Item - 2020.PB17.2

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends that:  

1. The Toronto and East York Community Council direct the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning, to report directly to City Council at its meeting of October 27 and 28, 2020 on the Intention to Designate 155 Wychwood Avenue under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, including an updated Statement of Significance and Heritage Attributes.

Mary MacDonald, Senior Manager, Heritage Preservation, Urban Design, City Planning gave a presentation on  Designation of a Property on the Heritage Register - 155 Wychwood Avenue.

On June 8, 2020 the owners of 155 Wychwood Avenue submitted a planning application to construct an 8-storey mixed-use building. The development requires demolition of the former Wychwood-Davenport Presbyterian Church. The church, constructed in 1937, is a representative example of an early 20th-century religious building designed in the Neo-Gothic style. It is historically linked to the development of the Wychwood neighbourhood and stands as a local landmark anchoring the northeast corner of St. Clair Avenue West and Wychwood Avenue, where it forms an institutional enclave with neighbouring church complexes. The property was added to the City's Heritage Register by City Council at its meeting of January 29 and 30, 2008.

In conjunction with the planning application, the owner served the City with a Notice of Intention to Demolish a Listed Property. Under Section 27 of the Ontario Heritage Act, a property owner must give City Council a 60 day notice of the intention to demolish any building or structure on a property that is included on the City's Heritage Register. Once 60 days has expired the owner can receive a demolition permit if City Council has not designated the property and all other Ontario Building Code requirements have been fulfilled.

Although the notice to demolish the former church was received in June 2020, timelines under the Ontario Heritage Act were temporarily suspended as a consequence of the March 2020 provincial Declaration of Emergency related to the COVID-19 crisis. Statutory timelines are intended to commence after September 11, 2020. Therefore, in order to prevent the demolition of the listed church, City Council must issue a Notice of Intention to Designate the property under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act by November 10, 2020.

This report recommends that the Toronto and East York Community Council direct the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning to prepare a Statement of Significance for the October 27-28, 2020 meeting of City Council.