Item - 2007.TE3.5

The Toronto and East York Community Council recommends that City Council:

1.         amend the new Official Plan of the City of Toronto substantially in accordance with Attachment No. 6, of the report (January 26, 2007) from the Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District;

2.         amend Zoning By-law 438-86 and 168-93 for the former City of Toronto substantially in accordance with the draft Zoning By-law Amendment attached as Attachment No. 7 of the staff report;

3.         authorize the City Solicitor to make such stylistic and technical changes to the draft Official Plan and draft Zoning By-law amendments as may be required;

4.         authorize the City Solicitor to make changes to the Precinct B Precinct Agreement, other Railway Lands agreements (including, if appropriate, a further agreement pursuant to the City of Toronto Act, 1971, S.O. 1971, c. 130, as amended), service agreements, and easement agreements as required to secure the matters set out in the report (January 26, 2007) from the Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District;

5.         require the owner, before introducing the necessary Bills to City Council for enactment, to submit to the Executive Director, Technical Services, documentation and/or revised drawings for review and acceptance:

a.         final approved drawings of the development with sufficient horizontal and vertical dimensions of the exterior walls of the proposed buildings to enable the preparation of building envelope plans, such plans should be submitted at least three weeks prior to the introduction of Bills in Council;

6.         require the owner, before introducing the necessary Bills to City Council for enactment, to execute one or more agreements pursuant to the City of Toronto Act, 1971, S.O. 1971, c. 130, as amended satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division, and the City Solicitor, such agreement(s) to be registered against the title of the lands for the development to secure the following facilities, services, and matters:

a.         City’s right to use the pedestrian walkway in perpetuity through the building(s);

b.         provide and maintain within the site a publicly accessible walkway (Galleria) connecting the SkyWalk to Front Street West generally as shown on the Plans prepared by Tampold Architects, dated December 7, 2006, which shall:

i.          remain open and accessible to the public between the hours of 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., 365 days a year; an

ii.          be satisfactorily illuminated;

c.         provide space within the development site for the construction of any transformer vaults, hydro vaults, Bell maintenance structures, sewer maintenance holes, exhaust and intake vents and stairwell and associated enclosure satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division;

d.         provide the incorporation, in the construction of the building, of exterior  materials to be shown for the podium along Simcoe Street, Front Street West and Station Street, pedestrian weather protection and landscaping materials satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division;

e.         provide and maintain an irrigation system for any proposed trees within the public road allowance, including an automatic timer, designed to be water efficient by a Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor (CLIA) and constructed with a back flow preventer irrigation system for all new trees in the public rights-of-ways, satisfactory to the Executive Director, Technical Services and General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation;

f.          provide and maintain the following to permit the installation and mature growth of all proposed plant material, in particular, large growing shade trees to the satisfaction of the Director of Urban Forestry:

i.          sandy loam soil (comprising 50 to 60 percent sand, 20 to 40 percent silt, 6 to 10 percent clay, 2 to 5 percent organic, with pH of 7.5 or less) to a sufficient depth of not less than 1 metre;

ii.          an engineered draining system which prevents soil saturation; and

iii.         a continuous tree trench, in accordance with the Continuous Tree Pit details outlined in the Construction Details Section of the City of Toronto Streetscape Manual.

g.         before site plan approval, require the owner to provide an architectural plan and/or renderings of the roof of the podium, to include a green roof, or a combination of an appropriately landscaped roof and other architectural design treatment and exterior materials, to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division;

h.         provision of knock-out panels to accommodate a potential future connection to the PATH system, satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division, and the General Manager of Economic Development; and enter into the Wayfinding Agreement, and to be detailed in an agreement pursuant to Section 41 of the Planning Act;

i.          make all necessary improvements to the PATH system as required in the Wayfinding Agreement and Site Plan Agreement to the satisfaction of the City Solicitor, Transportation Services, City Planning and Economic Development and Culture;

j.          revisions, if any, to the development to address the recommendations of a Pedestrian Level Wind Study;

k.         revisions to the development, or a Letter of Credit, in accordance with the recommendations of a Street Lighting Assessment;

l.          comply with any other condition to ensure the orderly development and phasing of the lands as required by the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division, acting reasonably;

