The relatively quiet and low-key Leaside neighbourhood begrudg-ingly welcomed a SmartCentre development onto Laird Drive in 2006. Now SmartCentres has proposed a second development not far from their original site. The 147,000-square-foot retail store at 70 Wicksteed Ave., with 479 parking spaces, has been met with local opposition.
Has the original SmartCentre set a dangerous precedent for development that is inappropriate for the area? Residents group Leaside Unite thinks so.
“The density is too high and it's going to have a negative impact on the community,” said Graham Shirley of Leaside Unite. He said that having two other malls nearby doesn’t help matters. “When you combine those three malls together you get 650,000 square feet.
Shirley said that, according to Leaside Unite, the various studies of the site’s economic and traffic impact, which say that the development will not negatively affect the area, have been biased and don’t consider the development in the surrounding area.
“They’re just looking at it on a marginal basis, but there’s also the Longo’s to the south, there’s also the arena, so there’s a ton of development going on there. There’s going to be a lot of confusion in the area.”
They have since asked for deferrals from Coun. John Parker to prevent the item from going to North York Community Council (NYCC).
Parker was non-commital to their request, and the NYCC was to consider the issue on Feb. 26.
Parker is no fan of the current SmartCentre development. “It is entirely out of place in Leaside,” he said. “It is a shrine to the parked car. It is one massive sea of parking with some nondescript buildings around its periphery finished with a style that looks like it came from another planet.”
But despite Parker’s distaste for the first SmartCentre development, he acknowledges that the new development falls within the city’s guidelines for traffic and economic impact, unappealing as it may seem.
“[If] you pass those two tests, then you are entitled to develop your property for large-scale retail, and you are entitled to ask for an amendment to the zoning bylaw to accommodate that new use,” he said, “Whether the people who live in the area are happy about it or not.”
He said that the economic impact of the SmartCentre was carefully considered by a third party. “The peer reviewer kicked the tires and slammed the doors and checked all the aspects of it and confirmed in a report that the initial report was properly done.”
He confessed a fear shared both by him and Leaside Unite: the potential tenant of the new space.
Though SmartCentres has not yet released information on the tenant, a popular rumour among the neighbourhood is that a Walmart may be coming to the block.
“Let’s just say it starts with a ‘W,’” said Parker, who emphasized that nothing official has been confirmed by the developer.
But despite no official plan, Shirley is certain that Walmart is the only potential tennant. “Realistically, it is a Walmart,” said Shirley. “There’s only so many stores that could go in the area.”