Item - 2021.TE23.10

The Toronto and East York Community Council recommends that:

1. City Council amend City of Toronto Zoning By-law 569-2013 for the lands at 126, 132 and 142 John Street, 259, 261, 263 and 267 Richmond Street West and 41 to 59 Widmer Street substantially in accordance with the draft Zoning By-law Amendment attached as Attachment 9 to the report (February 5, 2021), from the Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District.

2. City Council amend Former City of Toronto Zoning By-law 438-86 for the lands at 126, 132 and 142 John Street, 259, 261, 263 and 267 Richmond Street West and 41 to 59 Widmer Street substantially in accordance with the draft Zoning By-law Amendment attached as Attachment 10 to the report (February 5, 2021), from the Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District.

3. City Council authorizes the City Solicitor to make such stylistic and technical changes to the draft Zoning By-law Amendments as may be required.

4. Before introducing the bills contemplated in Recommendations 1 and 2 above to City Council for enactment, City Council require the owner(s) to:

a. enter into an Agreement pursuant to Section 37 of the Planning Act, and any other necessary agreements, satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the City Solicitor securing the matters identified in Recommendations 5 and 6 below at the owner's expense, with such Agreement to be registered on title to the lands at 126, 132 and 142 John Street, 259, 261, 263 and 267 Richmond Street West and 41 to 59 Widmer Street in a manner satisfactory to the City Solicitor;

b. amend the existing Heritage Easement Agreement pursuant to Section 37 of the Ontario Heritage Act for the property at 126 John Street, including execution and registration of such amending agreement to the satisfaction of the City Solicitor; and

c. the owner has withdrawn their appeal(s) of:

i. the King-Spadina Secondary Plan (OPA 486), and if not an appellant, but rather a party to such appeals, the owner shall withdraw as a party and not seek any party or participant status on the appeals; and

ii. Official Plan Amendment 352 and the associated zoning by-law amendments, and if not an appellant, but rather a party to such appeals, the owner shall withdraw as a party and not seek any party or participant status on the appeals as such appeals relate to the site.

5. City Council direct that the owner be required to enter into an Agreement pursuant to Section 37 of the Planning Act to secure the following community benefits at the owner's expense, as follows:

a. a cash contribution of six million, two hundred thousand ($6,200,000.00) dollars to be allocated towards the provision of new affordable housing and/or the Toronto Community Housing Corporation revolving capital fund for repairs to Toronto Community Housing Corporation housing in the local Ward, at the discretion of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning in consultation with the Ward Councillor, whereby:

i. two million and one-hundred thousand ($2,100,000.00) dollars shall be paid to the City by the owner within thirty (30) days after the last day the Zoning by-law Amendments are in full force and effect and the statutory appeal period has lapsed; and

ii. four million and one-hundred thousand ($4,100,000.00) dollars shall be paid to the City by the owner prior to the issuance of the first above-grade building permit for any building on any part of the lands;

b.  the cash contributions referred to in Recommendations 4.a.i. and 4.a.ii. above shall be indexed upwardly in accordance with the Statistics Canada Residential or Non-Residential, as the case may be, Building Construction Price Index for the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area, reported quarterly by Statistics Canada in Building Construction Price Indexes Table 18-10-0135-01, or its successor, calculated from the date of the Agreement to the date of payment;

c.  in the event the cash contributions referred to in Recommendations 4.a.i. and 4.a.ii. above have not been used for the determined purpose within three years of the amending Zoning By-law coming into full force and effect, the cash contribution may be redirected for another purpose, at the discretion of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in consultation with the Ward Councillor, provided the purpose is identified in the Official Plan and will benefit the community in the vicinity of the lands;

d.  the provision of a non-profit licensed Child Care Centre to be located in the base building of the development on the lands, comprising of a minimum of 780 square metres of interior space and a minimum of 390 square metres of exterior space adjacent to the interior space, including outdoor storage, and the provision for a child pick-up and drop-off area, with the precise location, capacity and related matters to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning in consultation with the General Manager, Children Services and such Child Care Centre shall generally be in accordance with the following:

i. shall be constructed, finished, furnished and equipped by the owner, including a minimum of five (5) parking spaces will be reserved for the exclusive use of the child care facility for pick-up/drop-off operations, between the hours of 6:30am and 6:30pm from Monday to Friday. These spaces to be assigned accordingly, and be located in close proximity to the elevators providing the shortest route between the underground parking garage and the child care facility, which shall be barrier-free. A parking pass will be provided for officials conducting inspections of the child care facility;

ii. prior to the issuance of any above grade building permit for any portion of the lands, a letter of credit in the amount sufficient to guarantee 120 percent of the estimated cost of the design, construction and handover of the Child Care Centre complying with the specifications and requirements of the Section 37 Agreement, shall be provided to the City to the satisfaction of the General Manager, Children's Services and the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer,

