Yonge-Eglinton flip-flop shocks neighbours
City planning staff ’s support for 24-storey condo tower contradicts earlier policies
A new city staff report recommending approval of a highrise tower on Eglinton Ave. near the Yonge St. intersection contradicts earlier staff opinions, conflicts with the city’s plans and has the potential to undermine the city’s fight against other developments.
That predicament has been quietly percolating at city hall ahead of a council meeting this week where a decision on whether to approve the 24-storey condo tower at 90 Eglinton Ave. will be made.
The lead-up to that vote has seen residents’ groups from the fastgrowing Yonge-Eglinton area ringing alarm bells about the unexpectedly positive report from staff and has left questions about the impact on ongoing development disputes.
Neighbouring councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22 St. Paul’s) says he will fight to prevent approval of the building, first submitted by developer Madison Homes in 2013.
“I was absolutely astonished that a city planner would have supported this development proposal given that it is in complete contradiction to the city’s own policies including office replacement and its Eglinton Connects bylaws,” Matlow said.
Local councillor Christin Carmichael Greb said she will be asking that council refuse the application, against staff advice.
“It’s just too dense and office replacement is an issue,” she said.
The key concerns with the application are that the site is located along an avenue that was approved for midrise development, not tall buildings, following a study called Eglinton Connects that resulted in a city bylaw that came into force in 2014.
And the application does not follow the city’s policy to fully replace the office space being redeveloped — a policy recommended by staff, approved by council in 2014, and now mired in a years-long dispute be- tween the city and developers at the Ontario Municipal Board.
The development at 90 Eglinton was first pitched as a 36-storey building and later officially submitted at 29 storeys to replace the existing sixstorey office building just west of Yonge St. on Eglinton Ave.
Since then the proposal was lowered to 24 storeys, still outside the realm of a midrise building, which is between four and 11 storeys, according to the city’s guidelines.
The new 70-page staff report, signed by North York planning man- ager Al Rezoski, recommends council approve the mixed-use building at 24 storeys. It outlines that the proposal “represents an appropriate level of intensification” and that because the application was made before the Eglinton Connects rules were in place, the property was excluded from those rules. It also finds that replacing 50 per cent of the existing office space is acceptable.
But that marks a significant departure from previous staff statements and council direction. Earlier staff reports noted the site was within the Eglinton Connects planning study area and considered midrise development appropriate. Planning staff wrote in August 2014 they had “significant concerns” with the development, then at 29 storeys, and suggested revisions, including a reduction in height and density, would be needed to align the proposal with various plans and studies, including the Eglinton Connects study.
The developer’s lawyer, Adam Brown, argued the Eglinton Connects bylaw was not “legally applicable” to the site. At the time, planning staff disagreed.
Despite staff’s view, former councillor Karen Stintz, who at the time represented the area, moved a motion at North York Community Council that staff continue negotiating with the developer “recognizing that the site is not a midrise.”
At a full council meeting later that month, Matlow moved a successful motion he said was “drafted by staff” to include a list of properties, including 90 Eglinton, into the intent of the Eglinton Connects bylaw. “We’re trying to get a set policy framework approved at council ahead of this so we can say midrise is the city’s preferred built form here so developers can’t say, well we want 30 storeys, too bad,” Matlow told council.
A later staff report in April 2016 noted that while the 90 Eglinton site was not included in the bylaw, “city council amended the report recommendations to reinforce the study finding that midrise development is the appropriate built form here.”
Now the new report, a final say from staff on the application, is agreeing to the tall building.
Director for community planning for the North York district Joe Nanos told councillors at a meeting earlier this month they had received “somewhat conflicting directions” about whether the site should be considered midrise.
On issue of office replacement, the city has passed policies that look to build “complete” communities that have a mix of office, residential and retail. In 2014, a policy to fully replace office space on sites like 90 Eglinton was approved.
But the final report says 50-percent office space replacement is “appropriate in this instance” and that full replacement “would be a challenge from a massing and neighbourhood impact perspective” — what would be a “sterilization” of the site because of the imposing size of a base building required to accommodate both the office and residential uses.
Staff have strongly opposed applications that did not replace office space at nearby sites. “We don’t want to see Eglinton Ave. become one long vertical bedroom community,” Matlow said. “It’s not about sterilizing the site. We want a balance between places to work and places to live.”
Eglinton Park Residents Association’s Tom Cohen said residents were “reeling” after the shock of a positive staff report.
“What worries us most in EPRA is precedent. This building is a kind of camel’s nose. It’s a camel’s nose which undermines in deep ways the whole plan for midrise all across Eglinton,” Cohen told community council this month. “We remain adamantly opposed to this one.”