Item - 2026.PH27.5

The Executive Director, Development Review recommends that:

1. City Council amend the City of Toronto Zoning By-law 569-2013 for the lands municipally known as 9 Shortt Street substantially in accordance with the draft Zoning By-law Amendment included as Attachment 5 to this report.

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

This report recommends approval of the application to amend the Zoning By-law, with a holding provision, to permit development of a City-owned surface parking lot at 9 Shortt Street for a mixed-use residential development consisting of two buildings, with heights of 41 and 6 storeys. The site is one of the Toronto Builds projects on City-owned lands designated for the delivery of affordable housing.

The proposal would have a residential gross floor area (GFA) of 35,071 square metres, and a total of 458 market and affordable rental residential units, 497 square metres of non-residential commercial and community spaces, and a 653 square metres Privately Owned Publicly Accessible Open space (POPS). A total of 42 vehicular and 421 bicycle parking spaces are also proposed.

On May 21 and 22, 2025, City Council adopted Item PH21.4 “Toronto Builds – “A Policy Framework to Build More Affordable Rental Homes on Public Land” to include a new policy framework to harmonize the development of a range of rental homes and mixed-income communities on public land. Through that report, the site located at 9 Shortt Street was identified as a Toronto Builds site.

To support delivery of affordable housing, City Council approved financial incentives for Toronto Builds sites, including 9 Shortt Street. The City’s financial incentives include exemptions from development charges, building permit fees, planning application fees and property taxes for municipal and school purposes for the duration of affordability starting from occupancy for all affordable homes.

In addition to the incentives for affordable homes, the entire development is eligible for waivers of parkland dedication fees and Community Benefits Contribution charges, as approved by City Council on July 23 and 24, 2025 in EX25.1.

These incentives are not a direct capital payment as they represent the forgiveness of City levies and charges and are thus, foregone revenues to the City.

The estimated value of the financial incentives approved by Council are shown in Table 1 below. The site will have a total of 458 units, of which 20-30% will be affordable for a period of 40-99 years.

Table 1. Estimated financial incentives provided to 9 Shortt Street site

*Calculated using 2025 development charge rates for affordable units only

**Includes estimated 2025 building permit fees, planning fees for affordable units only

***Includes estimated 2025 planning fees, building permit fees, parkland dedication fees, community benefits charges, and development charges.

^Calculated using 2025 property tax rates.