Matlow pushes back on Oxford project
Councillor sees lack of community services, school for Yonge-Eglinton
Councillor Josh Matlow says his residents want a do-over on the Oxford Properties Group’s $2.5-billion redevelopment proposal on the Canada Square site at the southwest corner of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue.
Before the city’s planning department rules on rezoning, the midtown councillor wants a “special study area report” that would reconsider Oxford’s December application.
He is asking council to approve a report that would gather input from a committee of residents’ and tenants’ associations, businesses, community groups and neighbouring councillors, who would work with planning and other city departments to look at the community services, affordable housing, space and economic-development requirements of the area.
Oxford announced in December that it wanted to add 2,700 homes, most of them rental, and 650,000 square feet of office space in five towers at the key intersection of the new Eglinton Crosstown LRT and Yonge subway. The 9.2-acre site plan included a covered outdoor area, street-level shops and a community centre that could house a daycare, recreation space or other services.
At the time, Matlow welcomed the revitalization but said there was still work to be done. This week, he said that Oxford’s application wasn’t well received by the community: Objections ranged from the proposed height of the towers to the absence of creative ideas that were discussed but didn’t materialize in the planning application.
Add to that, he said, the area’s “inarguable” need of a new school.
“There was hardly any real public services or community benefits baked into the (Oxford) plan. There’s a minuscule space for a daycare,” he said. “The community benefit component felt like tokenism. That’s what really got people upset.”
Canada Square is an ideal location for a new school, said Toronto District School Board Trustee Shelley Laskin.
“We’ve always thought of a school in a mixed-use development that would have community and park space attached to it. So Canada Square just makes sense,” she said. “It simply is the largest site. They’re talking about community space there so there’s no reason part of that can’t be school ground during the day and then opened up after school hours and on weekends.”
The board has been trying to accommodate the area’s population explosion since 2009, according to Laskin. She said the TDSB has exhausted the options within its control, things such as changing school boundaries, reconfiguring grades and moving special programs.
There is already an elementary school’s worth of children in the area who are being bused south to Whitney Junior Public School in Rosedale, and north to Rippleton Public School, seven kilometres away near Leslie Street and Lawrence Avenue, she said. Within the Eglinton Junior Public School attendance area near Eglinton Avenue East and Mount Pleasant Road, there are 8,300 new homes drawing families with children.
It is alarming that more development is coming when the children already living in the area haven’t been accommodated, said Laskin.
“I am a real firm believer that every child should have the right to walk to their elementary school,” she said.
Matlow said it makes sense to step back. “We’re not ready to focus on the Oxford application as the be-all and end-all of what should be considered at the Canada Square site. There needs to be a focus on how do we do city building and community building on the site, whether or not it’s Oxford or something else.”
Oxford says it has been talking with the community about the redevelopment since 2017.
“Through collaboration with multiple stakeholder groups including the local community, the City of Toronto and transit agencies, we believe our masterplan proposal will deliver significant community benefits and unlock the potential of this technically complex, transit-connected site,” said its vicepresident of communications, Daniel O’Donnell.
In an emailed statement, he said Oxford looks forward to comments from the city and the community in response to its rezoning application.