A settlement was reached at an Ontario Municipal Board hearing on Oct. 7. between the Canadian Film Centre (CTC) and the neighbours who had appealed its expansion plans.
The agreement marked the fourth of five approvals the CFC needed from residents with property adjacent to the film centre, who hold the rights to approve any new construction on the site. Jane Pepino, the lawyer who represented the neighbours, said her clients made their concerns very clear.
The appeal was mounted based on concerns about how the development would increase traffic and affect land intended for park usage.
“They wanted to be absolutely 100 per cent sure what CFC was proposing because there had been some confusion about how big, how many buildings and where they were going to go,” Pepino said. “They wanted to ensure that CFC ‘didn’t nibble away’ at the property and add more buildings and lease properties in the future.”
Barry Patterson, director of marketing and communications at the CFC, which is located on E. P. Taylor’s former estate and specializes in advanced film, television and new media training, said they were delighted to resolve the issue.
“We’re extremely happy, four out of our five neighbours have now signed the restrictive covenant and we are proceeding with the project based on that,” he said.
In the negotiation process, the centre’s $9 million overhaul was scaled back to meet the requests of the other property owners.
The expansion to the gatehouse is now set to be one storey instead of two, and the number of additional parking spaces was slashed from 36 to 24.
The plan to construct a new actors’ conservatory on the section of the land currently home to an unused pool and cabana hasn’t been changed. General updates to existing buildings will also be done, in order to meet programming and space requirements.
Since the CFC faces a deadline to spend $7.5 million in stimulus funds by March 31, 2011 or forfeit any unspent money, they have been working hard to keep the Windfields Campus Improvement Project on track.
The one remaining hurdle for the CFC is a final neighbour who has yet to sign off on approval. As a result, city council passed a motion to help expedite the process, including the right to take away the final neighbours rights, deeming it a matter of public interest. “The city will likely begin the process of expropriation in the next few weeks. A notice would be sent to the owner and published in the paper,” said Patricia Trott, from the city’s strategic communications division.
This involves taking away the rights the resident has to comment on any changes to the CFC’s site until the construction phase is complete, in order to stay on schedule.
The motion was supported by Coun. David Shiner, a member of the CFC’s board, who said the centre, which was founded by filmmaker Norman Jewison in 1988, plays a large role in keeping the city in the forefront of Canadian entertainment.
Trott anticipates it will take several months to process and said it still requires final approval from the new city council.
