Item - 2024.PB18.5

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends that:

1. City Council refuse the demolition of the designated heritage property at 1420 Yonge Street under Section 34(1)2 of the Ontario Heritage Act as outlined in the Addendum to the Heritage Impact Assessment for 1404-1420 Yonge Street, prepared by Goldsmith Borgal & Company Ltd. Architects, dated December 19, 2023 and file with the Acting Senior Manager, Heritage Planning.

2. If the owner appeals City Council’s decision to refuse the issuance of a demolition permit under Section 34(1)2 of the Ontario Heritage Act for the heritage property at 1420 Yonge Street, City Council authorize the City Solicitor and the necessary City staff to attend the Ontario Land Tribunal hearing in opposition to the appeal.

This report recommends that City Council refuse the application under S.34(1)2 of the Ontario Heritage Act to demolish the designated heritage building at 1420 Yonge Street.

The application is in conjunction with Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw Amendment applications that were approved by Council in 2022 for a 50-storey building at 1404-1420 Yonge Street. The subject property includes three designated buildings. Council granted approval in 2022 and 2023 to demolish two of the designated buildings (1404 and 1406 Yonge Street) to facilitate this development. The demolition of these buildings was considered acceptable from a heritage perspective within a framework that considered several city and area priorities for this site, including the conservation and restoration of the front of the heritage building at 1420 Yonge Street.

The owner is now seeking approval to demolish the remaining designated building at 1420 Yonge Street. Demolition is being sought because having a façade retention frame that is needed to conserve the heritage building would mean the cycle tracks would be downgraded to a bike lane outside the subject property for a temporary period of three years. The bike lane would also need to be 1.2 metres wide. A bike lane width of 1.2 metres, although narrower than Ontario Traffic Manual Book 18 suggested minimum, is still allowable over very short distances in constrained areas or in complex circumstances.

The Provincial Policy Statement, the Official Plan, and the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada state that heritage resources are to be conserved and any new construction is to be designed to conserve the cultural heritage values, attributes, and character of that property, and to mitigate visual and physical impact on it. The proposals seek approval to demolish a designated heritage building. This does not comply with these policies and as such Staff are therefore recommending that this application is refused.