Item - 2016.TE20.13

The Toronto and East York Community Council recommends that: 

1.  City Council authorize the City Solicitor, together with City Planning staff and any other appropriate staff, to attend the Ontario Municipal Board hearing to oppose the appeal of the Zoning By-law Amendment application for 422-436 Roncesvalles Avenue and 76 Howard Park Avenue.

2.  City Council authorize City staff to continue discussions with the applicant in order to come to an agreement on a revised proposal for an appropriate development which addresses the issues set out in the report (November 10, 2016) from the Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York Community Council. 

3.  In the event the Ontario Municipal Board allows the appeal, City Council authorize the City Solicitor, to request the Ontario Municipal Board to withhold its final order until a revised functional servicing report and stormwater management report have been submitted and reviewed to the satisfaction of the Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services.

4.  City Council authorize the City Solicitor and any other City staff to take such actions as necessary to give effect to the foregoing.

The purpose of this report is to request direction from City Council on the pending Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing on the application for a Zoning By-law Amendment at 422-436 Roncesvalles Avenue and 76 Howard Park Avenue.  The application proposes the construction of an 8-storey mixed use building with retail at grade, 93 residential units on Roncesvalles Avenue and six grade-related townhouses fronting a private driveway accessible via Howard Park Avenue. The mixed-use building will have a height of 25.7 metres plus a 3.8 metre mechanical penthouse on Roncesvalles Avenue and the townhouses will have a height of 15.28 metres.

On April 20, 2016, the rezoning application was appealed to the OMB by the applicant pursuant to Section 34(11) of the Planning Act as a result of the City's failure to make a decision within 120 days of submission of a complete application.   A hearing has been scheduled for January 24, 2017.

The proposal is not supportable in its current form. The proposed mixed-used building represents an overdevelopment of the site and does not satisfactorily respond to urban design guidelines related to the built form creating an unacceptable form of development. The proposed townhouses would not conform to the Official Plan Neighbourhood Policies.

The purpose of this report is to seek City Council's direction for the City Solicitor and appropriate City Staff to attend the Ontario Municipal Board hearing in opposition to the applicant's development proposal and appeal.  It also recommends that staff continue discussion with the applicant to achieve revisions to the proposal that address the issues identified in this report.

Staff will submit a report to the supplementary agenda for Toronto and East York Community Council for consideration at its meeting on November 15, 2016.