A LOCAL AREA is finally assured of getting its community centre. And the best part: it will be at no cost to the taxpayer. But it will take a few years to build. The new 48,000-square-foot community centre is a provision of a settlement agreement on the Don Mills Centre Phase 2 development application by Cadillac Fairview (CF).
Toronto City Council voted 37 to three to adopt the agreement negotiated by city staff with the applicant and Don Mills Residents Inc. (DMRI).
In doing so, council essentially accepted a slightly revised settlement offer from CF — with some of the proposed buildings fronting on The Donway West being reduced by one or two storeys and one of the interior buildings being increased by six storeys but with overall density essentially the same. This was supported as good planning by planning staff.
Like the vast majority of my colleagues, I voted in favour of adopting the item. Councillors realized that, had council refused it, CF’s appeal would have proceeded at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) on its original application, which did not include a community centre. Hence, whatever development would finally have been approved by the OMB, it would not have included a publicly accessible community centre.
To get the development and not get the community centre would have been a very unfortunate outcome for the people of Don Mills.
The achievement of the settlement is in great measure the result of Terry West and the executive of DMRI, who essentially rescued this deal at the 11th hour by bringing in a provincial facilitator and getting all parties back to the negotiating table.
The agreement says that it must be complete within 10 years.
