Item - 2018.PG27.2

The Planning and Growth Management Committee recommends that:  

1.  City Council adopt the Official Plan Amendment for the ConsumersNext Secondary Plan, attached as Attachment 2 to the report (January 31, 2018) from the Acting Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning.

2. City Council authorize the City Solicitor to make such stylistic and technical changes to the draft Official Plan Amendment as may be required.

3. City Council direct staff to use the ConsumersNext Secondary Plan in the evaluation of all current and new development proposals falling within its boundaries.

4. City Council authorize the City Solicitor and other staff to attend the Ontario Municipal Board and request to modify Official Plan Amendment 231 to delete Site and Area Specific Policy 386.

5. City Council request staff to bring forward Zoning By-law amendments to Zoning By-law 569-2013 and former City of North York Zoning By-law 7625 to implement the land uses and performance standards provided for by the ConsumersNext Secondary Plan.

6. City Council endorse the Draft Boundaries for Major Transit Station Areas map attached as Attachment 3 to this report (January 31, 2018) to be considered in the context of the review of major transit station through a city-wide Growth Plan conformity exercise.

The Planning and Growth Management Committee:

1.  Requested the Acting Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to consult with deputants and the local City Councillor and report directly to City Council, if necessary, with any further recommendations as appropriate.

The Planning and Growth Management Committee held a statutory public meeting on February 22, 2018, and notice was given in accordance with the Planning Act.

The Consumers Road Business Park is home to over 18,000 workers and is the largest concentration of office employment in Toronto outside of the downtown. On the arterial fringes of the business park, mixed uses are provided for along Sheppard Avenue East and Victoria Park Avenue with 4,500 residential units and 55,000 square metres of non-residential floor area occupied, under construction, approved or under review.

In June 2015, the City of Toronto launched ConsumersNext - a multi-faceted study examining ways to manage anticipated growth while improving the Consumers Road Business Park and area around Sheppard and Victoria Park Avenues. In July 2017, City Council adopted a Proposals Report directing staff to prepare a Secondary Plan based on directions that emerged from the completion of three component studies: a Planning Study which included Transportation and Servicing Master Plans, an Economic Potential Study and a Community Services and Facilities Study. 

This report recommends the adoption of a Secondary Plan that outlines a vision for the ConsumersNext area as a modern, vibrant business park that is an attractive, transit-oriented location for employment investment and well-connected to a walkable, mixed use community along Sheppard Avenue East and Victoria Park Avenue. The Plan advances a preferred development alternative which has the potential to accommodate an additional 13,500 jobs and 11,800 residents within the Secondary Plan area over the next 25 years.

The recommended Secondary Plan, shown in Attachment 2, is framed by three guiding principles - Define and Enhance Place & Livability; Connect and Move; and Support and Promote Business.  These principles work together to advance the vision.  The Plan also contains policies that will manage anticipated growth in employment and residential population to align with the implementation of infrastructure and identify public realm improvements to benefit workers and residents.  It supports the long term economic health of the business park while providing for a full range of housing options and community services and facilities.

The recommended Plan provides a comprehensive framework to guide growth, including direction for a desired type and form of physical development.

As an early implementation measure, this report further recommends that City Council request staff to prepare amendments to city-wide Zoning By-law 569-2013 and former City of North York Zoning By-law 7625 based on this policy framework.  Updated zoning for the Secondary Plan area would advance the built form performance standards necessary to define and support the improved public realm, while permitting the complementary uses envisioned by the Secondary Plan to add amenity within the business park.

The recommended Secondary Plan is the conclusion of a process in developing a vision, a preferred form of development and the creation of policy that was informed and refined by significant community consultation over the past two and a half years.  It advances a vision for the future business park, surrounded by a pedestrian-oriented mixed use community anchored by higher order transit on Sheppard Avenue East, to remain an attractive and highly successful concentration of employment. Protecting and enhancing the business park's economic function is important for Toronto to maintain a diversity of employment uses across the city.