Item - 2017.NY21.38

North York Community Council recommends that:

1.  City Council direct the City Solicitor, together with City Planning staff and any other City staff as appropriate, to attend the Ontario Municipal Board hearing to oppose the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications in their current form.

2. City Council authorize the City Solicitor and appropriate staff to continue discussions with the applicant, in consultation with the Ward Councillor, to address the issues outlined in the report (March 15, 2017) from the Director, Community Planning, North York District; and if the applicant revises the application to address these issues, staff seek authorization from City Council for any settlement offer, in advance of any Ontario Municipal Board hearing.

3.  Should the Ontario Municipal Board approve the applications, City Council direct the City Solicitor to advise the Ontario Municipal Board that the Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-laws should not be approved without the provision of such services, facilities or matters pursuant to Section 37 of the Planning Act, as may be considered appropriate by the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning in consultation with the applicant and the Ward Councillor.

4.  In the event that the Ontario Municipal Board allows the appeal of the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications in whole or in part, City Council authorize the City Solicitor to request the Ontario Municipal Board to withhold its Order(s) approving the applications until such time as:

a.  the Board has been advised by the City Solicitor that the proposed Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendments are in a form satisfactory to the Chief Planner and City Solicitor; and

b.  the City Solicitor confirms the satisfactory execution and registration of a Section 37 Agreement satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to secure community benefits pursuant to Section 37 of the Planning Act.

This application proposes to amend the Official Plan and Zoning By-law at 3450 Dufferin Street to permit three mixed-use buildings of 37, 33 and 29-storeys including hotel and restaurant uses. The buildings would be connected by 15, 6, 3, 2 and 1-storey base building elements and 2-storey townhouses. This proposal includes 255 hotel rooms, 1,044 residential units and a public park. The total gross floor area of the development is 84,466m2, including 67,539m2 of residential and 16, 926m2 of non-residential gross floor area. The development would have a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 4.1.

The owner appealed the Zoning By-law Amendment application on January 6, 2017 and the Official Plan Amendment on March 7, 2017 to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) citing City Council's failure to make a decision within the prescribed time frames set out in the Planning Act.

This site is located within the Dufferin Street Secondry Plan Area, which is under appeal, as well as Official Plan Amendment 294 (OPA 294) at the OMB. The applicant is one of the appellants and has requested that the appeal of this application be consolidated with their appeal of the Dufferin Street Secondary Plan and OPA 294. A second Pre-Hearing Conference on the appeals to the Dufferin Street Secondary Plan (OPA 294) has been scheduled for May 23, 2017.

The purpose of this report is to seek City Council's direction for the City Solicitor, together with appropriate City Staff, to attend the Ontario Municipal Board hearing to oppose the applications, as currently proposed by the applicant.

Planning staff have considered the applications within the context of the in force policy framework, including the Official Plan policies. In addition, the Council approved Dufferin Street Secondary Plan, including the Council endorsed Urban Design Guidelines, Transportation Master Plan and Infrastructure Master Plan, have been considered. Planning staff do not support the proposed Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications for the reasons outlined in this report. The proposed built form does not meet the Healthy Neighbourhoods, Built Form, Neighbourhoods, or Mixed Use Areas policies of the Official Plan. The built form does not respect or enhance the scale, character and form of the site and Block in accordance with the Council-endorsed built form policies for the Dufferin Street Secondary Plan. Further, the built form does not meet or maintain the intent of the Tall Buildings Guidelines.