Zoning By-law Amendment Application SZ98007
Trustees of St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church
3817 Lawrence Avenue East, Woburn Community
Ward 16 - Scarborough Highland Creek
The Scarborough Community Council, after considering the deputations and based on the finding of fact,
conclusions and recommendations contained in the report, dated August21,1998, from the Director, Community
Planning, East District, recommends that the report of the Director, Community Planning, East District, be
adopted.
The Scarborough Community Council reports having held a statutory public meeting on September16, 1998, in accordance
with Section 17 and Section 34 of The Planning Act and the regulations thereunder.
The Scarborough Community Council submits the following report (August 21, 1998) from the Director,
Community Planning, East District:
Purpose:
This report presents recommendations to amend
This report presents recommendations to amend the Woburn Community Zoning By-law for the lands located on the south
side of Lawrence Avenue East, east of Scarborough Golf Club Road. The Trustees of St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church are
proposing to amend the Place of Worship (PW) zoning on the southerly portion of their property to Single-Family
Residential (S) in order to create three single family lots with frontages on Shoredale Drive, consistent with the Low
Density Residential Official Plan designation. Each of the three single family lots will have minimum frontages of 13.4
metres (44 feet) and minimum lot areas of 390 square metres (4200 square feet). The existing Place of Worship building
and associated parking will be retained fronting onto Lawrence Avenue. Zoning By-law development standards are
proposed to be amended to reflect the proposed parking supply of 52 spaces and the 6 metre (20 feet) side yard setbacks of
the existing Place of Worship building.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that City Council:
(A)Zoning By-law:
amend the Woburn Community Zoning By-law Number 9510, as amended, with respect to 3817 Lawrence Avenue East,
being Part of Lot 9, Registered Plan 3356, as follows:
(1)southern portion of lands along Shoredale Drive:
delete the current Place of Worship zoning (PW) and replace it with Single-Family Residential (S) zoning with the
following development standards:
(a)one single family dwelling per parcel of land with a minimum frontage of 13.4 metres (44 feet) on a public street and a
minimum lot area of 390 square metres (4,200 square feet);
(b)minimum building setback 6 metres (20 feet) from the streetline;
(c)minimum side yard setback 1.2 metres (4 feet) from each side for a one-storey dwelling, plus 0.6 metres (2 feet) for
each additional or partial storey;
(d)each dwelling shall have an attached garage or attached carport;
(e)attached garages or attached carports may be erected at a distance of not less than 0.3 metres (1 foot) from the side lot
line;
(2)northern portion of lands along Lawrence Avenue East:
amend the existing Place of Worship (PW) zoning by adding a development standard which accommodates the proposed
parking supply of 52 spaces, and by deleting the development standard which requires a minimum side yard setback of
one-half the height of the building and replacing it with a new development standard which reflects the existing side yard
setbacks, as follows:
(a)minimum parking requirement for Place of Worship 5.3 parking spaces per 100 square metres (1,076 square feet) of
gross floor area for the first 970 square metres (10,445 square feet) of gross floor area; parking for additional Place of
Worship gross floor area shall be in accordance with the General Parking Regulations for all Zones;
(b)minimum side yard building setback 6 metres (20 feet) from each side;
(B)Site Plan Control:
enact a By-law to lift Site Plan Control from the southern portion of the Trustees of St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church
lands along Shoredale Drive when the amended Zoning comes into force; and
(C)authorize such unsubstantive technical, stylistic or format changes to the Zoning By-law amendment as may be
required to properly carry out the intent of this resolution.
Background:
(1)Site Statistics
Proposed Three LotsPlace of Worship
Site Area:392, 437 and 506 square metres 3477 square metres
Frontage:13.5 metres for each lot51.8 metres
Gross Floor Area208, 235 and 235 square metres970 square metres
Lot Coverage32.9, 32.8 and 28.2 percent15.6 percent
Proposed Parkingone space for each dwelling52 spaces
(2)The subject lands contain St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church which fronts onto Lawrence Avenue. Access to the parking
area at the rear of the church is available from two, one-way driveways onto Lawrence Avenue East. The parking area is
currently paved but unmarked. The southern portion of the lands which have frontage on Shoredale Drive are currently
vacant and have remained primarily grassed, except for the asphalt church parking area which encroaches approximately 10
metres (33 feet) into this portion of the lands. There are three fair sized trees along the Shoredale frontage of the property.
Surrounding uses include a residential apartment building to the west along Lawrence Avenue and single family dwellings
along Shoredale Drive, a residential apartment building to the east, and single family dwellings on the north side of
Lawrence Avenue and on the south side of Shoredale Drive.
(3)The subject lands are designated Place of Worship along the Lawrence Avenue portion of the property and Low Density
Residential in the interior of the property along Shoredale Drive and are zoned Place of Worship (PW). A Preliminary
Evaluation Report was before the Scarborough Community Council on April 1, 1998 at which time it endorsed the
processing of the application in the normal manner, subject to the application being amended to address setback and
parking requirements on the retained parcel (the Place of Worship fronting onto Lawrence Avenue), and the lotting
configuration being modified to create three single family lots with consistent frontages on Shoredale Drive. The
application has been amended in these regards.