iii. the Child Care Centre, subject to Recommendation 5.e. below shall be conveyed, or such lease arrangements entered into to the satisfaction of the Executive Director, Corporate and Real Estate Management and the City Solicitor, prior to any residential occupancy on the lands; and

iv. the details of the other matters as described in these Recommendations, such as timing, location, obligations and any such matters to implement the Child Care Centre, in respect of the non-profit licensed Child Care Centre community benefit will be finalized between the owner and the City and will be substantially in accordance with the City of Toronto's Child Care Development Guidelines (2016) and to the satisfaction of the Executive Director, Corporate and Real Estate Management, the General Manager, Children's Services, and the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in consultation with the City Solicitor;

e. at the discretion of the Executive Director, Corporate and Real Estate Management, in consultation with the General Manager, Children's Services, and the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the Child Care Centre may either be:

i. conveyed to the City, at no cost to the City, in fee simple, in an acceptable environmental condition; or

ii. an interest acquired by the City through the entering into a lease agreement with the City for 99 years or conveyance for the child care facility; and such facility shall be free of all rent, the cost of all utilities and municipal services supplied to the facility, caretaking costs (of the building common areas), repair and maintenance costs (excluding wear and tear), property damage, and local improvement charges;

f. where there is a conveyance of the Child Care Centre to the City in accordance with Recommendation 5.e.i above., require that on, or prior to, the conveyance of the Child Care Centre, the City and the owner enter into, and register on title to, the appropriate lands an Easement and Cost Sharing Agreement for nominal consideration and at no cost to the City, that is in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor; the Easement and Cost Sharing Agreement shall address and/or provide for the integrated support, use, operation, maintenance, repair, replacement and reconstruction of certain shared facilities, and the sharing of costs, in respect thereof, of portions of the subject lands to be owned by the City and the owner as they pertain to the Child Care Centre, and the development to be constructed within base building of the development;  and

g. prior to the conveyance of the Child Care Centre or takeover of the Child Care Centre in accordance with the terms of any such lease, the owner shall pay to the City the sum of $500,000.00 to provide one-time cash contributions in support of the child care facility, including:

i. a one-time cash contribution in the amount of $90,000.00 to the Child Care Facility Replacement Reserve Fund to replace appliances and large equipment due to wear and tear, to be paid prior to the child care facility being made available to the City;

ii. a one-time cash contribution in the amount of $150,000.00 towards Start-Up Operating Costs for the defrayment of operational deficits during the first year of operation, to be paid prior to the child care facility being made available to the City;

iii. a one-time cash contribution in the amount of $180,000.00 towards toys, furnishing and equipment in accordance with provincial and municipal standards based on a mutually agreeable inventory list provided by the Child Care Centre Operator and/or the General Manager , Children's Services, which will be finalized and approved by the General Manager, Children's Services; and

iv.  the cash contributions referred to in Recommendations 5.g.i., 5.g.ii. and 5.g.iii. shall be indexed upwardly in accordance with the Statistics Canada Residential or Non-Residential, as the case may be, Building Construction Price Index for the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area, reported quarterly by Statistics Canada in Building Construction Price Indexes Table 18-10-0135-01, or its successor, calculated from the date of the Agreement to the date of payment.

6. City Council direct that the following matters are also required to be secured in the Section 37 Agreement as matters required to support the development of the site, including:

a. the construction, provision and maintenance of privately owned publicly accessible open space (POPS) on the lands, with a minimum size of 700 square metres along the Richmond Street West and John Street frontages of the site to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning.  The owner shall convey to the City, for nominal consideration, easement(s) along the surface of the lands, to the satisfaction of the City Solicitor, which shall constitute the POPS and any required public access easements to connect the POPS to adjacent POPS and/or public rights-of-way, where necessary.  The owner shall own, operate, maintain and repair the POPS and install and maintain a sign, at its own expense, stating that members of the public shall be entitled to use the POPS at all times of the day and night, 365 days of the year; and the specific location, configuration, design and timing of conveyance of the POPS shall be determined in the context of a site plan approval pursuant to Section 114 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, and secured in a Site Plan Agreement with the City;

b. the provision of public pedestrian easements as necessary to provide an appropriate pedestrian clearway along Widmer Street, to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the General Manager, Transportation Services;

