After several Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearings, a prime piece of land owned by Home Depot Holdings Inc. is ready for site plan applications.
The site on the corner of York Mills Road and Lesmill Drive is part of the Lesmill Employment District, which includes several industrial buildings and office parks.
Initially, Home Depot made an application to rezone the land, as well as an application to alter the Provincial Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe for the space. The Growth Plan calls for land in the Lesmill Employment District to be designated for “employment use,” which wouldn’t allow for large-scale retail use, such as a Home Depot.
On April 6, the OMB held a prehearing, and a full hearing is scheduled for July, which will deal with actual development applications for the site.
But not everyone is hopeful about what that could mean for the industrial lands.
In the past, Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong has voiced concern about Toronto’s increasing loss of industrial property, but local businesses in the area are concerned more with density issues that a full-scale retail setup could bring.
The Sacks Partnership, an accounting firm located across the street from 16 Lesmill, has opposed the development.
“We have our business on Lesmill and we’re concerned about traffic,” said Richard Sacks.
Neil Cowling of Hutchison Cowling LLP also works in the area. “I can imagine the size of a parking lot and it wouldn’t be pretty,” said Cowling. “I can’t imagine it would fit. And traffic on York Mills and Lesmill is so terrible during rush hours.”
A representative for Home Depot Holdings Inc. was not available for comment.