Item - 2016.PG16.3

The Planning and Growth Management Committee recommends that:

1.  City Council authorize the City Solicitor and other appropriate City staff to attend the Ontario Municipal Board to oppose the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment application at 8 Oak Street (Application Number 13 277919 WET 11 OZ) in its current form, together with the site specific appeal of Official Plan Amendment No. 231.

2.  In the event the Ontario Municipal Board allows the appeal in whole or in part, City Council authorize the City Solicitor to request the Ontario Municipal Board to withhold any final orders approving an Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment for 8 Oak Street pending:

a.  Receipt of confirmation from the City Solicitor that the final form of the proposed amendments to the Official Plan and former City of York Zoning By-law No. 1-83 and former City of North York Zoning By-law No. 7625 for the property are to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the City Solicitor.

b.  Receipt of confirmation from the City Solicitor that a revised Traffic Impact Study has been submitted to the City and accepted by the General Manager, Transportation Services.  

c.   Receipt of confirmation from the City Solicitor that a revised Functional Servicing and Stormwater Management report has been submitted to the City and accepted by the Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services.

d.  Receipt of confirmation from the City Solicitor of the satisfactory execution and registration of a Section 37 Agreement to secure community benefits in the local area as well as to secure, as a convenience mechanism, the required warning clauses from the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Green Standard requirements.

e.  Receipt of confirmation from the City Solicitor that a complete Site Plan Control application has been submitted to the City and that Notice of Approval Conditions have been issued by City Planning staff.

This revised application proposes to amend the Official Plan and former City of York Zoning By-law No. 1-83 and former City of North York Zoning By-law No. 7625 to permit the development of two blocks of townhouses, two 8-storey apartment buildings and one 6-storey retirement home.  The proposal would contain 509 residential units and have an overall gross floor area of 45,378 m², which would represent a floor space index of 1.76 times the area of the site.  A 3,363 m² (0.33 ha) public park, fronting Knob Hill Drive, is also proposed.  The original proposal contained 99 three-storey townhouses on a network of private streets with a density of approximately 0.73 times the area of the site.

The applicant has appealed this Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment application to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) due to Council's failure to make a decision on the application within the time prescribed by the Planning Act.

The purpose of this report is to seek City Council's direction for the City Solicitor and other appropriate City staff to attend the Ontario Municipal Board to oppose the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment application as currently proposed by the applicant.  The application does not conform to the policies of the Official Plan, does not represent good planning and is not in the public interest. 

A Pre-Hearing Conference was held on July 19, 2016 at which point the applicant advised that it would be submitting a revised application to the City.  On August 25, 2016 the applicant submitted the above-noted revised proposal to City Planning.  A second Pre-Hearing Conference was held on October 11, 2016 and a three-week hearing has been scheduled to begin on July 4, 2017.

The site is also the subject of an OMB appeal in regard to the City's Five Year Official Plan and Municipal Comprehensive Review, which resulted in Council’s adoption of Official Plan Amendment No. 231 (OPA 231).  Through the Municipal Comprehensive Review, the applicant requested a conversion of the site to residential uses.  City Planning staff recommended that the conversion request not be granted and that the lands be retained as Employment Areas.  This recommendation was adopted by City Council on December 16, 2013 and subsequently approved by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.  The applicant appealed this decision in a letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, dated July 25, 2014.