Item - 2008.TE15.6

City Council on May 26 and 27, 2008, adopted the following motions:

1.         City Council amend Zoning By-law 438-86, as amended, for the former City of Toronto substantially in accordance with the draft Zoning By-law Amendment attached as Attachment No. 9 of the report (April 18, 2008) from the Acting Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District.

2.         City Council authorize the City Solicitor to make such stylistic and technical changes to the draft Zoning By-law Amendment as may be required.

3.         Prior to the submission of the Bill to City Council for enactment, City Council require the owner to enter into an Agreement pursuant to Section 37 of the Planning Act to secure the following benefits:

a.          if required by the City Solicitor in consultations with the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services, a Heritage Easement Agreement with the City for the protection and long term maintenance of the heritage property at 1 Front Street East, subject to the approved alternations, to the satisfaction of the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services, and that the draft by-law be revised if necessary;

b.         a detailed Conservation Plan, prepared by a qualified heritage architect to the satisfaction of the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services that includes: documentation through photographs of the as-found condition of the heritage structure as pertaining to the reasons for designation; detailed descriptions/specifications for the proposed heritage conservation work; a detailed landscape plan; an exterior lighting and signage plan; an estimate of costs for the implementation of the Conservation Plan; and the measures to be taken to protect the heritage resource during construction;

c.         prior to the issuance of any building permit for 1 Front Street East, including a permit for demolition, excavation and /or shoring of the subject property:

i.          provide a Letter of Credit in a form and an amount satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division, to secure the work identified in the Conservation Plan; and

ii.          provide building permit drawings to the satisfaction of the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services;

d.         prior to the release of the Letter of Credit:

i.          complete the heritage conservation work, satisfactory to the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services;

e.         provide and maintain public art works pursuant to a Percent for Public Art Program to be located on publicly accessible portions of the site to a value not less than one percent of the gross construction costs of all buildings and structures to be erected on the site;

f.          provide knock-out panels at the northwest corner of the site on the Front Street East wall and Yonge Street wall 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

g.          provide continuous weather protection with a minimum depth of 2.6 metres and a minimum height of 3 metres along Yonge Street;

h.         incorporate, in the construction of the building, exterior materials to be shown on the podium on 1:50 scale drawings along Front Street East, Yonge Street and The Esplanade with building materials labelled to the approval of the Chief Planner and Executive Director;

i.          provide the incorporation in the construction of the site, landscaping and paving materials satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division;

j.          provide and maintain an irrigation system at the owner’s expense 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, to the satisfaction of the General Manager, Technical Services;

k.         be required to build in conformity with a Green Development Standard Checklist submitted by the applicant and date stamped as received by the Chief Planner and Executive Director on April 16, 2008;

l.          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 one 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.

m.        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 stairwells and associated enclosure satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division;

n.         agree that no vehicular lay-by drop-off / pick-up facility will be provided along The Esplanade, Scott Street and Yonge Street frontages for the development project;

o.          provide a green roof satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning subject to wind and feasibility studies, satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director;

p.         provide, prior to the issuance of the superstructure building permit, an indexed financial contribution to the City, to be determined through consultation between the applicant, staff and local Councillor to contribute to area improvements, which may include the Yonge Street Pedestrian Promenade Plan, heritage lighting in St. Lawrence Community Improvement Plan Area, public realm improvements in the St. Lawrence Community Improvement Area and/or a seniors centre to be provided at 70 The Esplanade;

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

r.          the residential parking requirement may be reduced by 10 spaces for each Autoshare parking space (or other provider of shared parking spaces as may be approved by the Executive Director of Technical Services) provided and maintained in the project;

s.          that the owner be required to offer residential unit purchasers, who do not purchase a parking space, free membership or initiation fees to the Autoshare program to be provided in the building (or other car sharing program, such as Zipcar, as may be approved by the General Manager of Transportation), details of which are to be provided in the Transportation Demand Management Plan;

t.          pay all costs associated with the traffic control signal length extension at Yonge Street and Front Street East, as recommended in the December 2007 Traffic Impact Study prepared by IBIGroup;

u.         provide, if required by the accepted Functional Servicing Report for the design and installation of odour control measures at the Scott Street Pumping Station, at the owner’s expense, to the satisfaction of the Executive Director of Technical Services; and

v.         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, acting reasonably.

4.         The owner be required to provide for any improvements to the municipal infrastructure in connection with the site servicing review, should it be determined that up-grades are required to the infrastructure to support this development, according to the site servicing review accepted by the Executive Director of Technical Services.