7.         require the applicant to enter into a Site Plan Agreement under Section 41 of the Planning Act;

8.         require the following in the Zoning By-law amendment:

a.         reconstruct the intersection of Station Street and Simcoe Street with minimum curb radii of 12 metres at the southeast corner of the intersection;

b.         enter into agreements satisfactory to City Legal, in consultation with Transportation Services, City Planning and GO Transit, to secure the proposed pedestrian access through the building, and the proposed pedestrian arcade on the Simcoe Street frontage of the site, as well as the pedestrian facilities on Station Street;

c.         provide and maintain a minimum of 301 non-residential parking spaces and a maximum of 315 parking spaces within the proposed parking garage for this development;

d.         provide and maintain 3 Type B, 3 Type C loading spaces and one additional loading space with minimum dimensions of 2.6 metres by six metres by three vertical;

e.         submit, for review and acceptance prior to site plan approval, a Transportation Demand Management Plan to the General Manager of Transportation Services, including measures to reduce automobile use;

f.          have a qualified Transportation Engineer/Planner certify, in writing, to the General Manager of Transportation Services that the development has been designed and constructed in accordance with the Transportation Demand Management Plan approved by the General Manager, Transportation Services;

g.         provide, maintain and operate the Transportation Demand Management measures, facilities and strategies stipulated in the Transportation Demand Management Plan approved by the General Manager, Transportation Services;

h.         provide, prior to Site Plan Approval, for any improvements to the municipal infrastructure should it be determined that upgrades to the infrastructure are required to support this development, according to the site servicing review accepted by the Executive Director of Technical Services;

i.          submit a traffic monitoring report within six months of occupancy of the office building to identify vehicular trip distribution patterns associated with the project and identify mitigating measures to address any poor levels of service experienced at Front Street West/Simcoe Street, Station Street/York Street, Station Street/Simcoe Street, York Street/University Street/Front Street West and York Street/Bremner Boulevard intersections, for the review and approval of the General Manager of Transportation Services;

j.          provide a Letter of Credit in the amount of $50,000 to cover the costs associated with the following measures, as deemed appropriate by the General Manager of Transportation Services:

i.          implementing mitigating measures such as changes to traffic regulations and installation of regulatory signage; and

ii.          implementing the approved signal timing modification and signal phasing adjustments identified at the Front Street West/Simcoe Street, Station Street/York Street, Station Street/Simcoe Street, York Street/University Street/Front Street West and York Street/Bremner Boulevard intersections, which are attributable, in part, to this development, if any;

k.         prior to Site Plan Approval the owner shall:

i.          submit revised drawings that further refine the design of the transition between the SkyWalk atrium and the new internal corridor to the satisfaction of the Manager of Heritage Preservation Services;

ii.          submit revised 1:50 scale drawings of the elevations of the front facades of 20 York Street and 151 Front Street West to the satisfaction of the Manager of Heritage Preservation Services;

iii.         submit a detailed landscape plan for the subject property, to the satisfaction of the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services;

iv.         provide plans for interpretive panels or other interpretive materials to communicate the development history of the property: the research, design, and location of the interpretive materials will be to the satisfaction of the Manager of Heritage Preservation Services;

v.         provide a Letter of Credit in a form and in an amount satisfactory to the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services to secure all work for the research, production and installation of interpretive materials referred to in condition (iv);    

l.          prior to the release of the Letter of Credit the owner shall obtain final approval for the interpretive materials erected on the property from the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services.

