Preston Street land rush back on,

Supported by contentious neighbourhood plan councillors haven’t approved yet

The land rush is back on at the south end of Preston Street, with the city reactivating building proposals there after a pause while it tried to come to grips with a number of applications for condominium towers.

First up is a Claridge condo project at 505 Preston, which at 42 storeys would be the tallest in the city.

The city put it on hold at the beginning of November along with numerous other requests for rezonings near Preston and Carling Avenue. It’s been “reactivated” — not approved, but moving again in that direction.

The catch: the community hates important parts of a new overall plan for the area, one that the planning department is relying on and that councillors haven’t approved yet.

“The disagreement is on the east-west streets that extend from the Preston and the O-Train corridor,” explained John Smit, the city’s manager responsible for downtown planning approvals.

There’s more agreement about sites like the one Claridge wants to build on, he said. It’s right by Carling Avenue, a major street with an O-Train station.

“I think people understand and accept that high-profile development is something that we’re going to see along the Carling corridor,” Smit said.

He acknowledged that the plan, devised by the city’s favourite urban-planning consultant George Dark after extended community meetings before Christmas, is particularly contentious when it comes to putting “medium profile” buildings overlooking the O-Train track that runs just west of Preston.

The buildings would be served by new access roads along the track and bridges over it.

Nevertheless, Smit’s department has used it as the basis for a “strategic directions report” it intends to present to city council’s planning committee on March 26.

It’s supposed to provide meaningful guidance while a full plan is worked out by next fall. It still includes the buildings and lanes, he said.

The city’s problem is that provincial rules put deadlines on municipalities to deal with rezoning applications, so they can’t kill projects just by sitting on them.

After 120 days, developers can appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board and skip the city’s planning process altogether.