5.          City Council approve the alterations to the heritage property at 1 Front Street East (the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts), substantially in accordance with the plans and drawings prepared by Studio Daniel Libeskind and Page and Steele Architects, date stamped received by the City Planning Division on March 12, 2007 and on January 11, 2008, and on file with the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services subject to the Board of Directors of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts and the applicant, Castlepoint Reality Partners Limited:

a.         prior to final site plan approval;

entering into a Heritage Easement Agreement with the City for the protection and long term maintenance of the heritage property at 1 Front Street East, subject to the approved alternations, to the satisfaction of the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services;

providing a detailed Conservation Plan, prepared by a qualified heritage architect to the satisfaction of the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services that includes: documentation through photographs of the as-found condition of the heritage structure as pertaining to the Reasons for Designation; detailed descriptions /specifications for the proposed heritage conservation work; a detailed landscape plan; an exterior lighting and signage plan; an estimate of costs for the implementation of the Conservation Plan; and the measures to be taken to protect the heritage resource during construction;

b.         prior to the issuance of any building permit for 1 Front Street East, including a permit for demolition, excavation and /or shoring of the subject property; providing a Letter of Credit in a form and an amount satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division, to secure the work identified in the Conservation Plan; providing building permit drawings to the satisfaction of the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services; and

c.         prior to the release of the Letter of Credit; completing the heritage conservation work, satisfactory to the Manager, Heritage Preservation Services;

6.         City Council state its intention to designate the property at 1 Front Street East (The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts), under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

7.         If there are no objections to this designation in accordance with Section 29(6) of the Ontario Heritage Act, the solicitor be authorized to introduce the Bill in Council designating the property under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

8.         If there are objections in accordance with Section 29(7) of the Ontario Heritage Act, the Clerk be directed to refer the proposed designation to the Conservation Review Board.

9.         City Council grant authority for the execution of a Heritage Easement Agreement under Section 37 of the Ontario Heritage Act with the Board of Directors of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts and Castlepoint Realty Partners Limited, for the property at 1 Front Street East.

10.       City Council amend the recommendations of the report of Heritage Preservation Services staff, dated March 31, 2008 (Parts 5 to 9 above), to comply with the recommendations of the Supplementary Report (TE15.6c) and the Final Planning Report dated April 18, 2008.

11.       City Council request that Toronto Hydro conduct a street lighting audit for Yonge Street between Richmond Street to Queens Quay and report the results to Toronto and East York Community Council by the end of 2008.

12.       City Council request that GO Transit remove the knock-out panels in the Yonge St. railway underpass as per the Site Plan Approval conditions for the GO bus Terminal.

13.       City Council direct The Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning or his designate to address a connection to Enwave at the time of Site Plan Approval application review.

14.       City Council amend the previously recommended Zoning By-law amendment to require a minimum of 300 bicycle parking spaces for the residential units and that the spaces be provided at 1 Front Street East and/or 5-7 The Esplanade.

15.       City Council determine that no further Notice be given.

16.       The following Recommendations of the Toronto and East York Community Council with respect to the securing of benefits be referred to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, as part of the report requested in Part 18 below:

"-         provide and maintain between 5-7 The Esplanade and the site a publicly accessible under street level walkway (PATH) connection generally as shown on the Basement 02 Floor Plan prepared by Studio Daniel Libeskind and Page + Steele, which shall:

i.          be fully enclosed and weather protected;

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

iii.         be satisfactorily illuminated;

-           provide and maintain within the site a publicly accessible PATH walkway connecting the tunnel from 5-7 The Esplanade to the Sony Centre generally as shown on the Lower Ground Floor Plan prepared by Studio Daniel Libeskind and Page + Steele, 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; and

ii.          be satisfactorily illuminated.

-           prior to the construction of any structure or building at 5-7 The Esplanade, provide a knock-out panel on The Esplanade side of Sony Centre site to accommodate the 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 easement agreement;

-           pay all costs associated with the approved underground PATH tunnel connection to 5-7 The Esplanade;".

17.       The Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and Councillor McConnell meet with area representatives and the applicant to evaluate both the below and above-grade options for a pedestrian/PATH link between 1 Front Street East and 5-7 The Esplanade, and include in their review aesthetics, the physical context and views (in the case of an above-grade option), and accessibility, safety, servicing constraints, technical issues an costs for both options.

18.       The Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, report to Toronto and East York Community Council, in consultation with other necessary Divisions, on the outcome of this further review as soon as possible.

19.       The Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division, report, in consultation with appropriate staff, on prioritizing the development of a master plan for the expansion of the PATH system, and report with an update to the Planning and Growth Management Committee and work program implications.

20.       Heritage Preservation Services staff be requested to expedite the processing of the application for heritage approvals.

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