Item - 2024.EY14.4

The Etobicoke York Community Council recommends that:

1. City Council direct the City Solicitor and appropriate City staff to attend the Ontario Land Tribunal to oppose the appeal of the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments application for 40-60 St. Lawrence Avenue and to continue discussions with the applicant to resolve outstanding issues.

2. If the Ontario Land Tribunal allows the appeals, in whole or in part, City Council authorize the City Solicitor to request that the Ontario Land Tribunal withhold the issuance of any final Order(s) until such time as the Ontario Land Tribunal has been advised by the City Solicitor that:

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

b. The owner has submitted a Functional Servicing Report to determine the stormwater runoff, sanitary flow and water supply demand resulting from this development and whether there is adequate capacity in the existing municipal infrastructure to accommodate the proposed development, to the satisfaction of the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services;

c. The owner has made satisfactory arrangements with Engineering and Construction Services and has entered into the appropriate agreement(s) with the City for the design and construction of any improvements to the municipal infrastructure, should it be determined that upgrades are required to the infrastructure to support this development, according to the accepted Servicing Assessment Report accepted by the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services;

d. The owner has addressed all outstanding issues identified in the Engineering and Construction Services’ correspondence, dated September 13, 2023, to the satisfaction of the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services;

e. The owner has provided a revised Transportation Impact Study to the satisfaction of the General Manager, Transportation Services;

f. The owner has submitted a revised Hydrological Assessment Report and Hydrological Review Summary Form, Servicing Report Groundwater Summary Form, and Foundation Drainage Summary Form to determine the quality and quantity of groundwater that may be required to be discharged to the City sewage works as a result of the proposed development and comply with Foundation Drainage Policy and guidelines to the satisfaction of the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services and the General Manager, Toronto Water;

g. The owner has provided a revised Pedestrian Level Wind Study including a Wind Tunnel Study, to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning;

h. The submitted Compatibility and Mitigation Studies, including the Transportation Noise and Vibration Assessment, dated May 5, 2023, prepared by Gradient Wind Engineering Inc., and the Air Quality and Land Use Compatibility Assessment, dated May 5, 2023, prepared by Gradient Wind Engineering Inc. have been peer-reviewed by a third-party consultant retained by the City at the owner's expense, and the owner agrees to implement any necessary control measures and recommendations identified by the peer review, with the control measures to be secured through the Site Plan Control process, to the satisfaction of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning; and

i. The owner has addressed all outstanding issues raised by Urban Forestry, Tree Protection and Plan Review, as they relate to the application, to the satisfaction of the General Manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation.

3. City Council authorize the City Solicitor and other City staff to take any necessary steps to implement City Council’s decision.

In October 2014, two separate applications were submitted to amend the Site and Area Specific Policy 6 (“SASP 6”) of the Official Plan and Zoning By-law 748-2006, as amended, of the former Etobicoke Zoning Code for 1061 The Queensway, which included the subject site. A Zoning By-law Amendment application for Phase 1 for the northern portion of the lands (for commercial buildings including a grocery store) and a combined Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment application for Phase 2 for the southern portion of the lands for a residential development were submitted.

In October 2017, an application for Consent to sever the property into two lots was approved and the Phase 2 lands, now addressed as 40-60 St. Lawrence Avenue, were sold to the current owners and are the subject of this report.

The 2014 proposal for the 40-60 St. Lawrence Avenue portion of the lands was for two residential buildings that were 22 and 27 storeys in height and connected by a four-storey base building. A total of 558 dwelling units were proposed.

The applicant made a resubmission in June 2023 to permit three mixed-use buildings that are 26, 34 and 43 storeys in height on a five-storey base building. A total of 1,166 condominium dwelling units are now proposed.

On April 4, 2024, the applicant appealed the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment application to the Ontario Land Tribunal (“OLT”) citing City Council's failure to make a decision on the application within the time period prescribed under the Planning Act. A Case Management Conference (“CMC”) has yet to be scheduled but is likely to take place in June. City staff require direction from City Council in advance of the CMC. An OLT hearing has not been scheduled at this time.

This report recommends that Council direct the City Solicitor, together with appropriate City staff, to attend the CMC and any future OLT hearing to oppose the application in its current form and to continue discussions with the applicant in an attempt to resolve outstanding issues.