Home Depot has cleared the biggest hurdle to building a more than 300,000-square-foot retail centre at 840 to 842 York Mills Rd. and 16 Lesmill Rd. More than three years in the making, a recent Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) decision formally green-lighted the plans.
The official plan and zoning bylaw amendments required are in place, but Home Depot still has to submit a site plan to the City of Toronto for approval, according to area planning staff. The most up-to-date version of the proposal on file puts the big-box hardware store and a garden centre on the ground floor of the main building and a retail department store on the second level. The proposal also provides for another two-storey retail building and two one-storey commercial/retail buildings. Most of the 1,000-plus parking spaces are to be in a three-storey parking structure.
The development falls within the ward of Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong.
The matter dates back to 2008 when Toronto City Council rejected Home Depot’s plans. The company then appealed to the OMB where the case was broken into two parts: one to deal with whether the provincial Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe prohibits retail uses on this site and one to deal with the required official plan and zoning amendments. Home Depot won on the first point, and at the second hearing, the City of Toronto and Home Depot went to the OMB with a settlement in place.
Brian Story, of the Don Mills Residents Association, said that his group had been monitoring the development but noted that the site lies slightly outside of its catchment area.
“We, like a lot of people, I think, are concerned about traffic in that area because Home Depot is quite a magnet for traffic,” Story said.
The settlement struck between the City of Toronto and Home Depot includes measures aimed at tackling traffic concerns, such as installing traffic controls at the site’s main access. A spokesperson for Home Depot said the company was unable to comment on its plans right now, citing competitive reasons.