Comments:
(1)The application was circulated to various technical review agencies, none of which expressed objections to the proposal.
A Consent Application to convey the proposed three single family lots has also been submitted in conjunction with the
Zoning By-law Amendment application and will be considered by the City at a later date following consideration of the
Zoning By-law Amendment application. In response to the circulation of the consent application, which was circulated to
all properties within 60 metres (200 feet) of the subject lands, one letter was received from Jim Simpson and Carolyn
Cheong of 3801 Lawrence Avenue East, Unit 604. The letter explains that they, along with at least 75 other parents, walk
7through the church property along an existing pathway while accompanying their children to Willow Park Elementary
school, which is located on Windover Drive south east of the church property. The letter requests that a pedestrian pathway
be provided along with the proposed three homes, otherwise pedestrians will have to walk 3 times as far to take their
children to school.
(2)Planning staff in consultation with Toronto District School Board (TDSB) staff have reviewed this matter and are of the
opinion that a pedestrian walkway is not necessary at this location. Firstly, once the shortcut is no longer available, there is
a safe alternative pedestrian route along public roads. Residents and children walking to Willow Park Public School from
Lawrence Avenue, west of the church property, would now have to continue walking across Lawrence Avenue to Susan
Street, east of the church property, and then south to Windover Drive. It certainly is a longer walk for pedestrians but
within the TDSB guideline for walking distances to schools. Secondly, public pedestrian paths which are established and
maintained by the City are ordinarily walkways which connect one public street with another or with a park. In this instance
if a pedestrian walkway were established, it would connect the Shoredale Drive public sidewalk and the rear parking area of
the church. The potential conflict between pedestrians and vehicles raises safety concerns. A continuous pedestrian
connection between Shoredale Drive and Lawrence Avenue would require the dedication of private church lands to the
City. This would necessitate the reduction of the proposed three lot frontages to accommodate a walkway, thereby
undermining the feasibility of this project.
(3)The general character of Shoredale Drive to the south and immediate west is that of two storey single family dwellings
on lots with 15 metres (50 feet) frontage. As directed by Council, the application was modified to provide for consistent lot
frontages of 13.4 metres (44 feet) for each of the three lots proposed. The lot frontages and lot areas proposed are
comparable to the neighbouring lots in the area and will fit into the existing fabric of this stable residential community. One
single family dwelling is proposed on each of the three lots. The proposed building setback development standards will be
identical to those applied to the neighbouring single family dwellings. The proposed single family dwellings will be sited in
an effort to preserve two of the three existing trees on the subject lands.
(4)This proposal is consistent with the Official Plan which promotes the maintenance of stable, low density, residential
neighbourhoods. It is a terrific opportunity for creating additional housing stock compatible with the existing character of
the neighbourhood, and providing 'closure' between the single family community on Shoredale Drive and the more active
Lawrence Avenue. The Official Plan stipulates that residential development of one or two dwelling units per parcel such as
the subject proposal shall not be subject to Site Plan Control. Therefore, I am recommending Site Plan Control be lifted
from the subject lands after the proposed Zoning By-law amendment comes into force.
(5)Parking for the church is currently provided on an unmarked asphalt parking area at the rear of the church building. The
Trustees undertook parking counts on ten Sundays between September 1997 and March 1998, and the average parking
demand over this period was 41 parking spaces. The applicant has prepared a parking lot layout plan which provides 52
parking spaces at the rear of the church. This is an adequate supply of parking to serve the existing church. I am
recommending a parking standard of 5.3 parking spaces per 100squaremetres (1,076 square feet) of gross floor area be
applied to the church property to reflect the proposed parking supply of 52 spaces and the existing church size of 970
square metres (10,440 square feet). Any new additional gross floor area proposed in the future will be subject to the
General Parking Regulations for all Zones which requires a minimum of 7.7 parking spaces per 100 square metres (1,076
square feet) Place of Worship gross floor area.
(6)The required minimum side yard building setback for the church is one-half the height of the building on each side.
Based on the existing building height of 14.8 metres (48 feet), the required building setback on each side is 7.4 metres (24
feet). As directed by Council, the applicant is proposing to amend the side yard building setback requirement to reflect the
existing side yard setbacks of 6 metres (20 feet) on each side of the building. The revised setback standard will reflect side
yard setbacks which have existed for several years without any known adverse impact on the surrounding properties.
Conclusions:
This proposal to amend the Zoning By-law in order to permit three new single family lots on the vacant south portion of the
Place of Worship property is an excellent opportunity to provide additional housing opportunities, consistent with single
family dwellings along Shoredale Drive.
Contact Name:
Joe Nanos, Acting Senior Planner
Phone: (416) 396-7037
Fax: (416) 396-4265
E-Mail: nanos@city.scarborough.on.ca
Mr. Maurice Jouenne, agent for St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, appeared before the Community Council in connection
with the foregoing matter and indicated his support for the staff recommendation.