Amexon submitted a proposal to develop 1200, 1210 and 1220 Sheppard Ave. E. just west of Leslie Street. Their plan was to construct 2,098 new condominiums in six towers ranging in height from 27 to 43 storeys and a two-storey retail building.
The impacts on the neighbour-hood, including traffic, shadows and the precedents this development would have set, were horrific.
City staff recommended and council supported a refusal of the Amexon plan. Amexon ran off to the province and appealed to their Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). The settlement I hammered out through lengthy mediation reduced the plan to 1,478 condominiums in five buildings, the highest at 31 storeys.
This substantially reduces the shadows and puts all parking, waste disposal and other access below grade resulting in a significant increase in green space.
Although I appreciate receiving the many supportive e-mails and thank-you notes from residents and ratepayer organizations and am proud of what was achieved, I understand the disappointment residents express when they see their city council and staff’s authority to manage development in their community usurped by the OMB.
Members of Parliament continue to provide an easy route for developers to run to the OMB to get around the city, hire a contingent of paid professionals that support their excessive plans and leave you, the taxpayer, to pay city planners and city lawyers to defend your rights just to see the official plan’s vision for the area respected.