Item - 2023.NY7.5

North York Community Council recommends that:

1. City Council direct the City Solicitor and appropriate City staff to attend the Ontario Land Tribunal in opposition to the current applications regarding the Official Plan, and Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Control appeals for the lands at 1779-1787 Bayview Avenue and to continue discussions with the applicant to resolve outstanding issues.

2. In the event that the Ontario Land Tribunal allows the appeals, in whole or in part, City Council authorize the City Solicitor to request that the issuance of any final Orders be withheld until such time as the City Solicitor advises that:

a. the final form and content of the draft Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law are to the satisfaction of the City Solicitor and the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning;

b. the owner submits a revised Heritage Impact Assessment acceptable to, and to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning and that matters arising from such study be secured, if required;

c. the owner has satisfactorily addressed the Engineering and Construction Services matters in the Engineering and Construction Services Memorandum dated December 19, 2022, or as may be updated, all to the satisfaction of the Chief Engineer and Executive Director;

d. the owner has satisfactorily addressed Transportation Services matters in the Transportation Services memo July 31, 2023, or as may be updated in response to further submissions filed by the Owner, all to the satisfaction of the Chief Engineer and Executive Director;

e. the owner has submitted a revised Transportation Demand Management Plan acceptable to, and to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the General Manager, Transportation Services and that matters arising from such Plan be secured, if required;

f. the owner has satisfactorily addressed matters from the Parks, Forestry and Recreation memorandum dated February 7, 2023, or as may be updated in response to further submissions filed by the Owner, all to the satisfaction of Parks, Forestry and Recreation;

g. the owner has submitted a Subsurface Investigation for the possible presence of methane gas on the property and any required mitigation measures are to the satisfaction of the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services;

h. the owner has satisfactorily addressed matters from the Urban Forestry memorandum dated December 16, 2022, or as may be updated in response to further submissions filed by the Owner, all to the satisfaction of Urban Forestry;

i. the owner has submitted an updated complete Toronto Green Standards Checklist and Statistics Template, to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning;

j. the owner has secured replacement of the existing rental housing, including the same number of units, bedroom type and size and with similar rents, to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning;

k. the owner has secured an acceptable Tenant Relocation and Assistance Plan addressing the right for existing and former tenants to return to a replacement rental unit on the lands at similar rents, the provision of alternative accommodation at similar rents, and other assistance to mitigate hardship, all to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning; and

l. City Council has approved the Rental Housing Demolition Application Number 22 224403 NNY 15 RH in accordance with Chapter 667 of the Toronto Municipal Code pursuant to Section 111 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006 which allows for the demolition of the ten (10) existing rental dwelling units at 1779-1787 Bayview Avenue and the owner has entered into, and registered on title to the lands, one or more agreements with the City to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the City Solicitor, securing all rental housing-related matters necessary to implement City Council's decision.

3. Should it be determined that upgrades are required to the infrastructure to support the development according to the accepted Functional Servicing Report and / or the Transportation Impact Study or that mitigation is required per the Subsurface Investigation, City Council direct the City Solicitor and appropriate City staff to request that a Holding provision (H) be included in the final form of the site-specific Zoning By-law Amendment, not to be lifted until such time as the owner has made satisfactory arrangements, including entering into appropriate agreement(s) with the City for required mitigation, as well as the design and construction of any improvements to the municipal infrastructure and the provision of financial securities to the satisfaction of the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services and General Manager, Transportation Services.

4. City Council authorize the City Solicitor and City staff to take any necessary steps to implement City Council's decision.

This application proposes a 35-storey (112.19 metres, plus 6 metres mechanical penthouse for a total of 118.19 metres) mixed-use building with 27,305 square metres of residential gross floor area representing 373 residential units, and 541 square metres of ground floor retail fronting onto Bayview Avenue. The development proposes a total gross floor area of 27,846 square metres with a floor space index of 8.83. There are 8 out of 10 rental units that are proposed to be replaced.

On April 20, 2023, the applicant appealed the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications to the Ontario Land Tribunal due to Council not making a decision within the time frame prescribed in the Planning Act. The applicant has also appealed the Site Plan application due to Council not making a decision within the time frame prescribed in the Planning Act.  A case management conference has not yet been scheduled.  It is anticipated that a procedural order would be established to determine the sequencing of the various appeals to resolve the Official Plan and Zoning amendment matters prior to the Site Plan Control matters.

This report recommends that City Council instruct the City Solicitor with the appropriate City staff to attend the Ontario Land Tribunal hearing and oppose the application in its current form and to continue discussions with the Applicant to resolve outstanding issues.