 10 OZ
Property Address: 40-62 Spadina Avenue and 378 Wellington Street West
Municipality/UT: Toronto
OLT Case No.: OLT-24-000742
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-24-000742
OLT Case Name: Forty-Six Spadina Ave. Limited and Capitol Buildings Properties 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: Forty-Six Spadina Ave. Limited and Capitol Buildings Properties Inc.
Subject: Application to amend the Zoning By-law – Refusal or neglect to make a decision
Description: To permit development of 30-storey mixed-use building with 550 residential units
Reference Number: 22 188521 STE 10 OZ
Property Address: 40-62 Spadina Avenue and 378 Wellington Street West
Municipality/UT: Toronto
OLT Case No.: OLT-24-000743
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-24-000742
OLT Case Name:
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 114(15) of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 11, Sched. A
Appellant: Forty-Six Spadina Ave. Limited and Capitol Buildings Properties Inc.
Subject: Site Plan
Description: To permit development of 30-storey mixed-use building with 550 residential units
Reference Number: 22 188520 STE 10 SA
Property Address: 40-62 Spadina Avenue and 378 Wellington Street West
Municipality/UT: Toronto
OLT Case No.: OLT-24-000744
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-24-000742
OLT Case Name:
Heard: December 13, 2024, by video hearing
APPEARANCES:
Parties
Counsel
Forty-Six Spadina Ave. Limited and Capitol Buildings Properties Inc.
Eileen Costello Meagan Barrett
Shell Canada
Jonathan Nehmetallah Jessica Bird (in absentia)
City of Toronto
Mark Crawford
MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY S. DEBOER ON DECEMBER 13, 2024 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL
INTRODUCTION
1The matter before the Tribunal was the first Case Management Conference (“CMC”) with respect to the appeals by Forty-Six Spadina Ave. Limited and Capitol Buildings Properties Inc. (“Appellants”) due to the City of Toronto’s failure to make a decision within the statutory timelines on the Official Plan Amendment Application (“OPA”), Zoning By-law Amendment Application (“ZBA”) as prescribed in s. 22(7) and s. 34(11) of the Planning Act and the Site Plan Application (“Site Plan”) as prescribed in s. 114(15) of the City of Toronto Act.
2The intent of the applications would permit the redevelopment of the lands municipally known as 40-62 Spadina Avenue and 378 Wellington Street West (“Subject Lands”), in the City of Toronto. The redevelopment is purposed to be for a 30-storey mixed-use building with a total of 550 dwelling units.
3The Subject Lands consist of three separate properties at 40-46 Spadina Avenue, 58-62 Spadina Avenue, and 378 Wellington Street West, encompassing an approximate total area of 3,667.5 square metres. The Subject Lands are currently zoned as “Mixed Use Area 3” and “Mixed Use Area 2” within the King Spadina Secondary Plan.
4The Tribunal marked the Affidavit of Service by Natalie Hickey dated November 7, 2024, as Exhibit 1 for this hearing.
PARTY REQUESTS
5In advance of the CMC, the Tribunal received one Party status request from Shell Canada. The Parties consented that Shell Canada met the criteria of being a Party to this matter. The Tribunal agreed with the Parties and ruled that Shell Canada did meet the criteria and was granted Party status pertaining to this matter. No other Party requests were made prior to, nor during the CMC.
PARTICIPANT STATUS
6The Tribunal had received one Participant request prior to the CMC, that of Haishan Qian. Ms. Qian owns the building located at 436 Wellington Street West, which is located to the west of the Subject Lands. The Parties consented to Ms. Qian’s status and the Tribunal ruled that it would accept the Participant request. No other Participant requests were made prior to, nor during the CMC.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESOLUTION
7The Tribunal canvassed the Parties as to a resolution to the matter prior to scheduling a hearing. Ms. Barrett stated that her client would be open to Tribunal-led mediation, however, without a confirmed Issues List from the City, mediation would not be possible at this time. Mr. Crawford stated that he had not received instructions at this time concerning the City’s issues and this file would not be before City council until the March council meeting.
PROCEDURAL ORDER AND ISSUES LIST
8The Tribunal was in receivership of a Procedural Order and Issues List which was submitted by the Appellants but was submitted without the consent of the City nor of the new Party. The City did not have any concerns with the Procedural Order submitted by the Appellants, however, until final instructions have been received, agreeing to the proposed Procedural Order cannot be done. The City stated that due to the amount of communication that has occurred between City Staff and the Appellants, they do not anticipate much of a discrepancy between the City’s issues and the issues in the Procedural Order.
9Ms. Barrett stated that the Appellants were willing to proceed with scheduling a hearing of the merits and would request the Tribunal book an eight-day hearing as they feel this would be a sufficient amount of hearing time based on the number of witnesses that would be provided by the Parties.
10The City and Shell Canada agreed with the scheduling of an eight-day hearing which should begin in September 2025. Ms. Costello suggested that the Tribunal book the hearing dates and allow for the City to have until April 4, 2025, to agree to the draft Procedural Order and Issues List once it has received directions from council. Mr. Crawford agreed with this proposal. Due to the amount of cooperation that has been occurring between the Parties on this matter, and the fact that Mr. Crawford will not receive instructions until after the March 2025 council meeting, the Tribunal agreed with Ms. Costello’s suggestion.
SCHEDULING OF THE NEXT HEARING EVENT
11The Tribunal has scheduled a hearing of the merits to proceed by video on Monday, September 15, 2025, commencing at 10 a.m.
12The Tribunal directs that the Parties provide an updated Procedural Order and Issues List to the Case Coordinator no later than April 4, 2025. If the updated Procedural Order is not received by this date, then the above scheduled hearing dates may be removed from the Tribunal’s calendar. Once reviewed and approved by the Tribunal, the Procedural Order would govern the events leading up to and including the hearing of the merits.
13Parties and/or Participants and/or Observers are asked to log in to the event at least 15 minutes before it begins to test their video and audio connections:
GoTo Meeting: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/638422541
Access Code: 638-422-541
14Individuals 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 GoTo Meeting or a web application is available: https://app.gotomeeting.com/home.html.
15Individuals who experience technical difficulties accessing the GoTo Meeting application or who only wish to listen to the event can connect to it by calling in to an audio-only telephone line: 1-647-497-9373 or (toll-free) 1-888-299-1889. The access code is: 638-422-541.
16Individuals 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 event to ensure that they are properly connected at the correct time. Questions prior to the event may be directed to the Tribunal’s Case Coordinator.
17THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS THAT:
(a) The hearing of the merits is scheduled as described above;
(b) The Parties shall provide a draft Procedural Order for review and approval by the Tribunal by Friday, April 4, 2025;
(c) The Member may be spoken for the purpose of Case Management but is not seized to the Hearing of the Merits.
(d) No further notice is required.
“S. deBoer”
S. deBOER
MEMBER
Ontario Land Tribunal
Website: 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.