Item - 2024.TE17.7

The Toronto and East York Community Council deferred consideration of the Item indefinitely.

The purpose of this report is to recommend removing 6 Leslie Street from Interim Control By-law 979-2017 (the "ICBL").  By removing this site from the ICBL, the zoning for this site in Zoning By-law 438-86 will apply, permitting light industrial uses on site. The Port Lands Official Plan Amendment identified 6 Leslie Street is a future planned park with permitted interim uses, including light industrial uses that support production, interactive and creative industries ("PIC Core uses"). This is a city initiated zoning change.

The ICBL was adopted in 2017 and extended in 2018, to provide sufficient time for a zoning review to be completed for Port Lands employment-focused lands. The objective of this zoning review was to ensure consistency between the City Council-adopted Port Lands Area Specific Policy and implementing zoning. The four resulting zoning by-laws were adopted by Council in 2019 but were appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal and remain unresolved.  

The site is owned by Toronto Port Lands Company and managed by CreateTO. The site is planned for a future extension of the adjacent Leslie Lookout Park. There are two existing vacant one-storey buildings on the site that have been used as a production and broadcasting facility in the past and, most recently, have been used as flex studio space.

Economic Development and Culture has identified 6 Leslie Street as a candidate for the "Music Rehearsal Spaces in the City of Toronto" pilot program, which was adopted by City Council on February 2, 2022. This pilot program would create an inventory of City-owned properties suitable for lease to rehearsal studio and production space operators at below-market rates.