What is the crisis?

What is the Crisis?

Location

The “Queen West Triangle” includes the properties to the south of Queen West from Gladstone Avenue to Dovercourt.

What is being Proposed?

Landowners of several adjacent lots in the area have submitted proposals to the City for development.

All buildings on these lands would be torn down including a vintage building of approximately 100,000 sf, in which approximately 80 artists and other businesses have flourished for many years. In their stead would be built three towers ranging from 10 to 26 stories. Other buildings would be built to a lower scale, filling all available space and leaving little in terms of accessible parks and public thoroughfares. A 10 storey building is being proposed along Queen Street West on the Gibson Site (1171 Queen W.).

Politicians and City Staff have told us that the community has been silent on this issue. Here are the two most recent reports on two of the properties (click on icon to get report):

1171 & 1171R Queen St. W. Site Plan		48 Abell St. Site Plan
1171 & 1171R Queen St. W. Red line shows permissible Heights		48 Abell East Elevation Red line shows permissible height

We made a request under the Freedom of Information Act to get plans and other information on 150 Sudbury Street's two proposals. Copies of the drawings cannot be obtained because of a copyright issue, however

The first proposal, which was granded approval in Spring 2005, can be seen on lower right portion the plan from the 48 Abel Street planning report, shown below. It consists of three rows of north/south-oriented 5 ½ storey townhouses, 169 units and a density of 1,8fsi (floor space index).

A new application for 150 Sudbury was made in November '05, with a 16 storey tower at the South eastern end of the lot.

150 Sudbury Street Proposal

We are also aware that other landowners (to the East) have shown informal interest in building high density towers on their land as well. This would add three more towers to the ones currently proposed, for a total of 7 towers in the broader area to Lisgar Street.

What would be the consequence for our neighbourhood?

• Impoverishment of the current liveliness of the neighbourhood
• Transformation of the local commercial character into more corporate, global economy type of commercial activity (larger leases to larger businesses that are not locally-owned)
• A transformation of the look and scale of the neighbourhood into something more akin to downtown or suburban core densities such as North York.
• Need to tear up entire streets to fit a new sewer, likely along Sudbury Street and into Queen Street West to discharge on the Dufferin Trunk Sewer.
• Send the wrong message to other developers that it is OK to build towers in this neighbourhood and to build more buildings that destroy the scale of Queen Street West’s typical main street buildings (character, density and height)
• A missed opportunity to implement a concerted plan that provides for missing local amenities such as Parks, a diversity of uses and tenancies of all types, including artist studios and family housing.
  

What is the status of these proposals?

None of the proposals conforms to either the new Official Plan or the one that has been in force since 1994. They are asking council to amend the Plan and the zoning by-law to allow for densities which areat least double those permitted and heights which are 4x what is permitted.

Before any decision can be made on the fate of the proposals, an AREA PLAN must be completed and passed at Council, as required by both Official Plans.

On the 15th of November 2005, the Toronto and East York Community Council passed a staff recommendation to initiate an area study to take place with strong community representation, in the coordiantion of: "heritage resources;… municipal infrastructure;… community services and facilities;…the impact of proposed development on the area's local arts community and other employment in the area;…and of parks and recreation facilities." - Staff Report of 9 th November, 2005 (Link in 'Reference Material, upper right of this page)

The Planning Act allows developers to resort to the Ontario Municipal Board if they disagree with a municipality's decision or if an application is not completely processed within 180 days. Any single or coalition of developers is now in a position to argue their planning rationale before the OMB. The OMB can override the position of the municipality even, as in this case, if the AREA PLAN is not complete. The developers’ positions with regard to this is not known, except that the second application for 150 Sudbury is not yet entitled to an appeal.

What next?

1. The Planning Department will undertake this Area Plan in consultation with the community as ouotlined in the November 9th 2005 report. City staff will work in consultation with the community, the Councillor’s office and the development community to foster a solution which is hopefully acceptable to all.
2. Active 18 will be an ‘active’ participant in this process. It constitutes a strong voice that will bear weight in the shaping of the Area Plan.
3. A design session (Charrette) will be organized for the community to attend in early 2006. All information for this will be posted on the Home page.