9.         before introducing the necessary Bills to City Council for enactment, authorize the appropriate City officials and require the owner to execute one or more agreements pursuant to Section 37 of the Planning Act satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division, and the City Solicitor, such agreements to be registered on title to the lands in a manner satisfactory to the City Solicitor, to secure the following facilities, services and matters:

a.         a contribution of $1.5 million, prior to the issuance of an above grade building permit for any development, for the following local community improvement initiatives:

i.          $50,000 for the capital improvement of 168 John Street and $100,000 for 6-28 Henry Street, 40-42 Baldwin Street, 180-182 Beverley Street, and 15 Cecil Street;

ii.          exclusive of the frontages of the subject lands, $1,000,000 for streetscaping improvements on the south side of Richmond Street West between Spadina Avenue and Peter Street, Front Street West between University Avenue and Spadina Avenue, Simcoe Street between the railway corridor and Queen Street West including bicycle lanes, and University Avenue between Front Street West and King Street West;

iii.         $350,000 for weather protection and improvements to the four at-grade TCC stairways at St. Andrew subway station;

b.         provide a public art contribution in accordance with the City of Toronto’s Percent for Public Art Program for a value not less than one percent of the gross construction cost, indexed annually, of all buildings and structures on the lands to be paid at time of first building permit;

c.         provide the City of documentation as to LEED certification of the development and the marketing materials that will include information on LEED certification as follows:

1.         in conjunction with the construction and marketing of the Development, the Owner shall provide to the Chief Planner such documentation as the Chief Planner shall request with respect to LEED Certification of the Development and the marketing materials that will include information on LEED Certification;

2.         the owner shall:

a.         use reasonable commercial efforts to obtain LEED Certification of the buildings;

b.         prior to receiving Site Plan Approval, register the development with the CaGBC (the "LEED Registration") and provide written confirmation of the LEED Registration to the Chief Planner;

c.         prior to the occupancy of the building, to make the LEED Application and provide to the Chief Planner a copy of the LEED Application together with written confirmation that it has been submitted and, if requested by the Chief Planner, copies of all documentation submitted with the LEED Application to the CaGBC;

d.         upon the receipt of a CaGBC Report provide, if requested to the Chief Planner, a copy of such CaGBC Report;

e.         provide a response to the CaGBC regarding any CaGBC Report, provide if requested to the Chief Planner a copy of any documentation submitted to the CaGBC by the owner in response to such CaGBC Report;

f.          upon the owner receiving notification of the CaGBC’s decision as to whether LEED Certification of the Building has been granted, to provide if requested to the Chief Planner a copy of such notification; and

g.         provide, if requested by the Chief Planner, a copy of the owner’s marketing materials for the Development that contain information regarding LEED and LEED Certification;

10.      authorize City officials to take all necessary steps, including the execution of agreements and documents, to give effect to the above-noted recommendations;

11.      direct the General Manager of Transportation Services to report to the Toronto and East York Community Council by the end of 2007 on the installation of bicycle lanes on Simcoe Street between Queen Street West and Queens Quay in order for the bicycles lanes to be constructed and operational concurrent with the opening of the Simcoe Street tunnel in 2008;

12.      request the Toronto Parking Authority to weather protect the three stairways on University Avenue for the Toronto Parking Authority garage that is under University Avenue from Front Street West to north of Wellington Street West;

13.      request the Chief Planner and Executive Director,  City Planning Division to require, prior to completion of Planning staff’s review of site plan approval, continuous weather protection along the frontages of Simcoe Street and Front Street West and the removal of all parking on Station Street;

14.      request the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division to  report to the Toronto and East York Community Council on including in his Division’s  Work Program a report on a streetscape plan for Front Street West between University Avenue and Spadina Avenue, Simcoe Street between the railway corridor and Queen Street West including bicycle lanes, and University Avenue between Front Street West and King Street West;

15.      direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to paint, as soon as possible, the following crosswalks at traffic controlled (stop sign or traffic light) intersections in the Financial District in the vicinity of the site:

-           York Street at Piper Street, east side;

-           York Street at Pearl Street, west side;

-           University Avenue at Pearl Street, west and east sides;

-           Simcoe Street at Pearl Street, east side;

-           Richmond Street West at Simcoe Street, south side; and

-           Queen Street West at Simcoe Street, south side;

16.       as part of the Site Plan process, request the Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District to:

a.         investigate and resolve the issue of district heating as well as deep lake water cooling; and

b.         consider extending the PATH system across Front Street at or near this location and report to the Toronto and East York Community Council on how these links can be made in the future.