Item - 2024.PH16.3

The Planning and Housing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council amend the Official Plan for the lands at 72 Amroth Avenue substantially in accordance with the draft Official Plan Amendment attached as Attachment 5 to the report (October 16, 2024) from the Interim Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning.

2. City Council amend Zoning By-law 569-2013 for the lands at 72 Amroth Avenue substantially in accordance with the draft Zoning By-law Amendment attached as Attachment 6 to the report (October 16, 2024) from the Interim Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning.

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

4. City Council request the General Manager, Transportation Services, to review and report back on the feasibility of amending Schedule B of the City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 925, Permit Parking, to exclude the development located at 72 Amroth Avenue from Permit Parking.

5. City Council request the Interim Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, to report to Planning and Housing Committee following the completion of the Site Plan Control process at 72 Amroth Avenue with an updated Key Findings document discussing the Site Plan Control process.

The Planning and Housing Committee held a statutory public meeting on October 30, 2024, and notice was given in accordance with the Planning Act.

The Beaches-East York Pilot Project (“the Pilot Project”) is part of the Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods ("EHON") initiative. The Pilot Project was initiated with the purpose of building a missing middle demonstration project in consultation with the community and the development industry on City-owned land within the Beaches-East York neighbourhood (Ward 19).

This report recommends amending the Official Plan and Zoning By-law to permit a development on a City-owned site located at 72 Amroth Avenue. The proposal includes a six-storey apartment building fronting Amroth Avenue with a height of 19.5 metres (23.5 metres with the mechanical penthouse), and a three-storey fourplex with a height of 9.95 metres and a three-storey duplex with a height of 9.65 metres at the rear of the lot. The development has a total of 34 residential units, 39 bicycle parking spaces and 2,353 square metres of gross floor area.

The proposal is an appropriate example of intensification within designated Neighbourhoods. It is in a form that is respectful of the adjacent low-rise detached houses, while making use of an underutilized site near a major transit station and adjacent Danforth Avenue. The Danforth Study from Coxwell Avenue to Victoria Park Avenue further recommends a mid-rise built form of up to eleven-storeys on this segment of Danforth Avenue. It advances a design which includes the provision of six accessible units, exceeding the Toronto Accessibility Design Guidelines requirement for 15 percent of the total number of units be accessible and adaptable, and a unit mix which meets the City of Toronto Growing Up Guidelines regarding the provision of two and three-bedroom units. As a City-initiated project, it will meet at least Version 4, Tier 2 of the Toronto Green Standard. The proposal preserves the five existing mature trees on site.

The processes and approaches developed through this initiative are intended to inform how missing middle projects may be built on other sites, both publicly and privately owned. In support of this goal, City staff have also developed a set of Key Findings to inform the creation of future policy and process changes for expanding housing options in neighbourhoods, including work on transition zones through the Housing Action Plan and work on enabling permissions for low-rise multi-unit residential buildings through the Housing Accelerator Fund. The Key Findings are included as Attachment 16 of this report.

City staff recommend approval of the City-initiated Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments and associated recommendations.