A developer proposing to construct a 13-storey condo building in the Rosedale neighbourhood has decided to appeal directly to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) before the development application faces a vote at Toronto City Council.
The proposal is for 1140 Yonge St., kitty-corner to iconic Five Thieves food purveyors and the site of a historic building that dates back to the 1930s and has been home to a Pierce-Arrow car dealership, the CBC and most recently a Staples.
Both residents and local councillor Mike Layton have criticized the building for its height and density, saying it is not appropriate for the site.
Layton said the building is not within the framework set up by the city to ensure stable growth for the area, and developer Devron Developments does not appear to be budging on its proposal.
“I wouldn’t hold my breath for [changes to the proposal],” Layton said. “I think we’ll be going the distance at the LPAT.”
The city typically has 90 days to respond when developments are proposed, and if that is not done, the developer then has the option to go straight to the Province of Ontario’s Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT).
However, Layton said that it often takes the city more than 90 days to respond, and developers who are willing to work with the Rosedale and surrounding community usually will wait. That was not the case this time.
“It tells us they’re not serious about finding resolutions to the city’s concerns,” Layton said.
Annex Bay Cottingham Residents Association (ABCRA) co-president Ian Carmichael said that his association will attend the LPAT trial with evidence as to why the building is “inappropriate.”
“Once the building gets overdeveloped for the site, everything shakes down from that. Shadowing, massing, transition, lack of outdoor green space all become a problem,” he said. “All of these things sort of flow out of the fact that they’re trying to cram too much building into too small of a site.”
Going straight to the LPAT also means that there will be no more community consultations and any that have been scheduled are now cancelled.
“The developer decided that because our positions were so far apart … that it didn’t make sense for him to engage in consultation, simply because there was just no room to make an agreement,” Carmichael said.
