May 14, 1998

 To:Toronto Community Council

From:Commissioner of Urban Planning and Development Services

Subject:71 Front Street West: Applications Nos. 998013, 998019, and 998020: Request for approval of variances from Chapter 297, Signs, of the former City of Toronto Municipal Code, upon application by Tunnel-Vision Marketing Ltd., 4141 Dixie Road, Rockwood Mall, P.O. Box 41083, Mississauga, Ontario, L4W 4X9, on behalf of Toronto Terminals Railway Company Limited, 65 Front Street West, Suite 402, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 1E6. (Downtown)

Purpose:

To review and make recommendations respecting 3 applications for variances to permit illuminated fascia signs in the Yonge Street, Bay Street and York Street underpasses.

Financial Implications:

Not applicable.

Recommendations:

1. That City Council approve Application No. 998013 respecting minor variances from Chapter 297, Signs, of the former City of Toronto Municipal Code to permit four additional illuminated signs on the east and west sides of the Yonge Street underpass.

2. That City Council approve Application No. 998019 respecting minor variances from Chapter 297, Signs, of the former City of Toronto Municipal Code to permit ten illuminated signs on the east side of the Bay Street underpass, subject to the following conditions:

a) that the owner/applicant remove the signs on 90 days notice from the City in order to permit the development of the teamway; and

b) that prior to the issuance of a permit to erect the signs, the wall where the signs are to be installed is cleaned, patched, and painted in a manner consistent with the work undertaken in the Yonge Street underpass and to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Urban Planning and Development Services and that the owner and applicant enter into an Undertaking with the City, satisfactory to the Commissioner of Urban Planning and Development Services, specifying that the improved condition be maintained for the life of the signs.

3. That City Council approve Application No. 998020 respecting minor variances from Chapter 297, Signs, of the former City of Toronto Municipal Code to permit ten illuminated signs on the east side of the York Street underpass subject to the following conditions:

(a)that the owner/applicant remove the signs on 90 days notice from the City in order to permit the development of the teamway; and

(b)that prior to the issuance of a sign permit, the owner and applicant enter into an Undertaking with the City, satisfactory to the Commissioner of Urban Planning and Development Services, to undertake the cleaning, patching and painting of the north elevation of the Yonge Street underpass within six months of the issuance of a sign permit and that the improved condition be maintained for the life of the signs.

4. That the applicant be advised, upon approval of the above-noted applications, of the requirement to obtain the necessary approvals from the Toronto Transportation Department and permits from the Commissioner of Urban Planning and Development Services.

Background:

At its meeting dated August 14 & 15, 1995, the former City of Toronto Council had before it my report dated May 24, 1995 which recommended approval to permit 16 illuminated signs in the Yonge Street underpass, 7 illuminated signs in the Bay Street underpass and 10 illuminated signs in the York Street underpass. Council gave approval to 16 illuminated signs in the Yonge Street underpass but deferred consideration of the Bay and York Street underpasses.

Since then, a pedestrian walkway (teamway) has been installed on the west side of the York Street underpass and a teamway is scheduled to be opened as part of the Air Canada Centre development on the west side of the Bay Street underpass. Teamways are also proposed for the east side of Bay and York Streets, secured as part of the Precinct Agreements for the Railway Lands East. The current application is for permission to install illuminated signage on the existing east walls of these two underpasses and to install four additional illuminated signs in the Yonge Street underpass. The applicant is aware that the proposed signage will have to be removed when construction for the teamways is commenced.

Comments:

The municipal address for the properties are 71 Front Street West, which is Union Station, however, the signage is proposed to be located in the York Street, Bay Street and Yonge Street railway underpasses, running south from Front Street. The property is zoned for transportation use.

The applicant is proposing to install illuminated signs within the recessed panels of the underpasses. The York and Bay Street underpasses will each accommodate 10 illuminated signs on the east side of the underpasses and an additional 4 illuminated signs are proposed in the Yonge Street underpass (see Figures 1,2 & 3 attached). The signs will each have a length of 3 metres and a height of 1.8 metres, with an area of 5.6 m5.

In exchange for the lease of these spaces, the Toronto Terminal Railway Company Limited (TTR) is requiring the applicant to improve the appearance of the Bay Street underpass by cleaning, patching and painting the surface of the underpass where the signs are to be located, similar to that undertaken in Yonge Street. As the cleaning of the York Street underpass has already been completed as part of the City=s Infrastructure Program, I am requiring that as a condition of approval of the proposed York Street underpass signs that the applicant clean, patch and paint the exterior surface of the bridge structure on the north elevation of the Yonge Street underpass.

The signs do not comply with Chapter 297 of the Municipal Code in the following ways:

1. third party fascia signs are not permitted to face a street;

2. the signs will be located within 60 metres of each other; and

3. the signs are not attached to the wall of a building but the wall of a tunnel.

Although the signs generate numerous variances, this application is unique and should be reviewed on its own merits. These underpasses are key links between the City=s downtown core and the waterfront. The installation of the proposed signage will necessitate the cleaning, patching and repainting of these underpasses which act as gateways to and from the City. Further, the illuminated signs will brighten the underpasses, thereby making them safer and more inviting.

Given these reasons, I am recommending approval of the applications subject to the conditions outlined above.

Contact Name:Lora Mazzocca

Telephone: (416) 392-0421

Fax: (416) 392-7536

E-Mail: lmazzocc@city.toronto.on.ca

Beate Bowron

Director, Development Approval and Deputy Chief Building Official

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