c. the provision of a public pedestrian easement to provide a grade-level mid-block pedestrian route through the site connecting John Street and Widmer Street, to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, with the exact location, design and timing of delivery of the pedestrian easement to be determined in the context of a Site Plan Approval. The owner shall own, operate, maintain and repair the public pedestrian easement and install and maintain a sign, at its own expense, stating that members of the public shall be entitled to use the public pedestrian easement at certain times of the day and night, generally aligned with the operating hours of the commercial uses within the development, and the owner shall not restrict other uses of this space, so long as they do not unreasonably obstruct pedestrian movement, with the specific location, configuration, design and timing of conveyance of the easement shall be determined in the context of a site plan approval pursuant to Section 114 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, and secured in a Site Plan Agreement with the City;

d. as part of a site plan application for the lands, the owner has, at the owner's sole expense:

i. submitted a revised Functional Servicing Report including confirmation of water and fire flow, sanitary and storm water capacity, Stormwater Management Report and Hydrogeological Review, including Foundation Drainage Report (the "Engineering Reports") to the satisfaction of the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services, in consultation with the General Manager, Toronto Water;

ii. secured the design and the provision of financial securities for any upgrades or required improvements to the existing municipal infrastructure and/or new municipal infrastructure identified in the accepted Engineering Reports to support the development, all to the satisfaction of the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services should it be determined that improvements or upgrades and/or new infrastructure are required to support the development satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services, and the City Solicitor; and

iii. made satisfactory arrangements with Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services for the construction of new infrastructure or any improvements to the municipal infrastructure, should it be determined that new infrastructure and/or upgrades/ improvements are required to the existing infrastructure to support this development, and that the applicant has entered into a financially secured agreement to pay for and construct any necessary municipal infrastructure;

e. as part of a site plan application for the lands, the Owner shall submit an updated wind study and implement any wind mitigation measures required as identified, satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning;

f. prior to final Site Plan Approval for any part of the site, the Owner shall submit a construction management plan for the development to address such matters as may be identified in the Section 37 Agreement and required through the Site Plan Approval process, satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and the General Manager, Transportation Services, in consultation with the Ward Councillor;

g. provisions related to the displacement, retention and return of the Theatre/Cinema Tenant and/or comparable cultural spaces be included in the Section 37 Agreement with terms and conditions satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the City Solicitor;

h. the owner will construct and maintain the development of the site in accordance with Tier 1, Toronto Green Standard, and the owner will be encouraged to achieve Tier 2, Toronto Green Standard, or higher, where appropriate, consistent with the performance standards of Toronto Green Standards applicable at the time of the site plan application for each building on the site.

The Toronto and East York Community Council directed Planning staff to continue to work with the owner prior to City Council to resolve outstanding concerns with the community benefits set out in Recommendations 5 and 6, including but not limited to, Recommendation 5. d., e. and f. regarding the child care centre, Recommendation 6.c. regarding securing of the grade-level mid-block pedestrian route, and Recommendation 6.g. regarding provisions for retention of the Theatre/Cinema tenant or comparable cultural spaces. 

The Toronto and East York Community Council held a statutory public meeting on February 24, 2021 and notice was given in accordance with the Planning Act.

This application proposes a mixed-use development with retail, office, open space and institutional uses in a 3 to 8 storey base building, and residential uses in two towers with heights of 37 and 42 storeys (131 metres and 145.2 metres, respectively, including mechanical penthouses), on the properties known as 126, 132 and 142 John Street, 259, 261, 263 and 267 Richmond Street West and 41-59 Widmer Street.

The proposal would permit a total gross floor area of 86,000 square metres, including 693 dwelling units, comprising 403 studio and one-bedroom units,220 two-bedroom units and 70 three-bedroom units, and a minimum of 23,700 square metres of non-residential space, as well as a two-level underground garage with 231 vehicle and 829 bicycle parking spaces. The proposal incorporates two designated heritage building façades, a mid-block pedestrian connection between John Street and Widmer Street, a 62 space child-care centre and a 700 square metre Privately-Owned Publicly Accessible Space at the southwest corner of John Street and Richmond Street West.

This report reviews and recommends approval of the application to amend the Zoning By-law. The proposed development is consistent with the Provincial Policy Statement (2020) and conforms with A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (2020). The proposed mixed use development is in keeping with the intent of the Toronto Official Plan, the Downtown Plan and the King-Spadina Secondary Plan, particularly as they relate to public realm, built form, intensification and mix of uses in the Downtown, and with the King-Spadina Heritage Conservation District (HCD) Plan and Queen Street West HCD Plan. Staff worked with the applicant and the community to arrive at a built form and massing that includes appropriate setbacks and heights, a harmonious public realm within the John Street Cultural Corridor project, and heritage conservation. The provision of an on-site child care centre and affordable housing through a Section 37 contribution, provision of new office space and other non-residential floor space, and creation of a range of dwelling unit types will help address housing and community issues. Staff recommend that Council support approval of the application.