Item - 2019.NY7.6

North York Community Council recommends that:

1. City Council direct the City Solicitor, together with Planning staff and other appropriate staff to attend the third Local Planning Appeal Tribunal prehearing conference (when it is scheduled) in support of Zoning By-law Amendment Application Number 17 188558 STE 22 OZ, at 368-386 Eglinton Avenue East, and support the conversion of the prehearing conference to a settlement hearing, provided all conditions listed below are satisfied.
 

2. In the event that the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal allows the appeal in whole or in part, City Council authorize the City Solicitor to request the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal to withhold the issuance of any Order(s) until such time as the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal has been advised by the City Solicitor that:

a. the final form of the Zoning By-law Amendments are to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the City Solicitor; 

b. all comments from Engineering and Construction Services contained in their February 14, 2019 memorandum are addressed to the satisfaction of the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services; and

c. the owner enters into an Agreement pursuant to Section 37 of the Planning Act and the following matters are secured through the agreement  pursuant to policy 5, section 5.1.1 of the City's Official Plan to support development:

i. the rental tenure of the existing rental building containing 149 existing rental dwelling units, without application to convert or demolish for at least 20 years commencing from the date of the enactment of the amending by-laws;

ii. access for residents of the existing rental building to all indoor and outdoor amenities within the proposed building addition with no cost pass-through to existing residents within the existing rental dwelling units;

iii. improvements to the existing rental building, with no cost pass-through to existing residents within the existing rental dwelling units, including:

A. programmed outdoor amenity area on the two existing roof-top amenity areas on the existing building, including outdoor furniture, weather protection, barbeques, and renovating the existing washroom located adjacent to the existing eastern roof-top outdoor amenity area;

B. establishing a new indoor amenity area within the basement of the existing building of at least 80 square metres, currently occupied by a mechanical/service space;

C. locating all garbage, recycling, and composting storage indoors for the new and existing building and locating a hand delivered refuse drop-off area within the existing building;

D. introducing secure long-term bike storage within the underground parking garage for residents of the existing and new buildings; and 

E. introducing short-term visitor bike parking racks located at the front entrance of the existing building;

iv. a construction mitigation and tenant communications plan to lessen adverse impacts on tenants due to the redevelopment proposal, to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning;

v. a tenant assistance plan to lessen impacts imposed upon the tenants of twelve (11) existing rental dwelling units which will be reconfigured to accommodate the enclosure of an existing bedroom window, to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning; and

vi. reducing the number of vehicular driveways to and from the site from 4 to 1 and relocating the ramp to the underground parking garage to the rear of the site.

3. City Council direct the City Solicitor and appropriate City staff to continue to work together with the Toronto District School Board to secure appropriate conditions of approval, including potentially a holding symbol (H), regarding the provision of public school facilities to accommodate students generated from this development.

On March 28, 2018, the applicant appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (the "LPAT") citing Council's failure to make a decision on the Zoning By-law Amendment applications within the timeframe prescribed by the Planning Act. The first prehearing conference was held on October 16, 2018. A second pre-hearing conference was held on May 14, 2019.  A third pre-hearing conference will be scheduled by the LPAT following an update from all parties including the applicant, the City of Toronto, the Toronto District School Board and the South Eglinton Ratepayers' and Residents' Association on their progress in resolving outstanding issues.

This application has been revised and currently proposes a new 11-storey (29.17 metres plus a 5 metre mechanical penthouse) addition to the east end of the existing residential apartment building at 368 Eglinton Avenue East including 76 new residential rental units in addition to the 148 residential rental units in the existing building. A total of 163 parking spaces are proposed for the combined needs of the existing building and the building addition. The purpose of this report is to seek City Council's direction with respect to the LPAT hearing. This report recommends that Council direct the City Solicitor, together with appropriate City staff, to support the current proposal at the LPAT, subject to conditions.

The proposed development is consistent with the Provincial Policy Statement (2014) and conforms with the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (2019) and the City of Toronto Official Plan. It provides improvements to the existing building at 368 Eglinton Avenue East, appropriate transition to the low rise residential Neighbourhoods designated lands to the north, mitigates privacy issues related to the interface with the existing residential building to the east at 398 Eglinton Avenue East, provides new rental housing and secures the new and existing residential rental tenure for a period of 20 years.